Galatians chapter 3, our focus tonight is actually chapter 4, verses 4 to 7. It's always unwise just to drop into a particular section of scripture without understanding the context, and essentially what Paul is doing here is contrasting, or not contrasting, but showing rather the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. I sort of mentioned some things about that this morning. That is precisely what's in view here in chapter 3 at the end all the way through chapter 4.

And with a specific reference, the Judaizers who had plagued the churches of Christ had come and said that the people of God, it was good for them to have believed the gospel, but they also needed to be circumcised in order to be counted among the people of God. So Paul is highlighting the reality that the Old Covenant is now gone. It has become obsolete. The New Covenant is in place and so those ceremonies that were attached to the Old Covenant are no longer binding.

Essentially that's what he does in this first section. I'll pick up reading in verse 19 of chapter 3 where he deals with the purpose of the law. And in terms of Paul's use of law in this section. He's probably referring to the Mosaic Covenant, the Old Covenant, and specifically with reference to the ceremonies in that Mosaic Covenant.

So beginning in verse 19, what purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on 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 are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son.

If a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the word of God and we pray now for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

As Paul said, to believers that when we believe, we know the presence of the spirit of adoption. We are able to call you Father. We have intimacy with our great God in heaven. We pray now, Father, that you would send the Spirit to guide us as we study scripture.

May it encourage our hearts. May we appreciate afresh the doing and the dying and the rising again of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Do forgive us for all of our sins and unrighteousness. We thank you, God, that there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.

Even now we pray that you would wash us and purify us in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Introduction

Well, as I said, our focus is on verses 4 to 7, but I do want to start in verse 1. Under first, an analogy airs according to the promise. We'll look at that briefly in verses 1 to 3. Secondly, we'll note the coming of Christ to inaugurate the new covenant.

Thirdly, the person and work of the Redeemer described.

The Heir Analogy: Israel Under the Law

So notice, in the first place, Paul gives an analogy essentially to summarize what he has said in the preceding verses. In verses 21 to 25, Paul is dealing with Jews with reference to the place of the law, specifically the Old Covenant. Is it contrary to the promises of God? No.

The Old Covenant had a very specific reason. In fact, Pascal Denault points out three specific reasons concerning the Old Covenant. There are probably others, but in the first place, it preserved the Messianic line in the Covenant of Grace. I look at the Old Covenant as a way by which God hedged the people in and kept them and preserved them until the coming of the Lord Jesus.

As well, it pointed typologically to Jesus Christ, and thirdly, it confined everything under sin so that the only means to obtain the promised inheritance was through faith in Christ. So in verses 21 to 25, Paul is showing the relationship between Israel of old and the law. The law was ultimately given in this context as a tutor to bring us to Christ. It hedged them in, it pointed typologically to the Lord Jesus, but it ushered redemptive history forward and kept the people of the covenant together until Jesus came.

And then notice in verses 26-29, he deals specifically with Gentiles. And in the context, this has great polemic value. because the Gentiles are being told they must be circumcised in accordance with the ceremonial law that Paul has just said has ended in verses 21 to 25. After faith has come, we're no longer under a tutor. The idea here is that once Jesus Christ has come, inaugurated the new covenant, the old covenant is not in play anymore.

It is not a part of our reality. So, as a result, there's no more ceremonial law attached to the Old Covenant. Furthermore, as Gentile believers, you are already Abraham's seed. You are heirs according to the promise.

There's no need for you to identify with Old Covenant Israel by being circumcised in the flesh. Now, the circumcision he's dealing with is religious in nature. It's not just a cultural sign, but rather it has to do with religion and obtaining favor from God. So in the first place, he highlights the place of Israel under the Old Covenant that it was not contrary to the promise of God that would be revealed at the coming of Christ.

In the second place, he speaks to the Gentiles concerning their already appointed status as heirs. And then in the third place, in chapter 4, verses 1 to 3, he sort of capsulizes or encapsulates this again with reference to this heir analogy. Notice in verse 1 of chapter 4, I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all. The child in a king's house has certain prerogatives and privileges, but he's underage.

He cannot exercise those things. at that particular time. So, verse 2, he's under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father, just like Old Covenant Israel was. And then in verse 3, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. The bondage there doesn't mean in some wicked, terrible sense But again, the Old Covenant hedged them in.

It kept them in. Paul's use with reference to the Mosaic Covenant. He highlights its role in guarding and in tutoring and in stewarding the people until the time appointed by the Father.

The Coming of Christ and the New Covenant

And that brings us to verse 4, in the fullness of the time God sent forth his son to inaugurate the new covenant, to render obsolete the old covenant. That's not a bad thing. Obsolescence was built into the old covenant. It was never intended to go on forever.

It was intended to be superseded by the new covenant. Old Covenant Revelation teaches that in Genesis 31, 31 to 34. Now, I said I wanted to help clarify everything for everybody so that we could go to verse 4. I feel like I really didn't do that.

But suffice it to say, Paul is dealing in covenantal categories showing the incompleteness or rather the obsolescence of the old covenant now that the Lord Jesus has come. The heirs have full privilege, full benefit, full liberty as a result of the coming of our Lord Jesus. So let's look at that.

Scripture Reading: Galatians 4:4

Notice in verse 4, When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

The Fullness of Time and Divine Initiative

Now he speaks concerning the fullness of the time. The Old Testament prophesied and the Old Testament announced the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis chapter 3 was the first announcement of the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent. In Genesis chapter 22, typologically, the Lord God indicates, through Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac, that he himself would provide a lamb.

The Shiloh prophecy of Genesis 49.10 signified or said that there would be one who would come. to save his people from their sins. We see those promises anticipated in the Law of God. As well, we see those promises anticipated in the Psalter. Psalm 2, Messianic.

Psalm 45, Psalm 72, Psalm 110. There are certainly other Messianic Psalms, but these are some of the big ones, Psalm 89 specifically, and then as well the prophets. They foretold the coming of these days when a champion from God would come, when the Messiah would come, when the son of David would arrive so that he could save his people from their sins. Second Samuel 7, the promise given to David that of his seed he would raise one up to sit upon David's throne and to reign forever and ever and ever.

The prophet Isaiah, the Immanuel prophecies of Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, which Pastor Porter read at the outset of worship, Isaiah 42, 53, the prophet Daniel, the prophet Micah, the prophet Zechariah, the prophets through and through announced the latter days or the last days when the Lord Christ would come to save his people from their sins. Paul describes that under this terminology. He says, when the fullness of the time had come. And Gil specifically refers to this.

He says, the time agreed and fixed upon between God and his Son from all eternity in the council and covenant of peace. We also call that the covenant of redemption. It differs from the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Grace is that plan by God of which we are participants in all of the redemptive benefits accomplished by Jesus.

But the Covenant of Redemption or this Covenant of Peace is transacted by the persons of the triune God. It is a pre-temporal arrangement. It is an intra-trinitarian arrangement. The Father predestines to save a great multitude.

He gives them to the Son. The Son willingly undertakes on their behalf to be their surety, to be their mediator, and to accomplish those things that the Father has stipulated for their salvation. That's what Gil is referring to. The time agreed and fixed upon between God and His Son from all eternity in the Council and Covenant of Peace, when the Son of God should assume human nature, which time was diligently searched into by the prophets, was revealed unto them and predicted by them, as more generally that it should be before the civil government ceased from Judah. and before the destruction of the Second Temple, and more particularly by Daniel and his prophecy of the 70 weeks, towards and about the close of which there was a general expectation among the Jews of the Messiah's coming.

And was the fullness of time here referred to? And what is sometimes called the dispensation of the fullness of time, the end of the mosaic dispensation in Jewish church state, the last days of that state, and the end of the Jewish world as to their ecclesiastical and civil polity. Again, that fits what Paul is doing in terms of the covenantal significance of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of the time had come.

Matthew chapter 1, Luke's gospel in the beginning, all throughout the New Testament, it teaches us concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Something before we leave this particular verse or this section, notice the divine initiative involved. When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son. You see, brethren, total depravity and total inability is such that if there is any saving to be done, it is not going to be initiated by the creature.

If there is ever entrance into heaven by a son of Adam, it is not going to be because of the son of Adam. God sent forth his son. Paul picks up a convention in this particular section that the Bible lays down everywhere. I already referred to Genesis 3.15.

God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman. Isaiah 9.6, unto us a son is born. given. John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Romans chapter 3, we need the wrath of God dealt with.

We need the wrath of God spent elsewhere. And Paul tells us that God sent forth Christ as a propitiation through his blood. In Romans 8.3, Paul says what the law could not do, God did by sending His Son in the likeness of flesh. You see, divine initiative, the divine will, the divine prerogative and the divine sovereignty is that to which we owe our salvation.

It is not of us, it is not of man, it's not by the will of man, it's not through blood, but it's of God who gives redemptive benefit. Paul says it doesn't depend upon him who wills or upon him who runs, but upon God who shows mercy. And Paul is asserting that very thing here. God sent forth His Son.

You know, we ought to pause and reflect upon that reality and how thankful we should be God dealt with our sin. We didn't deal with it. We never wanted to deal with it. We wanted to continue to traffic in it.

We wanted to continue estranged from God Most High. Paul describes our state clearly in Romans chapter 3. There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who seeks after God.

There is no fear of God before the eyes of men. If there is salvation to be had, it must be wrought by God. And certainly that is precisely what he does. He takes the initiative, he predestined, he elected, he foretold, or foreknew, he chose, all those things are highlighted throughout the scriptures to indicate where salvation is from.

The prophet Jonah made this confession, salvation is of the Lord. It's not of us. Thankfully Jonah wasn't an Arminian. The angels in heaven aren't Arminians.

When they stand before the throne of God, they say salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits upon the throne. That ought to be the Church's confession today, and that ought to be the Church's encouragement today. That ought to be each and every one of our encouragement that there has been, in fact, a son given. A son given to us, to miserable, wretched, hell-deserving sinners that rightly stand under, or stand liable to the fury and wrath of Almighty God.

So God sent forth His Son.

The Person and Work of the Redeemer

And then Paul develops in detail the person and work of our Lord Jesus in verses 4b to 7. The person is described here in verse 4. Notice three things Paul says concerning the person of our Lord Jesus.

The Pre-Existence of the Son

In the first place, he refers to his pre-existence. His pre-existence. God sent forth His Son. If you've ever studied systematic theology or you've ever visited our confession study or you're familiar with the reformed confessions of faith, you'll know that there are three offices of Christ.

He is prophet, priest, and king. You'll also know that there are three states of Christ. There is the state of the pre-incarnate state, before Jesus came into this world. There is the state of humiliation, how Jesus found himself in this world.

And then the state of exaltation. After Christ finishes his work, he is then exalted by the Father to the right hand of God Most High. Those are the states of Christ. And Paul refers here to the pre-existent state.

How do we know that? He says, God sent forth his Son. I believe Calvin was right. The son who was sent must have existed before he was sent.

And this proves his eternal Godhead. This is obvious in John chapter 1, to which you can turn. John chapter 1, referring to the pre-existent state of our Lord Jesus and its movement and its trajectory in time and history, when he comes. into this world. Notice in John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, that's the Lord Christ, and the Word was with God.

There is distinction between the person of the Father and the Son. But there is unity and identity in terms of their essential being as John says, and the Word was God. And then dropping down in verse 14, notice, and the Word became flesh. The Word was God.

That refers to past existence into eternity. It's tough to talk that way because it almost sounds like, you know, there's a place called eternity and there it is. But He was God. Notice He became man.

Verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Son is eternally generated by the Father. The Son is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in His essential glory.

But in time and in space, He comes and He takes her. He becomes flesh and He dwelt among us. And notice in John 1.18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

So when Paul says, God sent forth His Son, Calvin is absolutely right. The Son who was sent must have existed before He was sent, and this proves His eternal Godhead. Our confession puts it this way, the Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with Him, who made the world, who upholds and governs all things He has made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. So the pre-existent state indicates something of Christ's eternal Godhead.

The reality is that God sent him forth to do this particular work.

The Incarnation of the Son

Notice, secondly, his incarnation. He is born of a woman. I mean, this is a truly amazing description, a truly amazing reality that the second person of the triune God would enter the womb of Mary. Back in Isaiah 9, Specifically in verse 6, it says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. If you understand what I just tried to explain concerning the preexistent state of Christ, it indicates that he is God. It is his eternal Godhead that's in view in that reference. But notice, for unto us a child is born.

I love what John Owen says, that the same person should be the mighty God, and a child born is neither conceivable or possible, nor can be true, but by the union of the divine and human natures in the same person. God sent forth his son, born of a woman, I mean, let that sink in. As I said, the Emmanuel prophecy in Isaiah 7 and verse 14, we see that fleshed out and applied in the life of Jesus. Go back for a moment to Matthew chapter 1, where this is reported to us concerning this one who has come from heaven.

Matthew 1.18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. Wonder of wonders that the second person of the triune God would be born of a woman.

The Mediator Born Under the Law

And notice in the third place, not only the pre-existent state and then the incarnation, but Paul refers to his role as mediator. He's born under the law. Why is he born under the law? So that he can redeem those who were under the law.

In other words, he was born under the law to fulfill that role of mediator. Again, our confession, this office of mediator, the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which that he might discharge, he was made under the law and did perfectly fulfill it. You see, we need the forgiveness of sins, and Paul's going to deal with that in just a moment. But we also need a righteousness that avails with God.

We need to be clothed in a righteousness that God approves of. And that's the beauty of the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not only His death that we need, it's His life. We need that act of obedience.

We need the fact that He never disobeyed His parents. We need the fact that he never had a lustful thought. We need the fact that he never stole, that he never lied, that he never coveted, that he never broke the Sabbath, that he never had other gods before him, that he never made for himself idols, that he never took the name of the Lord God in vain. Through and through, our blessed Lord fulfilled the law of God.

And he did that because he is the second person of the Trinity, because he is impeccable to be sure, but he does it for us. The theologians refer to this as the active obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we desperately need this. We absolutely, most positively, need to be clothed in a righteousness not our own. 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Why?

That we might become the righteousness of God in him. Galatians 2.21, Paul says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. What's Paul's implication? Righteousness comes through the gospel.

Righteousness comes as a result of Christ's death. Righteousness is imputed to us and received by faith alone. And that's what is highlighted here under this blessed reality that Christ is our mediator. He was born of a woman.

He is made under the law in order to redeem those who are under the law. Blessed be God most high that we have a mediator who fulfilled all of the law on our behalf. Now that doesn't mean once we're justified we go out and live like the devil. That is absolutely positively not what it means.

It means that Christ The law points us to Christ for our justification. When we are justified freely by his grace, Christ sends us back to his law, gives us his spirit, and calls us to follow that law as a rule of life in our sanctification. But we are ultimately entering into heaven, not based on our sanctification, but based on the justifying grace of God Most High, poured out through our Lord Jesus. And that brings us to consider his work.

That's typically the convention by which men treat the subject of Jesus Christ as person and as work. And there are several elements that we ought to consider here.

The Redemption of His People

Notice in the first place, the redemption of his people. You know, I was thinking about this and, you know, having been here for a long time and preaching a lot of Lord's Supper meetings, I know I've preached Galatians 4 before and I know I've preached redemption before. I'm hoping that all of you could define what redemption is and all of the particulars involved, the presupposition, all those things. You know, you get in this mindset, well, I hope they don't get weary of hearing the same thing.

I hope you never get weary of hearing of your redemption. I hope you never go, oh man, I've got to hear about how I was redeemed from my sin again. I hope that never enters into your hearts, but you continually stand amazed at the redemption wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who are under the law. The presupposition involved with redemption is bondage, slavery.

That's what's involved here. Christ frees us from the bondage and the slavery of sin. And in redemption, it's not just power, it's not just deliverance, but it is the payment of a price in order to bring about the redemption that is enacted. And Christ does that, having fulfilled the law in His earthly life.

Christ then goes to the cross. If we call the doing of Christ His active obedience, we call the dying of Christ His passive obedience. That doesn't mean that He wasn't involved. He most certainly was.

But the active refers to Christ's life and what He accomplishes in terms of God's law. The passive is what Christ accomplishes on the cross probably related to the word passion, which has to do with suffering on behalf of his people. And it's through that suffering that the price is paid. It is through his blood that the payment is rendered, not to the devil.

That was a heresy that came out in the early church, the ransom to Satan theory. The idea being is that Satan held in captive all of the sinful sons of Adam, so that when Christ pays this debt on the cross, he is paying the debt to the devil, and therein sinners are released. But that's not what the Bible reflects. It is the Father.

It is God Most High. It is He who is angry with the wicked every day. It is God who will punish sinners in hell. It is God who is propitiated by the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross at Calvary.

The ransom is paid to God the Father. It is paid by Christ the Son in order to save us from our sins. So it is the act of deliverance through the payment of a price, specifically blood. In Ephesians 1-7, in him, we have redemption through what?

Through his blood. The same thing is repeated in Colossians. We see that emphasis, as I've already referred to, in Romans chapter 3. God sent forth his son, or God set forth, rather, his son as a propitiation by his blood, specifically to take from us the wrath of God that we deserve as a result of our sin.

He delivered us from the slave market of sin.

The Blessing of Adoption

Notice in the second place, with reference to the work of Jesus, the blessing of adoption. To redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now, we certainly do not deserve a place at the Father's table. We are not feasting here tonight because we're good.

We are not eating here tonight because we deserve it. We are not participating in this particular ordinance tonight because we had a good week. We are here because of the grace of God Most High. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

In love, He predestined us onto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ. It is because of grace that we participate in this ordinance tonight. It is because of grace that we are counted as members of the household of God. It is by grace that we have this privilege.

And I wonder if we thought through this and understood the implications, if it might change the way we approach church attendance. This is the Father's house. This is where we get to come. This is our privilege and our grand delight.

This is what God purposed from the foundation of the world. to do, to adopt us as sons and daughters, to call us together on nights like these to furnish a feast for us so that he can encourage our weary hearts, so that he can help us along our pilgrim way, so that he can show that fatherly love to his sons and daughters. We have the blessedness of adoption as sons and daughters of our Lord Jesus. This includes a filial relationship with God. You hear this at times, the universal fatherhood of God.

No, he's not. I mean, there is a sense where God in creation is father over all because he created everything. When we talk about the fatherhood of God, we're talking about in a gracious sense. We're talking about the reality of Ephesians 1.

He chose us. He predestined us unto adoption as sons. Adoption is a beautiful way to describe this. Adoption in the Roman world brought a man into a household and conferred upon him the same rights, the same privileges, the same entitlements of a natural-born son.

In fact, if you look at Paul and you look at John, they both come at this whole idea not in a different way that it's wrong, but in certain facets. John speaks of God having begotten us. Paul speaks of us as having been adopted. And they're both right, they're both accurate, they're both true.

Paul is highlighting the juridical or the judicial or the legal sense whereby we have been brought out of the slave market of sin. He's washed us, he's cleansed us, he's clothed us, and he has put us in his home. Think prodigal son. Remember when that young man throws himself on the mercy of his father, not for salvation.

I think the prodigal, and the more I consider the prodigal, the more I think he was functioning as a mercenary, at least to some degree. When he's in the hog pen and he's eating that pig slop, he thinks to himself, I know what I'll do, I'll go back to my father's house, I'll tell him that I sinned, I'll cast myself on his mercy, and perhaps he'll take me on as one of the hired servants. It's a mercenary feel in that. Does he want to go back to the Father for real?

Does he want to go back to the Father legitimately? No, it's more like he doesn't want to eat pig food, or rather he doesn't want to crave. what pigs are eating. He thinks it would be better to be a hired servant in his father's house. But lo and behold, what does the father do?

The father runs out there, the father kisses him, the father puts a ring on his finger, the father puts a robe on his back, that's wherein the change has come. And then the son is brought back to full privilege and entitlement and blessing and all those good things. You see, that's what we have as adopted sons and daughters of the living God. We are included in the household of God, and one of the most blessed aspects that I think we oftentimes fail to appreciate is what Paul says in Romans 8, 17.

He says that we are co-heirs, not with one another, and that in and of itself would be good, right? There's nobody extra special in the church. I've got more grace units than you, you miserable slob, and I'm going to be closer to my God when we get—that's not the way it works. We are co-heirs with Christ.

Whatever is Christ's by his merit is ours by grace. We have the same entitlement, the same privilege, the same prerogative, not because of our doing, but because Christ has done it, and because of God's grace, which He lavishes upon us in and through His glorious Son. It truly is an amazing reality. We have a filial relationship.

We are in the household of God Most High, and we are joint heirs with Jesus. Do you know that Hebrews 2 tells us that Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren? Sometimes we're ashamed to call each other brethren. Well, you know, that guy did such and such and I can't believe he did that.

Jesus isn't ashamed to call us brethren. There is a real legitimate sense wherein we can refer to Christ as our elder brother. Our victor, our champion, our head, our Lord, our Savior, the one who is not ashamed to call us brethren. So that blessing of adoption and participating in the household of God.

Sealed by the Spirit

Notice thirdly, we are sealed by the Spirit. Verse 6, and because you are sons. It's almost like Paul is just saying, it just gets better and better and better and better. You see him tracing this all down.

Here's the person of Jesus Christ. Consider his pre-existent state. Consider the fact that he was incarnate. Consider the fact that he is mediator.

And now I want you to understand what he does specifically as mediator. He redeems us from the slave market of sin. He adopts us or brings us into that blessed adoption as sons of God. And then, that wasn't enough.

He gives us the Spirit. Notice the three persons of the triune God in this passage. God, probably referring not to the essential God, or God in His essence, but specifically to the relative property, the Father. The Father sends the Son, and then in verse 6, and because you are sons by adoption, God the Father has sent forth the Spirit of His Son, the Lord Jesus, into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father.

The Spirit, according to Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, is sent to seal believers and to guarantee our inheritance. Think about that for a moment, to guarantee our inheritance. You know, there's actually debate among some Christians as to whether or not we can lose our salvation. Well, you can rest assured that if you have believed the gospel by the grace of God, just look at Ephesians 1, verse 13, in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.

You see, if you have believed the Gospel, you are not going to lose your salvation. Who does it reflect poorly on if a sinner for whom Jesus died loses their salvation? It reflects upon the Savior. If His task is to save His people from their sins, and His people end up not saved, then ultimately He is the one to blame.

And I'm speaking, you know, crassly to illustrate the point. The reality is, by the grace of God, the saint of God perseveres unto the end, but he is preserved always by God's grace. The Holy Spirit is our seal. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory.

One commentator said, the purpose of the son's mission was to give the rights of sonship. The purpose of the Spirit's mission is to give the power of using them. And I think that's what Paul alludes to here in verse 6. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father.

Now you've probably heard it explained that Abba is like Daddy. No, it probably wasn't. But it's still a term of intimacy, a term of communion, a term of just blessed endearment. I mean, if your child came to you and called you daddy or father, there's no fundamental difference in that, is there?

You're his father. There's no closer relationship that exists between a father and, of course, mother, and their children. And this is what Paul says, he sends the spirit of his son into you so that you can cry, Abba, Father. What a blessed reality this is for the people of God.

This is why Jesus can teach us in Matthew 6, when you pray, you say, Our Father. You're not relative or you're not related to him as some machine, some sort of power out there. There is the closest intimacy when we go to the throne of grace. We as sons and daughters go to our Heavenly Father through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, wherein we cry, Abba, Father, and we let our petitions, our supplications, our prayers, our intercessions, our givings of thanks be made to Him. in the name of his most blessed son.

It's as if Paul has moved from this covenantal category to bring us into that most close and blessed intimacy wherein we have with the Father.

The Liberty of the Sons of God

And then finally, he indicates spiritual liberty. Notice in verse seven, therefore, this is the implication, this is the conclusion. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, an heir of God, then an heir of God through Christ. You can see how this functions in the letter to the Galatians.

Of course not. You don't need to be circumcised. That's certainly not going to commend you to God. God has done all this in terms of His grace, in terms of the New Covenant, in terms of adoption, in terms of the sealing of the Spirit, in terms of all of these blessings.

Certainly you don't need to go out and get circumcised in order to commend yourself to God. It functions beautifully in this particular context to summarize and conclude at least this section with reference to Paul's polemic against the Judaizing heresy. But in terms of the general application, therefore you're no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. There's no more bondage.

There's no more slave market. There is no more lack of liberty. But we have the liberty of the sons of God Most High secured for us by this mediator who was preexistent and who was incarnate for us men and for our salvation.

Application

Well, in conclusion, in terms of the covenantal categories, the Old Testament was designed to be obsolete, or there was a built-in obsolescence. It ought not to strike us as odd. It ought not to strike us as bad. That's the whole point of Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34.

Behold, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with them, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, which they brought, But I will write the law in their hearts. I will give them the Holy Spirit. I will forgive them of their sins. All those things were announced.

We ought not to be shocked when there is this transformation in terms of God's covenantal trajectory. In the second place, as I've mentioned, we need to appreciate the triune God in our salvation. God the Father sends forth the Son. The Son is born of a woman.

He's born under the law with a specific purpose to redeem us who are under the law. We're redeemed, we're adopted as sons. Because you are sons, the Father has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Isn't it a blessed thing to witness the Trinity in such a capacity?

And some persons think that there's just these one or two verses that refer to the Trinity. You know, we've got Matthew 28, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And then we've got the benediction in 2 Corinthians 13. Those are Those are our two big Trinitarian passages.

The New Testament is thoroughly Trinitarian. Paul can't write without being Trinitarian. Paul can't communicate the blessings of salvation without being Trinitarian. Ephesians 1, the Father chose us, the Son redeems us, the Spirit seals and guarantees us.

Ephesians chapter 4, there's one Lord, one Spirit, one God and Father over all. 1 Corinthians, when he's talking about spiritual gifts, Father, Son, and Spirit. Father, Son, and Spirit is everything for the Apostle Paul, and there ought to be a robust Trinitarianism in the Church of Jesus Christ today. We ought to realize there is one God that exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory, but there are personal and relative distinctions between the persons of the triune God.

May I say, come to the Confession Study where we deal with such things. Read our Confession of Faith. Read Burkoff's Systematic Theology. Often times in the Church today, we kind of have this idea about the Trinity, but we really don't spend any time investigating or understanding it.

Brethren, this is foundational to our salvation. This is foundational to our status before a holy God. We must know who He is. We must know how He functions.

We must know Him in His persons, His Father, Son, and Spirit. We must understand the biblical data concerning God. It amazes me today how little attention the people of God give to what is called theology proper, the doctrine of God. You know, especially as Christians, as believers, as blood-bought children of God.

I remember one of the things when my children were little, the incessant questions. Oh, didn't it just tire you out? Why this? Why that?

You know, they're always asking you questions. I'm just kidding. It was great. You know how I got grandkids and they asked me that.

But a lot of times those questions are about you, aren't they? What was it like when you were a kid? What was it like when you were a little guy? How was it when you went to school?

What kind of student were you? All these questions about you. Why? Because your child wants to find out about you.

Isn't that beautiful? Your child actually wants to know something about his parent. That's a good thing. So I was kidding.

I liked the fact that once in a while you get a little irritated with the same question a million times. I told you that a million times. But the idea there is that the child wants to know his father, and yet we come into the church, and I can't be bothered with the doctrine of the Trinity. I can't be bothered with theology proper.

I can't be bothered with the whole idea of impassibility or immutability or God is spirit or the doctrine of divine simplicity. I really just can't be bothered. Just tell me how to function tomorrow. I've got a word for you.

You can't function tomorrow without a knowledge of who God is. If you don't understand theology proper, you need to start studying and reading and learning. If you want to know some books to purchase, you know, call me or email me or text me. There's all kinds of ways to get a hold of each other nowadays.

I will tell you some good books that you should get. Not tell you like you have to read them, but if you're asking for suggestions, I'll be more than happy to suggest because it is that important. How does Jesus describe the essence of eternal life? And this is eternal life.

That we know how to live on Monday? That we know how to have a better Tuesday? That I know how better to relate to my boss at work on Wednesday? No, this is eternal life.

That they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This is eternal life. If we are bored at the idea or horrified at the idea of studying theology on this side of glory, we ought to check our hearts because guess what's going to happen on that side of glory? It's going to be being being blown away by who God is.

That is going to occupy us for all eternity. Isn't that a blessed, blissful, glorious thought? What is your long-term goal? To stand in the presence of the triune God.

That's my long-term goal. That beats any five-year plan, any ten-year plan, any retirement plan, or even any burial plan. If you are in Christ Jesus, the very essence of eternal life for you is to know God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Isn't that blessed and beautiful?

If that is the case, we ought to be a people that mirror that or image that on this side of glory and be a people who study the scriptures to know who is this God, to understand. What he's about? To know something of his relative properties, father and son and spirit. To know something about how these things work according to the word of God.

Brethren, this is the most worthy endeavor. The psalmist said, great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. It's always amazed me that men will spend more time, or men, you know, committed to botany or zoology, or men committed to stamp collecting.

If you are, good for you. But man, imagine looking at stamps for, you know, countless hours. You know, that just does not strike me as something fun, but if that's your cup of tea, you know, great. But people will spend a lot of hours and give a lot of time and give a lot of attention and a lot of energy and their own money and whatnot to pursue the knowledge of a particular created thing.

And we have God. Great are the works of the Lord, they are studied by all who delight in them. So that validates the study of biology, or zoology, or stampology, or I know there's an actual name for that. God created all things and there's a sense where we can study those.

But what more glorious than the work of redemption? What more glorious than what we've just traced or outlined here in Galatians 4, 4-7? What more glorious than to pour our pursuits into understanding this God, this Father, who sent this Son into this world? You know the statement, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son?

You know what makes that amazing? It's that it's this world. It's not the fact that, you know, we always think of God so loved the world, and it's wrongly, wrongly, wrongly interpreted as to mean that Christ came to die for each and every sinner. That's not John's point in that particular verse.

But the interesting thing is God so loved this world, this one. He sent his son into this world. Now, why is that amazing? Because it's wretched, because it's terrible, because it's filled with sinners, because it's filled with people that do wretched and monstrous and horrific things, God sent his son into What does that tell us about God?

He really is loving in a way that we haven't even entertained. He really is gracious in a way that we probably really haven't entertained. He is merciful in a way that we probably really haven't entertained. We move from the world generically and then we look at our own hearts and our own souls and when we see what we were saved from, if that doesn't make us appreciate the reality of sovereign grace, I don't know what will.

If God has saved you, you ought to appreciate and sing forever concerning God's glorious grace. Well, brethren, as we eat this bread and as we drink this cup, we do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And that death specifically outlined, or that death and life specifically outlined in this particular passage was to provide redemption, adoption, reception of the Spirit, and the blessing of spiritual liberty.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word and for this brief description concerning the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for so great a salvation. We pray tonight that you would just continue to encourage our hearts and strengthen us.

We praise you that as the householder, you have provided this meal to us. to refresh us along the way. And may it have that desired effect upon our hearts tonight. And we pray through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:15; 22; 49:10
• 2 Samuel 7
• Psalms 2; 45; 72; 89; 110
• Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 42; 53
• Jeremiah 31:31-34
• Matthew 1:18; 28:19
• John 1:1; 1:14; 1:18; 3:16
• Romans 3; 8:3; 8:17
• 1 Corinthians 12
• 2 Corinthians 5:21; 13:14
• Galatians 2:21; 3:19; 3:26-29; 4:1-7
• Ephesians 1:7; 1:13-14; 4
• Colossians 1:14
• Hebrews 2