Galatians 3

Good Morning, Saylorville! We’re glad that you chose to join us here this morning. My name is Jerrod Leonard. I’m the Youth Ministry’s Pastor here, and it’s my privilege to be speaking this morning. Some of you may know me, but some of you may not. So here’s a picture of my family; my beautiful wife, Alyssa, my oldest Adrianna, and then we have Kenlee and our youngest Aubree who we just had the privilege of adopting earlier this year. And we’ll get more into that here as we go throughout the morning in our sermon titled Adopted Into God’s Family from Galatians chapter 3.

We’re taking a break from our David series here this morning. We’ll get right back into it next week. So if you do have your Bibles with you, open up your Bibles to Galatians chapter 3. We’ll actually spend the bulk of our time on Galatians 4 verses 1 through 7, but to provide a little bit of context, we’ll begin in Galatians 3:27. And I’ll provide a little bit of context for you here and catch you up as to where we are in Galatians here as you open up. Some theologians call this section of Scripture, Galatians chapter four, one through seven, the theological center of the entire book of Galatians. As we pick up here in Galatians chapter three, Paul has already shared that salvation from the penalty and power of sin comes not by works, but by grace through faith. He’s explained the purpose of the law and he will pick up right here at the end of Galatians 3 beginning in verse 27.

On Wednesday nights when we read God’s Word, I always ask the students to stand out of reverence or out of respect for God’s Word. So if you’re able to stand, as we read God’s Word here this morning, Galatians chapter three, verse 27. Here’s what the Word of God says:

Galatians 3:27-29

27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”

Then our main passage for today,

Galatians 4:1-7

1 “I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,

2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the (Holy) Spirit (or the Spirit) of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

This is the word of God, let’s pray.

Father, thank You for Your word. Now let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated.

If you’ve ever been around the process of adoption, you know that adoption is a costly, oftentimes an inconvenient and a messy thing, and yet it is a beautiful thing. It’s not a perfect thing, but it’s certainly a beautiful thing.

And this morning, as we speak on this topic of adoption, we’ll be speaking, of course, about spiritual adoption. We’re gonna see that in Christ you have a new identity and a new inheritance. In Christ you have a new identity is our first point. Beginning in verse 1 and going all the way to verse 5 is where we find that point.

If you’re in Christ, that is, if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, if you’ve trusted in His death, His burial and resurrection from your sins, you have a new identity. Now I don’t assume that all of you have that new identity in Christ this morning. Some people might say, ‘Well, of course, we’re all sons and daughters of God, right, Jerrod?’ Well, yeah, that’s true that we are all created in the image of God, but that’s not true that we are all sons and daughters of God. We have not all been adopted into His family.

I remember the first day that we met Aubree. She came home with us. We’re foster parents, and so she came home with us, and day one she started calling us Mom and Dad. We knew a little bit about her. We’d been told some things about her. We knew a little bit about her personality, some of her likes and dislikes. But we didn’t really know her, right? — until we met her. She may have known some things. They may have told her some things about us, but she didn’t really know us.

Our journey through the adoption process in some ways it mimics our relationship with God, right? Before we meet God, we might know some things about God. You might be here this morning and you may know some things about God. You may even know a lot of things about… you might know more things about God than I know about God. And yet, maybe you haven’t even met Him yet. You’ve read about God, you’ve read the Bible stories, you grew up in church, you know a lot about God, but you have never met Him. Do you know God? Do you know Him as your Abba Father as this passage speaks about?

We have a phrase we often refer to around here at Saylorville Church, More People More Like Jesus. And earlier this year, we went through a series speaking about what that means. More: “M“- Meet Jesus. “O“- Obey His call. “R“- Reflect His ways and “E“- Engage your world. Before you become more like Jesus, that “M” is Meet Jesus. Before you can become more like Jesus, you need to first meet Him. In order to receive that identity, that new identity and adoption as a son or a daughter, first you must meet Jesus.

Last week, Pastor Pat said, “You don’t become an adult to be saved. You actually become a child.” Now that’s not just a nice quote from him. Jesus said this, Matthew 18, verse three.

Matthew 18:3

3 “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The idea here is that you must view yourself as an orphan, lost in need of a heavenly Father, and have faith like a child in order to be saved in order to inherit the kingdom of God. See, far too many of us are happy to learn more and more and more about Jesus without actually meeting Him. Far too many of you are too satisfied with learning more about Jesus and having more knowledge about Jesus without actually having a relationship with Him.

Once we meet Jesus, the next steps in becoming more like Jesus are to obey His call and to reflect His ways. Part of doing that is, over and over we see in Scripture in God’s Word that He is concerned for and loves the widows and the orphans. Over and over you see that throughout Scripture. And if you say you’re a Christian, you’ve met Jesus and you have no concern for widows and orphans, then I’m concerned for you. I’m not sure if we have the heart of God and we’re not, and we say that we know Jesus, but we’re not concerned about the things that He is concerned about, I would be concerned that you may not truly know God.

And I’m not saying that everyone must become a foster parent. I’m not saying that you need to go out and adopt someone into your family necessarily, but some of you should. God might be calling some of you to that. God may truly be calling some of you to step out in faith and to make an eternal impact on a soul by bringing them into your home. And if you’re interested in becoming a foster parent or adoptive parent, myself, I’d be happy to speak with you. We have lots of families here in this church as well that would love to have a conversation with you. But not everyone is called to that. I understand that. And that’s okay. That’s not for everyone, but everyone can do something. You can support those who are called to that.

We have dear family, friends, and family members who have supported us throughout this entire process. I just want to take a few moments to thank you. Thank you for your support of our family through this. There’s literally no way that we could do what God has called us to do without the support of so many. So you know who you are. If you have helped us in the process in any way, shape or form, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Maybe you’re thinking, ‘Why… I’d like to support a family, maybe a foster family or an adoptive family, but I don’t even know where to start, Jerrod. Where should I start?’ Well, I’m glad you asked! We have a ministry here called F.A.M. It’s Family Advocacy Ministry. We’ll have some representatives in the Coffee Cove this morning. We’re making the next step really simple for you here this morning. They’ll be in the Coffee Cove ready to talk to you. Don’t worry if you go and talk to them that they won’t automatically sign you up for anything, okay? But they are happy to answer any questions you may have. Talk to me further about this. How can I support a family that is maybe saying ‘yes’ to bringing a child into their home?

Back to our main passage here, Galatians chapter 4. The language used here in this passage seems to indicate that those who believe are adopted as sons. Now there’s actually two identities available here in the text. Look back with me at verse 1. Option number 1 is that of a slave. Being a slave implies that you have an owner. So what are we slaves to before we are adopted into God’s family? Well, according to the New Testament, maybe specifically Romans 6, if you’d like to read it later, we see that before we are in Christ, we are actually slaves to sin. Jesus talks about this as well in John 8:34, where he says:

John 8:34, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.“

This enslavement to sin began all the way back in the Garden in Genesis chapter three, where we saw Adam and Eve. They were created in the image of God. They had this perfect harmony with God, this perfect relationship… and then they chose sin. And what happened in that moment was that relationship was broken. It was severed. Sin entered the world.

This is the side of adoption that is not often spoken about because it’s uncomfortable. It’s messy. The reason that any child enters into foster care or becomes an orphan and gets to the place of needing to be adopted is because there is brokenness in this world. You see, we can’t fully understand and appreciate the beauty of adoption until we understand why it’s even necessary. See, this world is broken because of sin, and therefore, ultimately, adoption is only necessary because brokenness exists, because sin exists. When you understand how broken this world is, then you actually gain a new understanding and a new appreciation of God’s love for us.

If you’re an adoptive parent, I believe you actually have a very special understanding of God’s love for His kids. Thank you for opening your hearts and your homes to children who need it. If you’re adopted, I mean, like in this world, physically adopted, I believe you have a special understanding of what God’s love is like for His kids. You understand the brokenness that sin brings into this world, and yet the beauty of adoption. Again, I understand it’s not perfect, but it is a beautiful thing.

In a similar way, spiritual adoption is only necessary because brokenness exists, because sin exists. You and I are broken. We are born sinners. We’re all born orphans. Our relationship with God from the beginning is severed. God is holy and we are not. We are sinners in need of adoption. We need to be adopted into God’s family. We need a new identity.

In the Old Testament, God gave us the Law, and the Law reveals our sin, right? It even refers to it here in this passage. In James chapter one, it talks about how the law is a mirror. It reveals our sin. It reveals what’s wrong with us, but it can’t clean us up. It can’t fix our flaws. God’s Law in the Old Testament revealed that we are in fact slaves to sin. And it shows us what God did. God put us under a guardian, a manager, a tutor, the Law to help us recognize that we need to be redeemed.

If you understand the historical context of when Paul was writing this, this letter to the Galatians, it really helps you understand why he is writing in this way. The people Paul that Paul was writing to here in Galatia would have understood that in those days, the head of the family would place their sons under a guardian to direct and discipline them to maturity before they inherit the estate. So basically when a child was younger, that child is no different than a slave. This would have been a common practice in those days.

And so, here in Galatians 4 Paul is saying that we are all slaves to the elementary principles of the world. There are various opinions and commentaries seeking to interpret this phrase, “the elementary principles of the world,” and that’s up for debate. What’s not up for debate, what’s abundantly clear in God’s Word as you read it, is that God doesn’t leave us to those elementary principles of this world. He doesn’t leave us orphaned. In verse four, he says:

Galatians 4:4-5

4 “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law,

5 to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

See, we just celebrated this a few days ago at Christmas time. When the fullness of time had come, when the timing was just right, God sent His Son, Jesus, to be born into this world.

I love the message last week speaking about recapturing the holiness of this season. Sometimes we can become so busy at this time of year, we become complacent and used to the Christmas story, that we forget how truly holy and AWEsome this time of year is that we celebrate Jesus’ birth. We’re so worried about getting that perfect gift for those that we love, that we forget about the ultimate gift that came to this earth, humbled Himself to free us from our slavery of sin so that we can be adopted into His family.

This passage goes on to explain that when Jesus was born, He was actually born into this world under the Law.

You see, the Law is God’s perfect standard. Adam in the garden and Eve, they failed to meet God’s perfect standard. Israel, you read the entire Old Testament over and over and over, they failed to keep God’s Law. You and I, we fail time after time. You see, we can’t meet God’s perfect standard. The Bible is clear about that. We all like sheep, have gone astray. Every one has turned to his own way. [Isaiah 53:6] There is none righteous, no not one. [Romans 3:10] All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. [Romans 3:23] We can’t keep God’s perfect standard.

But Jesus, He succeeded! He kept God’s perfect standard that we could not. Through His life, He completely fulfilled the Law’s demands. He lived the life that we could never live, and then He died the death that we deserved. His death was payment for our sins. It was the payment that was necessary to free us from the bondage and the slavery to sin. And when Jesus rose three days later, He rose victorious over sin and death. And now Jesus invites us into a relationship, a loving relationship with God, the Father. So when you repent from your sins, when you believe in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for your sins, you go from being a slave to being a son. You’re adopted into God’s family and you receive a new identity.

The day we adopted Aubree, she legally became our child. When the judge dropped his gavel, he decreed that it was true, and in that moment it was true. On that day she received a new name. She even has a new birth certificate. I should have probably known this, but did you know that when a child is adopted, they receive a new birth certificate? It makes sense. On that birth certificate has me listed as the father and my wife listed as the mother. On her new birth certificate, she is Aubree Joy Leonard. Here’s a picture of her on adoption day. Anyone wonder why we named her middle name Joy? She is joyful, and it’s our prayer that Aubree would not only be adopted into our family, but into God’s family, because it’s in God’s family where she can experience joy everlasting.

When you’re adopted into God’s family, John 3:3 says that you are born again. See, on that day, it’s almost like she was born again. She received a new identity, a new birth certificate. So you’re no longer identified with the old life and the enslavement to sin. You go from being slaves to sin to being slaves to righteousness. You become a child of the Creator of the universe.

So, have you been born again? Do you have a new identity? Have you been adopted into God’s family? When you’re adopted into God’s family, you receive a new identity, and in Christ you have a new inheritance. Look back with me at verse six:

Galatians 4:6-7

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!

7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Here we see Paul uses the word “Abba.” Some of you may be familiar with this word. It’s an Aramaic word for “Dad.” It speaks of intimacy. It carries the idea of a small child who intrinsically trusts their daddy. If you’re a father in the room, or maybe even a mother in the room, you know this kind of intimacy. Or even if you were once a child, which, last I checked, that was all of us! — you understand this craving, this desire for intimacy. Just this past week, Aubree came up to me and said, “Daddy, can we snuggle on the couch?” Little children naturally crave intimacy. Maybe that’s why God often calls us “little children” all throughout Scripture. I find it interesting that God never refers to us as adult Christians. He always refers to us as “little children.” We should never outgrow this desire for intimacy with our Abba Father. No matter where you are in your relationship with your earthly Father, let me encourage you to cultivate a desire for intimacy with your Heavenly Father.

Theologian J.I. Packer, he was asked, “What is a Christian?” — and this was his answer. He said:

“The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.”

He goes on to say:

“If you want to know how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he or she makes of the thought of being God’s child and having God as Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls their worship and prayers and their whole outlook on life, it means they do not understand Christianity very well at all.” J.I. Packer

Part of the decree on the adoption day for Aubree was that she now receives the rights and privileges of being our child, including full and complete rights of inheritance. When we’re adopted into God’s family, we also receive an inheritance in Christ. We don’t have time to go into all of it, but for starters, you get a new life, a new identity, a new home with God.

You might notice that here in this passage, it seems to be speaking directly to sons. Well, that’s because the context in which this was written in, again in those days, the oldest son would receive the inheritance, And then he would distribute that inheritance accordingly to his siblings.

So what does that mean for us? Jesus took what we deserved. He took our sin upon Himself on the cross, and then He distributes to us an inheritance that we don’t deserve, an inheritance that we did not earn, adoption into the family of God along with all of its rights and privileges. Jesus distributes a new inheritance to us if you believe in Him. So if you’re in Christ, you have a new inheritance.

I interact a lot with teenagers, of course, being the Youth Ministry’s Pastor here on a regular basis, and they’re all looking for identity, belonging and purpose. They’re asking questions like, ‘Who am I?’— ‘Where do I fit?’— ‘And what difference can I even make?’ And if we’re honest, as we grow old, we continue to ask those questions. We continue to ask, ‘Who am I?’— ‘Where do I fit?’— ‘And what difference can I even make in this world?’

Identity — Who am I? Is your identity in your job? — your favorite sports team? — maybe your hobbies, your talents, your family? I don’t know. Maybe for you it’s something else. What are you seeking to find your identity in?

Belonging — Where do you find belonging? Ultimately God has designed us to belong to Him. But as we live in this sin cursed world, He has designed us to live in community with others.

Purpose — We’re coming to the end of 2025 here about to begin a new year. It’s just around the corner. So what’s your purpose for this next year? Is growing intimately close with your Abba Father a part of those plans at all?

If you’re in Christ, you have an answer to all these questions. We find our identity, our belonging, and purpose in a relationship with God Almighty, the God of the entire universe.

But sometimes living this Christian life is a wearisome task, right? Sometimes it’s not always easy living for Christ.

I was just speaking with a man yesterday and we were talking about how man, the Christian life, it’s not an easy one. It is the best life… we believe that… but it’s not always easy. I think maybe that’s why later in the book of Galatians Paul has an encouragement for you, brother or sister who might be weary this morning. Galatians 6 verse 9 says:

Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

So if you are truly in Christ, you have a new identity and a new inheritance. As we enter into this new year, let’s live like it. Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, thank You for this passage of Scripture. Thank You for the love that You displayed through Jesus Christ: His death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf. Thank You for adopting us into Your family when we didn’t deserve it. Thank You for sending Jesus, and the fact that we remember that during this Christmas time, so that this adoption could even be possible, thank You for Your love for us. I pray that as we go forward into this next year, I pray God that we would desire to be intimate with You. Pray that we would grow not only in our knowledge of who You are, but who You want us to be as Your sons and Your daughters, in Jesus’ name.