Galatians 3:23–4:11

0:00 Well, good morning, I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is wonderful to be in the house of the Lord together on this Lord's Day, and wonderful to greet you all. It is a wonderful privilege to be a part of this assembly. And to those of you who are a part of this congregation, I bring you greetings to those who are visiting, warm greetings. We are glad that you are here. falls to me by glad assignment to direct our attention to the Word of God, we're going to be turning to Galatians chapter 3 and reading into Galatians chapter 4. This is a very interesting church in that when you are asked to preach, you are not given any suggested text, you are given unsuggested texts. I was encouraged to direct my expository attention anywhere but Isaiah or John. Therefore, my greatest temptation was to preach intimations

1:08 of the prophet Isaiah in the Gospel of John. But no, we'll turn to Galatians this morning, and we will begin reading in Galatians, beginning in verse 23 and continuing through the first 11 verses of Galatians chapter 4. Hear now the word of God. Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs, according to promise.

2:14 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. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way, we were also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to

3:14 be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Let's pray together. Father, we are just so thankful for every verse, every sentence, every phrase, every single punctuation mark of your Word. Father, we are thankful for every jot and tittle as we are taught to be. We are thankful for every word that proceedeth in the mouth of the Lord. Father, thank you for speaking to us, loving us enough to speak to us, loving us so much that You speak to us. Father, we would hear Your Word this day.

3:57 Open our eyes that we may see. Open our ears that we may hear. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, you may have noticed a change in the season, and by that I do not reference the weather, but the decorations. It's that time again. Mary and I were just in Texas where we were invited to dinner in a home in a very wonderful neighborhood in Austin. And the kind of common culture of this neighborhood is that all the houses would be decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. We're reaching the point where you have to wonder why you ever take them down. There is a race to get them up. The stores are putting up Christmas decorations before Halloween. I'm not really complaining. I guess I am. It brings out the

5:00 Puritan in me. The Puritans had nothing to do with this. And that points to a distinction in the Reformation, by the way. One of the ways we need to look at this, including the alighted greenery in this room, one way to look at this is that the Lutherans beat the Calvinists, because that's what's required for this to happen. Right here at Third Avenue Baptist Church, proudly in the Reformed tradition, the Lutherans won. They're also Germans. That had something to do with it. There's a distinction between the Lutheran tradition and the Reformed or the Calvinist tradition in understanding what is called the regulative principle. And that is first and primarily related to worship, what is lawful in worship, what is not lawful in worship.

5:55 And in the wake of the Reformation, both the Lutherans and the Calvinists agreed that the Scripture must regulate worship. The question was, how exactly does that work? And if you've been to a traditional Lutheran service, it is definitely based in the Reformation, but it includes things that would not be included in the Reformed tradition in worship. And that would include festival days and feast days and many other things. The Lutheran principle, the regulative principle, comes down to what is not forbidden in Scripture is allowed.

6:32 In Geneva, the Calvinist tradition came up with the opposite, which is what is not commanded in Scripture is not allowed. Well, this room testifies to the fact that the doctrine is Calvinist, but the decorations are Lutheran. That's a more recent development, by the way, than you might know, and it's not just a Lutheran victory, it's a German victory. The British, the English in particular, were not so much for this kind of decoration, and certainly not for trees or anything like that, decorated trees, very Druid, very German, very Teutonic, very dark. That's why you put lights on it.

7:18 Evergreen, we're leaning into fertility cults here. Not what you tell your children when you put up the Christmas tree. No, this is actually the victory of the Germans, the Lutherans, over the Calvinists, in this case even the Church of England. It was the victory of Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha over his wife Victoria the Queen. It was Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the prince consort, the husband to Queen Victoria, who brought in the German traditions into the royal family there in Britain. And the royal family, by the way, on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly in the 19th century, set the stage for what was acceptable and what was unacceptable, even down to the middle class. And so, the picture came in a Thomas Nast cartoon that was copied from a British newspaper of the Prince Consort and Queen Victoria and their children, and they were celebrating Christmas, and there was a Christmas tree in the middle of the room that was revolutionary.

8:21 It was revolutionary in the middle of the 19th century in Britain. It was revolutionary in the United States. And thus, because Victoria and her family were doing it, all will do it. And now we're in a race to do it. Some of you have done it already. Others are getting ready. It is that time of the year because it just seems right. And by the way, as Calvinist as I am, I am not lamenting the Lutheran victory. We too shall have a tree.

8:53 It shall be adorned with decorations. And there it is, just a little bit of Lutheranism in our Calvinist home and in this place of worship where we are gathered together this day. There's something about the change of the season, and now that Thanksgiving has been observed, we come in and we expect all of this now because our attention is turning to the festival of the incarnation. Our attention is turning to Christmas. And there's an awkwardness in this for us, and this is this Lutheran versus Calvinist understanding of the regulative principle, just how much should such a celebration be the focus, because festival days, which, by the way, are referenced in our text, not positively, but festival days do tend to focus our attention. There's something very good about that, because we are an inattentive people. We need the focusing of our attention.

9:53 And yet, the world's run away with Christmas, and we know it, and we're frustrated by it, And we want to have nothing to do with it, except it's like organized crime. It just tends to suck us all in. We need biblical grounding, and that's why we're turning to this passage. My argument will be, first of all, that here in Galatians, the chapter and verse divisions ought not to distract us from the flow of Paul's argument.

10:26 The flow of Paul's argument here is the gospel in summary. And in this particular passage, in the last verses of Galatians chapter 3, and in the first verses of Galatians chapter 4, we actually have this marvelous, detailed summary of the gospel. Speaking of England, Mary and I were recently there, along with many friends. And one of the places we went is one of the places you go if you go to England with me, and that's to Windsor Castle. Now, my interest in going to Windsor Castle is, most importantly, St. George's Chapel. I just love standing in that place, that royal chapel, where I know at one point in space and time and history, John Knox stuck out his finger at the young boy King Edward VI and said, you ought not to have your priests bow to the altar. Now, I would love to have been there. But I was not there then. I can go back there and stand in that room, though, and think

11:30 about this. And the weight of history falls upon me. That's what I wanted to see. And of course, otherwise at Windsor Castle, the royal residence, one of the things you get to see is the great chamber where the Order of the Garter is commemorated. But you know, that's not what many people go to Windsor Castle to see. What many people go to Windsor Castle to see is a line twice as long as the line for the entrance into the garter hall. It's for a dollhouse, Queen Mary's dollhouse. Queen Mary, the consort of King George V at the turn of the century, very dignified royal. She was originally Mary of Tech. She married the prince who had become George V, titanic figure in British history. Queen Mary had this dollhouse, and it's not just a dollhouse, it's a 112th replica of much of Windsor Castle. And it's an amazing dollhouse.

12:28 The lines are so long. And by the way, it does redefine dollhouse. She was, after all, the queen when the British Empire was at its height. It's not just women and children who want to see it, its entire families. A lot of people just want to go see it. Do you know that this 112th replica of Windsor Castle has flushing toilets? I don't know how you do that. I don't know how you create a dollhouse at 112th scale where the toilets flush. I frankly don't know why you'd want to, but that's a different question. But nonetheless, it is a fully equipped dollhouse as if a doll might live in it. Do you know that there are cars, and there are cars from the early 20th century that are in the garage, and their motors work, at least that's what we're told.

13:18 You know, they went to all these businesses, and they said, Queen is building a dollhouse, and it's going to be the most magnificent dollhouse in the world, and we would like to have your product in it, but you'll have to pay to have it produced at 1 12th scale in order that it could be in the dollhouse. Why do you want to see it? You want to see it because of the sheer freakness of the thing. It's just bizarre. Here's this little replica, but that is what's interesting. It's small, but it's in full detail, full detail. What I want us to see in Galatians chapter 3 verse 23 through chapter 4 verse 11 is that the gospel's there. It's in detail. It's in miniature. In just this passage, out of the book of Galatians, out of Paul's letter to the church at Galatia. We have a miniature that is in full detail. Everything works. It's all here. And it's one of the greatest thematic passages in our understanding of the gospel. And in particular, it includes such famous passages as, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth.

14:32 his son. But in order to understand this passage that begins in Galatians chapter 3, we need to rehearse a bit what's going on in Galatians. And it's a very strange letter. It's a hard letter. Go back to Galatians chapter 1. Let's just remind ourselves of what we're dealing with here. Paul begins by identifying himself, Paul an apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers who were with me to the churches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever. Amen. So good so far. Very traditional apostolic greeting for an apostolic letter or epistle. It's very characteristic of the other letters of the apostle Paul. In retrospect, you look at it, there is some loaded information even

15:36 in those first few verses where Paul's making very clear his apostolic authority. It doesn't come from men or through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. But then after wishing to them grace and peace, look at verse 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. It's an amazing thing. Absolutely amazing. The Apostle Paul offers this word of apostolic authority, followed by the warmness of his apostolic greeting. And then the very next thing he says is, I am shocked that so many of you are deserting the gospel of Christ.

16:24 Can you imagine a more severe indictment against any congregation? Just imagine that someone were to write to Wes and say, I am shocked that you are so quickly deserting the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then backing that up with specific accusations of distortion and subversion and abandonment understood in this light it takes our breath away this is a very hard letter it's a very substantial letter paul is doing two things by the inspiration of the holy spirit simultaneously he is affirming the reality of the one gospel that saves and he is indicting the false gospel that kills. Now, what's going on there in the church in Galatia? It's very clear to us in the context of how the Holy Spirit has inspired Paul to write this letter. The contents of the letter, the structure of the letter make very, very clear that the problem was a form of the Judaizing heresy. And you say, what is that? It is to return to a Judaizing principle of the supremacy of the

17:33 law. It is to abandon the gospel and to go back under a comfortable and calculated legalism. Now, something we need to note is that, at least one of the reasons we need to turn to Galatians from time to time, is that that tendency is closer to us than we would like to think. Egalism is easier to handle than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's easier, and we are tempted to crawl back into this easier position in which we evaluate ourselves by the law, and we turn our attention to the keeping of the law as an end unto itself.

18:22 We are moralistic creatures, and as fallen moralistic creatures, nothing fuels our moralism like the law. But there's more to it than that. This is not just a greater appreciation for the law. This is a repudiation of the gospel. Paul's not accusing them of an imbalance in their understanding of law and gospel. He's accusing them of abandoning the gospel itself. You have so quickly deserted Him who called you in the grace of Christ. As we look through Galatians, we can see how Paul unfolds his argument. First of all, there's only one gospel. He makes that very clear. And then in verse 8, he says, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. This is fascinating.

19:20 Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. All right. Let me take you to Salt Lake City. You go to Salt Lake City, you look at the Mormon tabernacle. What's at the top of the spire? What they declare to be the angel Moroni, who supposedly came and brought a new gospel to a late adolescent boy named Joseph Smith.

20:02 Mormonism is based upon an angelic authority, it is claimed. It is not really clear at times whether the angel who was supposed to have visited Joseph Smith was Nephi or Moroni, but Moroni is the primary angel whose authority is claimed. You know, it's almost as if we were warned about this, right? It's almost as if we were warned in Scripture that angelic authority bringing a new gospel is to be rejected out of hand. But that's exactly what Paul wrote to the Galatians.

20:44 Putting an angel on the top of the spire in Salt Lake City doesn't give it gospel authority. It announces the repudiation of gospel authority. Paul himself says to the church in Galatia, If you measure me as you must, measure me by the gospel that was given by Christ to the apostles and is now declared to you as testified by the law and the prophets.

21:15 Then we look continuously through Galatians. What's going on here? Look at chapter 2. Look at chapter 2. Very interesting. Look at verses 4 through 5. Paul writes, yet because of false brothers secretly brought in who've slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery, to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. So again, now you understand there are people going into churches, agents of the repudiation of the gospel, agents of another gospel which is no gospel at all.

21:53 They've been secretly brought in. They've slipped in to spy so that they might bring us into slavery. Look at verse 21, chapter 2. Paul declares, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. It's an astounding statement. Paul is saying to those in Galatia who were preaching this false gospel and were taking the church back into legalism, if you are right, Christ died in vain.

22:32 You are preaching the repudiation of the gospel as accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, as promised by God to those who come to Christ by faith. You are repudiating the meaning of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are repudiating the meaning and the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If indeed you're right, Christ died for no purpose. Now, let me just offer to you an apologetic principle here that might be helpful. Every God-honoring, correct biblical theology continually points to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

23:14 continuously points to the death, substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ and to His resurrection from the dead. That's why it's central to the New Testament preaching. That's why it's central to Christian creeds and confessions. That's why it's central to our telling of the gospel. That means, in contrast, that any theological system that seeks to divert attention from the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, that seeks to direct attention from the crucifixion, that seeks to direct attention from the empty tomb, that is a theology to be repudiated, that is a heresy to be avoided, and as the Apostle Paul makes clear, confronted. In chapter 2 we see the continuation of what Paul has begun. In chapter 3 we come to understand that there are those who hold these false doctrines who have infiltrated the church, but we also have an example in chapter 3, and that's the example of Abraham.

24:15 And so right in the center of it all, Paul pulls the trump card in Judaism. This is the trump card. If you're speaking to a congregation of those who largely made up of those who had been Jews, who become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, bring in Abraham. Bring in Abraham, because the very definition of what it means to be Jewish is to be sons of Abraham, the sons and daughters of Abraham. That's who they declared themselves to be. They declared themselves to be the sons of Abraham to Jesus. And the Apostle Paul says, if you think that makes your point, you don't understand Abraham. Paul makes a very similar argument in Romans chapter 4, but here in Galatians chapter 3, listen to what he says. Look at verse 7.

25:02 know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham look at verse 5 does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness you want to point to Abraham great great great Abraham's exactly where we want to go how was Abraham declared righteous it was not because of his works, it was because he believed God's promises. He believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness. The very same argument Paul makes in Romans chapter 4, he makes here in Galatians chapter 3. You want to talk about Abraham? Well, let's talk about Abraham. And then follows the passage in which Paul describes the righteousness that comes by faith and the promise that the righteous shall live by faith.

25:59 And then we come to verse 23. This amazing passage. I want us to see two couplets here, just very quickly. It's easy to understand the structure of this passage. It's two contrasts. Contrast number one is when the law was our guardian, is contrasted to when the fullness of time had come. So, it's a contrast between condition one, which is when the law was our guardian, and condition two, when the fullness of time has come. The second is the contrast between being a slave under the law and being the sons and daughters of God, heirs of the promise.

26:50 Those two couplets are going to come up in contrast again and again and again in this passage. And as I said, it's the gospel in miniature, but also in detail. And just a small number of verses here, 11 and chapter 4, just the very tail end of chapter 3, we have the entirety of the gospel because this is where the Apostle Paul reaches the climax of his argument. This is what the gospel is, this is what the gospel isn't. And as we are now focusing our attention on what it means to celebrate that the fullness of time has come, I can think of no better passage to which we might turn.

27:26 Slip first at where we are in Romans 3 verse 23 where we begin. Paul writes as we heard now before faith came we were held captive under the law imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed so then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now the faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

28:01 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. It's an amazing passage. And there's a word here that we might not have expected. And it's a word that makes us think a little more carefully about what Paul's actually saying here in order that we do not misconstrue what he's saying. Paul does not despise the law. He does not. what testifies of Christ, what promised Christ, the law and the prophets, the Scriptures.

28:34 I mentioned the distinction on the regulative principle between the Lutherans and the Calvinists, and we'll give the Lutherans the decorations. But there's also a distinction between the Lutheran Reformation and the Calvinist Reformation and understanding the role of the law. Now, operationally, there's more common ground than might be expected, and I'm going to explain why. The short answer is to why there's more common ground has to do with children, okay?

29:07 Strange way to go. I promise you it's true. Luther, of course, coming to this shocking understanding of the gospel as by faith alone, by grace alone, the merits of Christ alone. And Luther leaned into the alone, and he contrasted the law and the gospel in such a way that in the Lutheran Reformation, and certainly in Luther's own early years, he said that the Christian ought never to preach the law, ever. Just don't preach the law. You preach the law, it's at the expense of the gospel. Now, there's a sense in which that kind of sounds like Paul here in Galatians, except there's something very, very important in this passage. We're told that indeed we were captives under the law, but the law is described as our guardian. Twice the law is described as our guardian. In the Lutheran Reformation, Luther,

30:08 especially the early Luther, said you must never, ever under any circumstance preach the law, because the law is the enemy of grace. And along came Calvin, I think, far more biblically to say the law and the gospel are to be set in contrast. But it is not because they are enemies. It is because the law prepares us for the gospel. The law is God's gift.

30:40 There is grace in the law, Calvin argued, for it keeps us alive until Christ. I told you there was actually more operational common ground, and that's because Luther married Katie. Sweet, sweet, sweet thing. Former friar, former nun, now husband and wife. They became mother and father. You know who convinced Luther of the necessity of preaching and teaching the law?

31:13 his son, his firstborn, because he came to understand, boy, you are not going to survive without the law, nor will we survive you without the law. Actually, he was making the point of the apostle Paul. The law is not to be despised. The law is to be understood as that which keeps us alive until the gospel, until the fullness of time has come. How is a child kept alive? It is not by disobedience, but by being taught obedience. The law is a guardian, and the guardian is the one who is appointed on behalf of another. In this case, the picture here is of a son who isn't old enough to bear the responsibility of being a son. He's not ready yet to be a son in terms of the fullness of being an heir. He isn't ready to assume his role in terms of the ownership of all things.

32:15 He is not old enough yet, and so assigned to him is a guardian to act on his behalf. That's a sweet picture of the law, isn't it? It's a sweet picture of the law. Sweet for parents, right? It's sweet for all of us who are in so many ways still under the law. Ask the FBI. We're still under the law. Ask the person in the car with the flashing lights who pulls you over. You're still under the law. But we're not under the law in the sense that we were under the law before Christ came. But this is speaking, of course, of the law, the Old Testament law, the covenant that God made that He gave through the prophet Moses there at Sinai. And by the way, there's something in the background to that too, because what we sometimes forget is that at Sinai, it was not just that it was the presence of God on the mountain and the mountain that trembled. There's also direct reference to the heavenly ones who were witnesses.

33:20 So, the angels were witnesses to the giving of the law, which, by the way, is mirrored in the gospel narratives by the fact that who declares the birth of the baby? Again, don't despise angels. Angels have an important role. Angels were there to celebrate the giving of the law, the heavenly ones. They're in Exodus. The angels are there to say, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Trust an angel who preaches the gospel.

33:55 despise an angel who distracts from the gospel. The Apostle Paul comes here, and as he describes the law, he describes the problem, but he makes very clear there is a role for the law. The law kept us alive. The heavenly Father, the righteous judge, the creator of all, the one who gave us the law because He loves us, and His love for us meant that He did not want us to kill each other. His love for us was that He wanted children to honor their parents. He gave it to us because He wanted to make very clear, thou shalt not commit adultery. The entirety of the law was not just to indict us, although it does that. That's the most important gospel thing that it does. It indicts us of our sin. It shows us our need for Christ.

34:47 But do not despise the fact that the law kept us alive until such time we could hear the gospel. And by the way, we're Baptists, so we really believe that's not just the story of Israel and not just the story of the church, it's the story of our family, right? We're Baptists because we don't baptize babies. We believe that children are to be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord inside Christian homes. The gospel is to be preached to them, but the law is also to be taught to them. They are to be disciplined in the way of the Lord so that they too, just like Israel corporately, such that they too may live long enough to hear the gospel. And then when we receive them into the church, we do not receive them as those who are now under the law, but those who are in Christ, and they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are joint heirs with Christ. They're joint heirs with fellow believers. Stark language the Apostle Paul uses here,

35:55 and it's just important for us to recognize the distinction between the law and the gospel is very clear here, but the gospel is not held up as that which is God's grace, and the law denied as being absolutely devoid of grace. No, the law was not absolutely devoid of grace. It kept us alive as a guardian. But the law cannot save. And this is why we have the New Testament teaching that what the law was powerless to do, God did for us in Christ Jesus.

36:35 This passage is sweet. before faith came. I want us to understand, and I think it's appropriate in the Sunday after Thanksgiving as our minds are turning, there's a before and after that's declared by our celebration of Christmas and the festival, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a before Christ came, and that's why so many churches and Christians think of Advent, because Advent is a time of explicit anticipation and preparation for the celebration of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

37:08 And so even where you have Advent candles, you have the declaration of the promise, the promise of the prophets, the promise of the babe who'd be born in Bethlehem, the promise of the one who would be the Messiah of Israel's King, the one who would be the consolation of Israel, the one who would be the Savior of sinners. The time's important here. Now, before faith came. So there's a before and after, and the before and after is faith. It's an amazing thing because it comes up repeatedly in this passage.

37:40 The great dividing line in history is faith and before faith. Now what's clear here is that's entirely Christological. It is Christ who comes. It is the incarnation. And that's why the Apostle Paul will say, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. We know it's the great dividing line in history. We speak of it that way. It is. it's the great dividing line in theology, it's Christ or everything else, it's Christ or everyone else, it's the gospel or anything else. Listen to what else the Apostle Paul has to say here.

38:19 After speaking of the law as our guardian, he gives the contrast. So, it was now before faith came in verse 23, but in verse 25, now the faith has come. So, there's the juxtaposition, and that's why we have to preach the gospel this way in light of the law. There was a time when it was all law, but now the gospel has come. Back then, but now. Before faith came, verse 25, now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. Now, by the way, this does not mean that we are not obligated to a moral law.

39:05 In the New Testament, it's translated from the law of Moses to the law of Christ. In other words, we're to live lives of holiness. This is another distinction between the Calvinist and the Lutheran Reformations. It's not a lecture in church history, but look, it leaps out in this passage. It leaps out repeatedly in this passage. We are to live holy and sanctified lives. That's one of the great distinctions that came from Geneva and from the Reformed tradition, which is channeled right through into Baptist life.

39:42 That's why we feel so much continuity with the Puritans. That's why we feel so much continuity with the preaching of Calvin. It is because it's a call to the gospel. It's also a call to those who are Christ's people to live holy lives. The Apostle Paul is not calling for antinomianism here. He is not calling for a freedom from the law. He is calling for an understanding of the power of the gospel. And time riven in two between the before faith came and now that faith has come.

40:16 So we needed a guardian before faith came. And the law was that guardian. But to those who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are now sons and daughters. We are heirs with Christ. We have come of age in the picture of being an heir and we no longer need a guardian. All the promises of Christ now come to us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and we do not stand in juxtaposition to Christ as those who have a guardian but rather as those who have a savior.

40:52 and that's of incalculable distinction we don't celebrate christmas because we have a better guardian we don't offer the gospel and take the gospel to the ends of the earth in order to preach of a better guardian but rather that now that faith has come and the fullness of time god sent forth his son we are not now in need of a guardian we are here in the name of a savior and he is Christ the Lord for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith you know we read that it comes up it rolls very easily off our tongues we are all sons of God and as this very passage makes clear that means sons and daughters but the point here is that in this system of primogeniture it is the son who receives everything and men and women boys and girls who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are all legally described as bearing

41:57 the right of sons. Full inheritance. No longer in need of a guardian. And then comes this verse that is shocking to people because, well, it should be troubling to us because it's so often taken out of context. In context, we understand exactly what it means. Verse 27, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. That's a Pauline theme. Christ is not merely the Savior whose substitutionary atonement and resurrection from the dead accomplish what is needful for our salvation and salvation, redemption from sin. It is also a saving work that we put on. We take off and we put on. We put on Christ. And there's this verse, verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female,

43:01 for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, errs according to promise. Okay, so there's a flow of argument, and you'll notice that people want to take Galatians 3.28 out of context. Do not rob it of its power. Paul is saying here that in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the saving work of Christ, there is no distinction between male and female. There is no distinction between slave and free. There's no distinction between Jew and Greek. That's one of the most revolutionary explosive statements that could be made.

43:36 in Christ, there are those who are sinners saved by grace, living in obedience to Christ, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, growing together in grace. In the gospel, there is no distinction, and Paul here is clearly talking about the gospel. Paul is not saying that the church is non-binary. Obviously not.

44:08 He is not here declaring an equal rights amendment. Discussion to be had, not from this passage. He's not declaring that there are no longer those legally described as slaves and legally described as free. That's not his point. His point is that in the gospel, none of that matters. He doesn't mean there's not a distinction in roles between husbands and wives. He will make that very clear in his own Holy Spirit-inspired writings, both in the home and in the church.

44:40 That's not what he's talking about here. What he's talking about here, however, is not less than what the world wants to make of it, but more than what so many want to make of it. It is the absolute declaration that in Christ, none of these earthly distinctions matter when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That means that there is never a single human being that you and I will ever confront to whom we should not preach the gospel, to whom we should not bear witness of the gospel. Any earthly distinction is a false distinction when it comes to the gospel. The only important division in history, according to the Apostle Paul here, is that before Christ came and now that Christ has come, now that faith has come. The only important distinction is between those who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and been redeemed and those who have not. And our obligation to the entire world, as the Apostle Paul himself will say, is to preach the gospel in season, out of season.

45:48 Chapter 3, in its main argument, goes right into chapter 4. I mean, Paul says, just explaining himself, that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different than a slave. He's the owner of everything. And so this is a promise picture of Israel. It's a promise picture of Israel. In other words, Israel was actually the heir of the promise. But before Christ, they might as well have been just slaves to the law.

46:24 But now Christ has come. And then the miracle is that the gospel means that it's not just about a promise picture given to the Jewish people. It's a promise picture given to sinful humanity. Thus, we're included in the economy of salvation. I mean that the heir, as long as it is a child, is, well, he's not the heir until he is declared to be the heir. There's a before and after. In the same way also, when we were children, we're enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

47:03 What in the world is Paul talking about? There are very quickly two things. Most importantly, the law itself. The law is elementary. And that's why it can be summarized in the Ten Commandments. The law is that which is primary preparatory. But the Apostle Paul is not writing here only to Jewish converts to Christianity. He's also writing knowing there are Gentile converts to Christianity. And that term elementary in Greek philosophy had a very specific meaning.

47:37 And the best way to understand it very quickly is that if we do not worship God, we'll worship elementary principles. We'll worship earth, air, fire, water. We will worship power. We will worship wealth. We're going to worship something base and elementary. And the Apostle Paul just warns the church, there's the temptation to want to go back to that. There is the temptation to go back to that. But the Apostle Paul says that's the same way that you just need to understand that's a temptation to go back to being a captive to the law, to giving up your status as sons of God by grace in faith in Christ and going back to the guardianship of the laws as if the law is king and the final word in the gospel never happened. Or as Paul has already said, it's as if Christ did not die for our sins and was not raised from the dead.

48:30 Very quickly, in the same way, we, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But, verse 4, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of God into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. When the fullness of time had come. You know, when we speak of the coming of Christ, and we speak of Christ's birth in Bethlehem, and we know this Pauline passage, when the fullness of time had come, we can't help ourselves from speculating about why the fullness of time came then. What was then visible as the fullness of time?

49:19 And you know, throughout the history of the Christian church, there's been speculation about what that means. There are hints in Scripture itself. So, this is not just something of speculation. Because in Scripture itself, for instance, in the introduction to both Luke and Matthew, there are explicit references to, for instance, the reality of Rome. Now, that's going to loom large over the entire New Testament. It looms large over Christianity, just understanding the background of Rome, especially in the first century. But there are at least four things you could think of that might play into what it means for the fullness of time to have come. For one thing, you have the Pax Romana. You have the peace of Rome for the first time in the first century.

50:05 Just about the time that Christ was born, there is more relative peace in the world there in the Mediterranean basin than had ever been known before. And it lasted for a matter of centuries, this Pax Romana. And of course, this was undertaken by Rome's military might. But nonetheless, there was a peace that enabled people to go from one place to another in the entire Mediterranean world. There was a peace that enabled stability. There was a peace that enabled even a census to be undertaken by the order of Caesar, the emperor. That turns out to be important because it explains why Joseph would take Mary to his ancestral city, the city of David, which is Bethlehem. That might be a part of this, the peace of Rome. The Roman roads, the system of commerce that Rome put in place allowed people to travel in a way that terrestrially, on land, travel had never been possible before. There had always been a silk road from the east going

51:10 to the northwest towards Europe that long predates this. But the system of roads that is found now within the entire Mediterranean world and extending well into Europe. Again, you can go to the northern reaches of Scotland and you can find the Roman roads. You can go into much of Asia and find the Roman roads. You can go throughout North Africa and find the Roman roads. That enabled the apostle Paul, for instance, and the other apostles, the missionaries of the gospel, to go where they otherwise could not have gone on land. There were roads. There was a common coinage. There were trade routes. There was a common language. There are actually two common languages. And the most important aspect, the common language was actually Koine Greek, the inheritance of the Roman Empire from the Greek Empire. And eventually, of course, there'd be the development of Latin, but the most important thing here is the development of Koine Greek, so that a document

52:12 could be written, such as the New Testament written in Greek. It could be written, and it could be read throughout the entire Mediterranean basin, because literate people could read and understand Greek, something that was not possible until just about this time. But you know, the biblical conception of the fullness of time, it doesn't say those things are irrelevant, but it just points to the fact that the fullness of time more than anything else means that the guardianship of the law had come to an end. The law and the prophets have been pointing to the need for a Savior. And the prophets had given detailed teachings, indeed prophecies, about the Christ and when and where He would come and what He would do and what He would accomplish for our salvation.

53:09 When the fullness of time came, that's at least a part of what we are talking about when our minds and hearts shift to thinking about Christmas. We know that this isn't a seasonal truth, but because we are finite human beings, sometimes seasons help us to focus our thoughts that ought to be our constant thoughts 365 days a year, the fullness of time has come. It's such a breathtaking statement. Just let it sink in for a moment. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth. He didn't just send His Son. He sent forth His Son. It's beautiful language. It is so active. It's not just that God sent His Son. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Oh, wait just a minute.

53:57 oh we're not done yet born under the law Jesus was born under the law yes we're only saved because Jesus was born under the law had he not been born under the law he could not have perfectly fulfilled the law if he had not perfectly fulfilled the law we would still be under the law you know a part of Christmas this doesn't get translated so far as I know into a single Christmas card. I've never seen one born under the law. But brothers and sisters, it's only because He was born under the law that we are saved. Because God did not, in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, say that the law doesn't matter. He righteously required that the law be perfectly fulfilled.

54:47 Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. In his confrontation with Satan, he would say, it is written pointing to the law. He himself said that he had not come in order that a single word would pass away from the law, but that all would be fulfilled. Brothers and sisters, we're only saved because in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son.

55:23 We're only saved because that Son was born of a woman, the Virgin Mary. And we're only saved because He was born under the law. In order what? To redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. that's why we cry through the son to our father abba father we're no longer slaves but sons and of a son then an heir of god paul's conclusion here well you might be surprised that i would include it but i i think it's very much a continuation of the same point and it just shows you the pastoral context of why he had to write the galatian church in such a strong manner Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

56:12 But now that you've come to know God, or rather be known by God. What an important clarification. It's not just that we know God. We know God because He first knew us. We're not saved because we first loved God, but that He first loved us. The order is so important. It's fascinating to see the Apostle Paul make that point emphatically here. How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world? As slaves, you want to be once more, question mark? You observe days and months and seasons and years.

56:46 I'm afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Well, perhaps an impolitic place to stop. But it certainly continues the thought. It's not just Israel that was continuously tempted to misconstrue the law and thus to fail to anticipate the gospel. It's not just the church that in the first century was tempted to abandon the gospel and to go back under the law.

57:21 It's true for us as well. It's good that we be reminded of this. The Apostle Paul even speaks in such strong apostolic language of being afraid that he had labored over them in vain. But you know what? We need to have a very gospel sovereignty of God-centered understanding of Scripture. We need to look each other in the face and we need to say, it is for our good that the Apostle Paul had to write this letter. It is for the health of the church and the defense of the gospel. It's for the celebration of the saints as joint ears with Christ.

58:09 It is not good that this distortion of the gospel happened, but it's good that the Apostle Paul was able to answer it, for his answer is not only greater than the heresy that called it forth it explains the gospel in a way we otherwise would just never even understand it and in this miniature which is filled with so much detail in just a few verses the apostle Paul takes us back to the time before the promise before faith came when we were under the law which was our guardian but it was our guardian now by the gospel of Jesus Christ we We are joint heirs with Christ.

58:53 Don't go back. Don't go back. Having been saved from the elementary principles of the earth, don't go back. Don't trade Jesus for earth and air and fire and water. Don't even believe a lying angel. cling to Christ joint heirs with Christ when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law that those who were under the law might receive adoption as sons run to Christ don't ever run back let's pray our father we are so thankful for what You've given us in Your Word in this text.

59:52 Father, we pray that the power of this text will be such that there will be in even the hearts of those in this gathered place of believers this morning, we pray that there will be a maturation in Christ, a grounding in the gospel, a faith, a confidence, a hope, a determination, a gratefulness. And Father, if there be anyone here who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, We pray that even right now the power of the gospel is evidence in the power of your word will penetrate that human heart, those human hearts, to call them unto Christ.

1:00:29 And Father, may the fullness of time come in their hearts in time. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Amen.