This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Day 5 of our look at Galatians Chapter 3. We're going
to focus on verses 23 to 29 today. And as we end this great chapter, we have
seen this week that God wants us to grow.

He wants us to grow by faith. We've seen that this life of faith, it's something
that you have to fight for with the Scriptures and with the Spirit and the
promises of God. You'd think it's a life of faith, it'll just happen
automatically.

No, we tend to automatically revert to a life of works, a life of trusting in
me. That's the natural bent that a lot of us have. And it's very tempting when
somebody says that's the way that you should go.

That's why Paul wrote the book of Galatians. That's why he wrote this chapter.
He's saying you have to fight for the truth sometimes.

You have to fight for the truth of your growth. And so he's fighting for the
truth of our growth with the Scriptures and the Spirit and the promises of God.
Paul is fighting not just for the Galatians here, he's fighting for you.

That's why God motivated him to write this. And as we read what he has to say
about faith and grace being the foundation for your growth, in verses 23 to 25,
we're going to see him set up what we're going to talk about much of the week
next week. We're going to see next week some continued principles of growth,
some continued ways that God wants us to grow.

But for now, I'm going to take a few minutes at the end of this week to take
stock through these verses of what we've been talking about when it comes to
trying to build faith on a list of rules that I can keep or the alternative of
building it on a relationship that I've been given. It's the difference Paul is
writing in these last verses, it's the difference between a life as a prisoner
or a life of someone who has been set free. Listen to what he says in verses 23
to 25.

Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith
should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the
supervision of the law.

What Paul is saying here, when he talks about, by the way, supervision of the
law, he's not saying that there aren't some Old Testament laws that we still
keep, there aren't some commands of God that still express His love, there are
plenty of them. The supervision of the law means we were held prisoner by the
law, we had to keep every single law in order to feel like, to sense that we
were in God's good graces. He says that's no longer true.

Before faith, Paul is saying the law held us prisoner, it didn't give us
freedom, it just held us prisoner so that we could eventually find freedom in a
place where we would eventually find freedom. Verse 24, Paul says the law is
what led us to Christ by showing us our need. And as I said earlier, we're going
to really focus on that next week.

And then in verse 25, he says, you're no longer under the supervision of the
law. Jesus said that those who love Him will keep His commands. So now I'm
keeping His commands, not out of a sense of I have to do this to be saved, I'm
doing it because I love.

It's a response now, as we talked about yesterday. Now Paul's writing here and
he says, does this mean that the law's job of leading us to faith is done? And
yes, he says it is, it has finished its job.

Because in the end, the only place that the law could lead us if it's done its
job correctly is to the one who can save us. That's the job of the law, to show
us I have a need, to show me that I need someone to save me. And only Jesus can
do that.

In light of this, in light of the freedom that God wants to give, we were held
prisoner under the law, there is a freedom that God wants to give into your
life. What is that freedom? He talks about it in verse 26 when he says, you are
all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Now, in one sense, you can say sons of daughters, sons and daughters, he's
talking about men and women, both here. But as I said a couple of days ago, he
uses the word sons because he wants us to know we're part of the inheritance,
all of us together. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul here is not saying that everyone is in God's family, that I should look at
everybody I meet today and see that, well, they're a child of God. Because
everyone isn't in God's family. He says it's through faith in Christ Jesus.

So I become a part of God's family through faith in Christ. We are all creations
of God. God made every one of us.

And God loves everyone in his creation. But the way that I become a part of
God's family is through faith in Jesus Christ. Then I come into, I'm adopted
into his family.

Paul is saying here also that all of us who are sons of God, whether Jew or
Gentile, we are sons of God in the same way, through faith in Jesus Christ.
There's not five ways to become a child of God. There's one way to become a
child is through God himself.

God himself who came into this planet, Jesus Christ. God himself giving himself
up for us on a cross and then being resurrected to show us the way to life. Let
me be clear about this, this idea of sons of God and that we're not all sons of
God.

Paul wrote these verses to remind us not to be prejudicial. These aren't about
being prejudicial, saying you are or you're not. In fact, remember this, it is
not your job to be a gatekeeper for the kingdom of God.

That is God's job. And God has invited everyone in who will respond. What do you
and I get to do?

What is our job? We're the guy that's standing outside of the gate inviting
everybody in. We're not keeping people out, we're letting everybody know you're
all invited in if you'll just accept his invitation.

And based on that, Paul is saying there is a unity that we have in our faith in
Christ not to miss, not to forget. That's what Paul's focus is here. The freedom
that we have in Christ, the law, it held you prisoner and the law divides people
with bars like a prison.

But the freedom that we have with faith in Christ, it unites people like a
family. He talks about how it unites us in three powerful ways in verses 27 to
29. Listen to what he writes.

"For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise.

" These are very amazing verses about our unity in Christ. Paul gives three
reasons for our unity. First, our baptism in Christ, oneness in Christ, whatever
our background, and third, the fact that we belong to Christ because we are an
heir of Christ.

He begins with our baptism in Christ and he says you're all baptized into
Christ. When you're baptized, you're baptized in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. I'm buried with Christ in baptism and I'm raised to
walk in a brand new life.

And he says all of you who are baptized in Christ have clothed yourself with
Christ. You are living out the Christ life now. And because of that, we have a
unity.

This is why you can meet somebody who is a believer in another country who may
not even speak the language that you speak, but there's an instant connection
with them because you're clothed with Christ. This is why Paul is saying we're
not gatekeepers in the kingdom of God. We are part of the family and we need to
enjoy being part of the family because we're baptized together in Christ.

There may be a believer that you have a difference of opinion with. There may be
a believer that you have a deep disagreement with. There may be even a believer
that there's a deep hurt between you and that believer.

It doesn't change the fact that you're one in Christ. So treat that difference
of opinion. Treat that disagreement.

Treat even that deep, deep hurt as though you are one because you are. You are
in one family. Whether you act that way or not, you are in one family.

And when I act like I'm not a part of the family and I am, when I act like
somebody else isn't a part of the family and they are, that hurts me and that
hurts the family. We're all baptized into Christ and so we're one. And then he
goes on and he says there's neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female.

You are all one in Christ. Paul is saying here it's not a matter of our
background. Our unity isn't a matter of our background.

It's a matter of our relationship with Christ. So he says whether Jew or Greek,
in fact he goes on and says it doesn't matter if you're a slave or a free or a
male or female, it doesn't matter. Our oneness is in Christ.

Now I know as we walk through life, as you and I walk through life, we can feel
more unity with somebody who is more like us. Paul says the genuine unity, the
deepest unity that you and I have is our oneness in Christ. Don't miss that.

Don't forget that because it's a part of being who God's called you to be. In
fact, he says at the end of this chapter that it's all about being part of God's
family. He says if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's seed.

There's the end of the story we started a few days ago. The seed, the promise to
the seed was given to Abraham and it came to Jesus. But now we're sons of God
through Jesus, so we're part of that promise.

We are heirs according to the promise. We look forward. In many ways, these
verses are about for you as a believer, past, present, and future.

In the past, you were baptized into Christ. That's our unity. In the present,
whether Jew or Greek or slave or free or male or female or American or Canadian
or Russian or you work for this company or that company or you're single or
you're married or you're older or younger, whatever your situation in life, in
the present, we are one in Christ.

And then he looks to the future and he says, you belong to Christ, you're
Abraham's seed. And so we're going to be heirs together according to promise.
Listen, I'm like you.

I struggle in relationships. We all do. But Paul is writing these powerful
verses to say in the midst of the struggle that you have with relationships,
even with fellow believers, don't forget, we are one.

Past, present, future. We are one. Live out that unity in Christ.

Let these verses give you the power to do something you couldn't do on your own.
Let's ask for that power right now. Our Father, we thank you that you have made
us one in Christ and that Paul in these verses expresses it in such powerful,
unforgettable ways.

Lord, forgive us for those times when we forget our unity and give us strength.
Give us strength to forgive the one we need to forgive because we are one in
Christ. Give us strength to accept the one who is different from us because we
are one in Christ.

And give us strength to look forward to an eternity together with you because we
are one in Christ. We ask for this strength in Jesus' name, amen. And I invite
you to join us back next week.

We're going to continue to look at the exciting life of growth that God has for
every one of us.