No Longer Slaves, But Children

**Justin Ader** (0:00)
Thankful to be here this morning with you all as we gather on this Lord's Day to worship the living God through prayer, fellowship, and the hearing of His Word. For those of you visiting with us today, we are truly thankful that you are here with us. Our prayer is that you would be warmly welcomed by this Disciples Church family, that you would clearly hear from God's Word this morning, and above all, that you would see the grace and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. For those I have not met yet, my name is Justin Ader and I serve here at Disciples Church as one of the deacons, and I am grateful to our elders for the trust that they have given me to open the scriptures with you today. It is no small thing to stand before God's people with God's Word, and I count it a real privilege.
Church, there are moments in life when one sentence can change everything.
A judge says not guilty and a prisoner walks free. A doctor says the cancer is gone and a family breathes easily again. The police officer says we found her and panic turns into praise.
But there is another sentence that carries a special kind of beauty. It is spoken over a child who had no legal claim, no family name, no inheritance, and no permanent home. Then the papers are signed, the judge speaks, and everything changes. This child is now yours.
In that moment, the child receives a new name, a new family, a new home, a new future, and a new inheritance. He does not enter the house as a visitor. He does not come in as a servant. He does not come in on a trial basis, wondering if he will be sent away. He comes in as a son. He belongs.
This church is the wonder of adoption.
And scripture tells us that this is exactly what God has done for his people in Jesus Christ. Now, the gospel does not just say that God forgives sinners, though he certainly does. It does not say that God cancels our debt, just say that, removes our guilt, washes away our sin, and delivers us from condemnation, though all of that is gloriously true.
The gospel says something even more astonishing. And that is that God brings forgiven sinners into his own household and calls them his children.
You see, the Christian is not simply a pardoned criminal. He or she is an adopted child. The believer is not simply spared from judgment. He or she is welcomed into the father's house.
But we need to admit something right away. For many people, and even today on Father's Day, the word father is complicated. For some, that word brings warmth, it brings protection, provision, and safety. But for others, like myself in the past, it brings pain, it brings absence, harshness, fear, and distance. Now, because earthly fathers are imperfect, and some are deeply sinful, many struggle to understand what scripture means when it calls God father. But here is the good news.
God is not called father because he is like our earthly fathers. Earthly fatherhood is meant to reflect something of him. He is the original. He is the true father. He is the holy, loving, faithful, unchanging father of his people. And so today we are not beginning with our experience of fatherhood and projecting that onto God. We are going to begin with God himself. We are going to let scripture show us what kind of father he is. And in Galatians chapter 4, we see something absolutely breathtaking. God the father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to redeem slaves so they might become sons. He sent his spirit into our hearts so that we might cry, Abba, father. And he gives his children an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
So if you are in Christ, hear this from the beginning. You are not fatherless. You are not a spiritual orphan. You are not just tolerated by God. You're not standing on the edge of his household wondering whether you belong or not. In Christ, God is your father. And if God is your father, then you are no longer a slave to sin, but a child of God. And if a child, then an heir through God.
So we're going to see today that this is not just sentimental language that I'm speaking to you. This is the declared truth of God's Word. Sinners who are once enslaved under sin and under the law are redeemed by Christ and adopted by the Father. So with that in mind, Church, please open up your Bibles to Galatians chapter 4 We're going to be looking at verses 4 through 7 this morning. Galatians chapter 4, New Testament. If you have trouble, once again, our Bibles, we've been blessed to have a table of contents.