God's Greatest Desire For You (Galatians Part 7)

Good morning, good morning. I hope y'all came ready to worship wherever you're joining us from today. We got a reason to boast in Jesus because he saved us by his grace, amen. Let's celebrate that together, let's sing. You redeemed me, the old is gone, my life has been made new. Lord, you've freed me, these chains are breaking all because of you, because of you, because of you. I will not boast in anything. My hope alone in Christ my King. Not by strength, not by might, just the cross of Jesus Christ. I will not boast in anything. Oh, thank you, Jesus, you saved me. Lord, you saved me, your grace rewrote the story of my life. Lord, you gave me your love and joy and peace, you've been so kind. You sustained me, I'll testify of all you've brought me through. So amazing, my future is secure because of you, because of you. I will not boast in anything. My hope alone in Christ my King. It's not by strength, not by might, just the cross of Jesus Christ. I will not boast in anything. By grace, through faith, I have been saved.

By grace, through faith, I have been saved. By grace, through faith, I have been saved. It's only by grace, through faith, I'll never be the same. By grace, through faith, I have been saved. By grace, through faith, I'll never be the same. And I will not boast in anything. Come on. My hope alone in Christ my King. Not by strength, not by might, just the cross of Jesus Christ. I will not boast in anything. I will not boast in anything. I will not boast in anything. It's only by your grace, Jesus. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. Come on, can we sing that chorus one more time? Sing I will not boast in anything. Come on, we're gonna declare it this morning. My hope alone in Christ my King. Not by strength, not by might, but the cross of Jesus Christ. I will not boast in anything. Come on, that's our declaration this morning. That we boast only in Jesus. He's the only one. He did what we could not do for ourselves, which is free us from the law, free us from sin's penalty. And he freed us.

We were once slaves to sin. We were once slave to the enemy, but he set us free. And he didn't stop there, but he adopted us into the family of God. And so now we can be called sons and daughters of the most high. And that's what we're singing about this morning. And we just want to take a little time to just rest in that, rest in those truths, rest in who God is, what he's done, what he has done for us. And we're just going to take a moment to do that this morning. We're going to open up this altar. And if you want to just come down and kneel before him and just bask in his presence, let that truth wash over you. Rest in who, what he's done, what has already been done for you and that we've received through faith. We're going to invite our response team down for anyone who wants to have prayer, anyone who wants to be prayed with or just wants to come and just meet with the King. Because of what he has done, we have freedom in this life. We have freedom from sin. And we can walk in that peace with him. And we've been called the sons and the daughters of the most high God. And as we continue to worship and lift up praises to him in that, just let the Holy Spirit minister to you. Let him remind you of who you are in him and remind you of your future. We give you praise God. From my enemies till all my fears are gone. And I'm no longer a slave. Come on, say I am a child. I am a child. Say I'm no longer a slave. I'm no longer a slave. Oh, thank you, Father. I am a child. I am a child of God. Oh, thank you, Lord. I am your child. And from my mother's womb, you have chosen me. Love has called my name. And I've been born again into your family.

Your blood flows through my veins. Come on, sing I'm no longer. I'm no longer a slave to thee. Oh yeah, I'm a child of God. I am a child of God. Sing I'm no longer a slave to thee. I am a child of God. We're singing again, so I'm no longer a slave. I'm no longer a slave to thee. No, no, I am a child of God. I belong to the king. Say I'm no longer a slave to thee. I am a child of God. Oh, we are your children, Lord. Thank you, Father. You split the sea so I could walk right through it. My fears were drowned in perfect love. Oh, yes, it was. You rescued me so I could stand and sing. Oh, I am a child of God. Come on, let's declare it. Say you split the sea. Oh, you split the sea so I could walk right through it. Oh, yes, you did. My fears were drowned in perfect love. You came along and you rescued me. You rescued me so I could stand and sing. Oh, I am a child of God. Come on, one more time. Say you split the sea.

Oh, you split the sea so I could walk right through it. My fears were drowned in perfect love. ♪ We will drown in perfect love ♪ ♪ You rescued me so I could stand and sing ♪ ♪ Oh I am a child of God ♪ ♪ Oh we declare that I am a child of God ♪ ♪ Of God, oh I am a child of God ♪ Oh yes we are, hallelujah. ♪ And I'm no longer a slave to fear ♪ ♪ I am a child of God, said I'm no longer, I'm no longer ♪ ♪ I'm no longer a slave to fear ♪ ♪ I am a child of God, so the sun sets free ♪ ♪ Oh it's free indeed, I'm a child of God, yes I am ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God, yes I am, in my father's house ♪ ♪ There's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am ♪ Come on, who the sun sets free? ♪ Oh the sun sets free, it's truly free indeed ♪ ♪ Oh I'm a child, oh yes I am, yes I am, in my father's house ♪ ♪ There's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am ♪ Oh yes I am. ♪ I love you Lord, oh your mercy never fails me ♪ ♪ In all my days, I've been held in your hands ♪ ♪ From the moment that I wake up, until I lay my head ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of your love ♪ Come on, if he's been faithful to you, sing all my life. ♪ All my life you have been faithful, yes you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of God, yes I am ♪ ♪ The goodness of God, oh yes I am ♪

♪ I love your voice, you have led me through the fire ♪ ♪ In darkest nights, you were close like no other ♪ ♪ I've known you as a father, I've known you as a friend ♪ ♪ And I have lived in the goodness of God, oh yes I have ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able, oh I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Forever sing of your goodness, oh yeah pursue it and see it ♪ ♪ We thank you, we thank you, you're running after your sons and daughters today ♪ ♪ We thank you, we thank you, you're running after your sons and daughters today ♪ ♪ Come on you believe me sing your goodness, your goodness is running after, it's running after, it's running after, its running after your goodness, oh it is ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after me ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, I'll surrender now ♪ ♪ I'll give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after me ♪ ♪ It's running after me, isn't it? ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after me ♪ ♪ It's running after me, isn't it? ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after me ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, I'll surrender now ♪ ♪ I'll give you everything, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after me ♪ ♪ It's running after me, yeah, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Cause all my life, you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life, you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Oh, I will stay, oh, you've got me, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ All my life, you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life, you have been faithful, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ And all my life, you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, I will stay, oh, the goodness of God, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, I will stay, oh, the goodness of God, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, I will stay, oh, the goodness of God, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ We praise him for his goodness. Oh, he's great, he's mighty, awesome in power, hallelujah. Thank you for worshiping together. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for just lifting up truths to the name of our God, amen. Can you take about 30 seconds to greet somebody next to you and tell them welcome to church? ♪ Oh, I will stay, oh, the goodness of God, yeah ♪ Before Christ, I truly lived as if every day started with a list of things that I knew I couldn't complete. My family and I have been a part of Abundant Life for about 25 years. We started coming here when we had first started in the admin building, immediately fell in love with being fed the truth of God's word and delving deep into the Bible each and every day to just learn about God's character. Religion, it was part of my life from the very beginning. I could count the number of Sundays

that I missed going to church on one hand. The difference was it was very legalistic. It was really based on works, and I always thought of God as just my judge. Sitting on the bench with a gavel and just constantly watching every time I would commit a sin, that gavel would bang, and it was just another time I didn't live up to those expectations that I would set largely for myself or that that legalistic construct just kind of set up in me. And what was amazing about being subject to that was how much more even elaborate I made it than it really was on me, always trying to be good enough and yet always fighting with the reality that I never could be. The first time that I heard the gospel clearly articulated to me was after many weeks of prompting for my wife to attend a more Bible-teaching, Bible-believing church, and we lived out of town at that time, but we came across this startup church, and the message that we heard was from John 10, 10, so truly about the abundant life. And this pastor just began to explain how he had a personal relationship with the Lord, and that meant that God walked with him through his role as a husband, through his role as a father, through his role as a leader at work, and that God just had this,

he had this intimate relationship where he walked with God each and every day. And when he clearly articulated the gospel that Jesus Christ died for my sins and paid that penalty to wash away all of the shame and guilt that just comes with a day-to-day fight of trying to be good enough, that was really the turning point for me. me to understand the gift that God had through Jesus. The A-Life means to me trusting God for the abundant nature that he reveals himself to have throughout his word. And abundance is a really key word because it means that we don't see a limit to something. And when I see God as an abundant God that truly has all of these resources at his disposal, and he wants me to participate in what he is doing—that his plans for my life are greater than I can ever imagine—it just reinvigorates me to dive into discipleship journeys with people, to teach others about the Lord and the things that he can do by the way I live on a daily basis. The best way that the abundant life can make sense to people is to seek to live the abundant life. Church give Jesus the biggest shout of glory you got right now. He's worthy, isn't he? We have come to worship together the living God. Rob Peckin, thank you for sharing your story. Listen, I'm glad you got to hear Rob's story because it's so much of our story. So many of us raised in church, raised in religion, but every day it felt like God is some distant deity. A list of things to do I can never fully measure up no matter how hard I try. And that's exactly why Paul wrote the book of Galatians, to overcome this works-based, performance-based religion that we are saved by the grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

And so open again, once again, to the book of Galatians. We're in chapter four. If this is your first time here, we've been studying verse by verse through this letter. Only as you grow scripturally can you grow up to spiritual maturity, and that is God's desire for all of us. Let me share what we're going to learn today in Galatians chapter four. Listen carefully. God has redeemed us from the bondage of religion, much like what Rob was describing, and adopted us as his children. He wants more than some transactional relationship where hopefully we've been good enough to appease God and please God. Hopefully we can measure up. No, he wants to understand that we're more than a hired hand, that he wants a family. He wants sons and daughters, that kind of relationship. We saw in Galatians chapter three how each of these Galatians, these false teachers, are being taught a false gospel. Paul had been there in the mid-40s A.D. as an early Christian missionary. Many pagans had come to faith in Jesus, and he planted churches in this region of Galatia, which was in Asia Minor, what is it today, Turkey? And false teachers had come behind him and started sowing deception, distortion. And what they were being taught is that Jesus alone is not enough. It's Jesus plus, Jesus plus, in this case, circumcision, that if you want to go to heaven and be a real Christian, you've got to go through the Hebrew rite of circumcision. And Paul uses in Galatians three Abraham as a kind of an exhibit A of these false teachers would have revered Abraham as the father of the Jews. And he illustrates how even Abraham was not saved by anything he did. He was not saved in any capacity by the circumcision of the Hebrews, but rather his faith alone. In fact, he quotes in Galatians three from Genesis 15 verse six, it says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And so what's he doing now?

He illustrates how we must be born of the seed of Abraham, and that seed is Jesus Christ, that God promised through Abraham one day our Savior King would come, the Messiah, God's son. And now that God's son has come, he's redeemed us from that works-based religion to live in redemption, not built on what we do for God, but rather only what God has done for us. Now, if you're ready to study the Word of God together, say, let's go. Let's go. Here we go. Right now, Galatians four verse one. Now it says this. Now I say, Paul says, that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all. Now when you see the word slave, often in God's Word, don't think of slavery like most of us as Americans think of slavery. We're not talking about forced servitude. Most of us think of slavery, much like in American history, that age of depravity where people were forced into servitude of another. No, Paul uses here the term doulos in the Greek. A doulos in the ancient days was not forced into servitude. They're one willfully of their own free will that sold themselves into the servitude of another. In the ancient days, somebody in poverty would sell themselves into the servitude of a family that was wealthy, and it was a contractual agreement, a legal agreement. And often, Paul would identify himself as a doulos of the Lord Jesus Christ. Five times he introduces himself as a doulos, a bond slave of Jesus. You see, we're all called to serve Jesus. isn't forcing us to, it's something we do of our own free will, but listen carefully. What Paul's about to teach is that God wants

more than servants, he wants sons. And he says here that, listen, while you're simply a child, though you're the heir of the father's estate, you're a little different from a slave or a bond slave, a household servant, a hired hand, though he's master of all, but is under the guardianship or the stewardship until the time appointed by the father. What he's saying is this, as a child, if you're merely an infant spiritually, think about this, if you've got little ones in the house, now all my kids are all grown up, they've all left the house, all right, but I used to have little kids. And when they were little, think about this, you've gotta tell your little ones exactly what to do all the time, you're their guardian, because they can't do it without you. You gotta tell that little guy that, you know, get up, get out of bed, time to go out of bed, hey, time to take a bath, time for supper, come on, come on down to supper, clean your room, time to go to bed, quit picking on your sister. See, it's all about do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this. And what Paul's saying is like, if you're a spiritual child, you have to live by a list, like you have to be told what to do, but when you grow up spiritually, a full-grown man, a full-grown woman doesn't need to be told what to do. He's saying, listen, if you're just a child

living by that works-based religion, living by a list of things to do, even though you're an heir of the father, you're living as though you're simply a hired hand. Listen, you're the heir of a great estate. Now, if you have a child, let's say, and he's heir of a great estate, but let's say he's orphaned, what happens? He's appointed a guardian or a steward until an appointed time. And what he's saying here is this, that before Jesus came, the law was the guardian, the law was the steward. Now, when I say law, listen, there's a lot going on here in the Mosaic law, but think of the 10 Commandments. Thou shalt not do this, thou shalt not do this, thou shalt not do this, thou shalt not do this, right? What he's saying is the law was our guardian, but we saw last time, listen, the law could never bring our salvation because the law demands perfection. I mean, think of the 10 Commandments. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not steal, you shall not cheat, you shall not lie. Somebody thinks to themselves, well, you know, I've kept most of the 10 Commandments, yeah, but check this out, to a perfect, holy, sinless God, if you've broken even one of the 10 Commandments in the mind of God, you've broken all the 10 Commandments because heaven's paths fail, it demands perfection,

and not one of us can live in perfection. Somebody thinks to themself, well, I've never murdered anybody. Well, goody-do, good for you. Guess what Jesus said, if you've even hated somebody in your heart, you've already murdered them. Check this out, you say, well, I've never committed adultery. Here's what Jesus said, if you've even lusted after another woman in your heart, you've already committed adultery. See, for God, it's always been about the heart, not just the outward action, but the heart's condition, and that's why we saw last time, the law could never bring our salvation. When you put yourself back under a list of things to do, a works-based religion, hoping to appease God, it demands perfection, which means even one sin could keep you out of heaven, and that's why last time, Paul said the law was our tutor. It was merely our teacher to lead us to Christ. God gave us the Ten Commandments, not because he thought we could keep them, but he knew we would break them, and in breaking them, we would learn that we need redemption, we need Jesus, we need salvation, so now he's redeemed us from the curse of the law to live under grace, and this is what Paul's now teaching. Listen very carefully, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of time had come,

God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. There's so much going on in this verse. I could do a whole sermon just on this verse. It's that powerful. So God sent forth his Son in the fullness of time, meaning at the exact right time. The entire Old Testament of your Bible is simply a record of the promises and the prophecies that one day God would bring forth the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ, God's Son, a promise over and over again that one day the Son would come. From the moment in Genesis 3, 15, after Adam had sinned, he sold all of his posterity under sin's penalty. The wages of sin is death, but even in the garden, right after the fall, at the tree, in Genesis 3, God looks at the serpent and says that one day the serpent will have his head crushed by who? The seed of the woman. That one day, a virgin-born Savior will come and crush the head of the serpent forever, score the knockout blow. And that's what's going on here now. In the fullness of time, at the exact right time, 1,000 years ago, the sinless Son of God came like the sons of men so that He could die for our sin, and three days later, He would rise again. God sent forth His Son. John 3, 16, Jesus said,

"'God so loved the world "'that He gave His only begotten Son, "'that whoever believes in Him should not perish, "'but have everlasting life.'" Now, check this out. Paul then says He was born of a woman. Now, that's a strange statement to make. You know why? Because we're all born of women. Every human that's ever been born has been born of a woman. I'm sorry I have to say this today, but men don't give birth to children. They don't. Should go without saying, but these are the days we're living in. We have to just state the obvious. Women give birth to children. Everybody that's ever been born has been born of a woman. But why would Paul need to say that? I'll tell you why. Because he's pointing out this prophecy in Genesis 3, 15, that one day the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Now, here's why that's important. Listen carefully. That's a prophecy related to the virgin birth of the Son of God, the virgin birth of the Savior. Here's the reality. Women don't carry the seed.

Little basic seventh grade biology. Men carry the seed. You guys remember sex ed class, seeing the little race? No. Matt, maybe a little TMI, too graphic for you. I'm sorry, yeah. The seed comes from the man. None of us were born of our mother's seed. We were born of our father's seed. But in this case, the God man, the Lord Jesus, would be born of the woman's seed, meaning it's a paradox, it's an oxymoron, it's a possibility biologically. It'd be a virgin born Savior. Why did Jesus have to be born of a virgin? Because in bypassing man's seed, he was bypassing man's sin so that Jesus would be born without sin, so that he would be sinless. And because he was sinless, he could die as a sacrifice for our sin, only that after an innocent man could reverse the curse of sin for all men and all women. That's why he had to be born of a woman specifically. Speaking of the virgin birth, though he was fully a man, he was born under the law. What is the law? The law of God. God is the great moral lawgiver.

Think of the Ten Commandments. Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. So as a man, like you and I, he was born under the law. Hey, you've heard this saying, nobody's above the law. Check this out, even Jesus was not above the law. Even Jesus was born under the law of God as a man. But check this out, because he was more than a man, he was deity, the second person of the Trinity. He was holy, though he was born under the law. Unlike you and I, he kept the law. He kept it sinlessly, he kept it perfectly. And consequently, he could redeem us then as those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. I want you to understand the implication. You don't have to live by a works-based religion like Rob talked about, a list of things to do that you could never fully complete, hoping it was enough, maybe to appease God. And many of us were raised in church or raised in a religion like this, where our idea of God is some distant deity, and he's got this gavel, and the gavel's always coming down, and we can never fully measure up, we can never fully be enough. He's trying to tell you, listen, that's why Jesus came. Jesus came to redeem you from that performance-based religion. He came to redeem you from trying to live by a list of things that you can't do.

He wants to make you a son, an adopted son. Now, here's what's amazing. Last week in Galatians 3, we saw how we all must be born again. We must be born of Christ's seed, that seed in Genesis 3.15, the seed of Abraham, specifically that Paul mentions in Galatians 3. Why must we be born again? Because we're born the first time of corrupted seed, the corrupted seed of a man. We must be born again of the incorruptible seed, Christ's seed, Genesis 3.15. We're born into God's family spiritually, a second birth. But check this out. We're not just born into God's family, born again as his children. Now he tells us we've been adopted into his family as his sons and daughters. Rob didn't tell you his whole story. He's actually an adoptive father. He has biological children. He has adopted son. And here's the implication. Here's what Paul's teaching. Listen carefully. In the ancient days, a biological father could legally disinherit and disown. a biological son or daughter. But if you adopted a son or a daughter, it was legally binding.

You could not legally disown them. You could not legally disinherit them. God is trying to tell you as a father, yes, you've been born into his family, but you've been adopted into his family, and nothing you ever do will make him disown you or disinherit you. It is forever and ever and ever and ever, and there's nothing you can do about that as a child of God, even on your worst day, you fall into a horrible sin. Check this out. God's not gonna disinherit you. He's not gonna disown you because your work cannot undo Christ's work. Jesus plus nothing equals everything. It's by the grace of God to get saved. It's the grace of God to stay saved, and it wasn't the grace of God to stay saved. You couldn't stay saved for the next 10 minutes. Okay, you're in church, next two hours. Because the first time you sin, you'd lose your salvation. See, it's God's grace to get saved as a child of God. It's God's grace to stay saved as a child of God. You're adopted now into the household of God. Look at what he says now. Listen carefully. He wants more than a bunch of household servants. He wants sons and daughters. And many of us raised in church,

many of us raised around religion, listen, we see God, we're kind of a hired hand. We are do losses, we're to be servants of God, but he wants more than servants. He wants sons, he wants daughters. Listen carefully. God desires we serve him out of love and not to-do lists. See, the one has to do with a relationship, the other has to do with a religion. And when you no longer see yourself merely as a servant of God, but as a son of God or a daughter of God, it doesn't actually change what you do, but it changes why you do what you do. All of a sudden, listen, you want to serve him, not because you have to. He's no longer simply a duty, no longer simply an obligation. You start serving him out of a relationship, out of his love for you and your love for him. You're no longer serving him and following him and trying to obey him and pursue a holy life, running from sin, running from evil, because you're afraid you're gonna make him mad at you and all of a sudden he's not gonna be pleased with you and the gavel's gonna come down. No, listen carefully. You begin to live for him and obey him and serve him, not out of some obligation, but out of your love for him. He's a father and he's worthy of it all.

Now, there are times you do have to operate out of duty. Sometimes you do have to operate out of obligation. Listen, the first time I ever served in church, long before I ever knew I'd be a pastor, check it out, first place I ever served was in the church nursery. You know why? Because Chris and I had our first baby. And no, it was not my desire, but I had the sense of, man, I have a duty, I have an obligation. Listen, I'm just gonna say it. If you have a baby and you're consistently using the church nursery, you have an obligation to go back and take a turn. And everybody volunteering in the nursery is clapping right now. And everybody else just has their hands right here on their lap, yeah. No, I'm just saying, it just makes sense. Sometimes you do it out of duty, right? Need to take a turn in the nursery, other people watching my kid, I need to take a turn and watch theirs. All right, but listen carefully. If you're functioning that way in your entire Christian existence, listen, let's talk about burnout. I hear sometimes, burnout. Pastor Phil, after 26 years, how do you not get burned out? People say, Pastor Phil, I'm burned out. Here's why you're burned out,

because you see it as a duty, as an obligation. And you've got a lot of obligations in life. See, God doesn't want to just be another obligation. He wants to be your desire, something you want to do. And that's born out of love, not list to do. Think about it, you naturally serve that which you love in life. That which you love in life, you naturally serve. It just comes natural. Nobody has to tell you to. Some of you are serving your hobbies. You know why? Because you love your hobbies. Some of you are serving your golf game. You are, you know who you are. Some of you are serving your lawn. And it shows, you have a perfect green, emerald green, deep green, manicured lawn with those perfect edges on the driveway. It didn't happen randomly. It didn't happen accidentally. No, you love your lawn, so you're serving your lawn, and it looks amazing. I hate all of you. No, listen, I'm not suggesting it's not okay to play golf, even play a lot of golf. I'm certainly not suggesting you shouldn't take care of your lawn and the stuff God has given you. I'm not saying that. I'm simply saying you naturally serve that.

which you love. Think about it in marriage, like Christa and I, we've been married 35 years in October. And we serve each other to this day, not out of obligation. If you love someone, you actually serve them. Think about this for a moment. If Christa asked me to take out the trash, because that's my job, I've always, you know, unwritten rule, I take out the trash. Hey honey, the trash is full, you mind taking it out? Just imagine if I go, I get the trash, I pick it up, and I go, I guess, like I'm the only one around here who can take out the trash. I take out the trash, but I do it in a huff like a 10 year old. What do you think, does that say, honey, I love you? Let me do this because I love you. That doesn't say that at all. Think about, I'm just telling you, you know, if we have a morning together, I don't have to rush out of the house, and we're sitting around the living room and trying to get around slowly. You know, it's not unusual for me to say, hey honey, do you mind going to get me a cup of coffee? And just imagine, she gets up to get me a cup of coffee, and she goes, what, are your legs broke? Here, go ahead, take it. You know, I'm thinking to myself, baby, I got this. You don't have to do that.

See, nobody wants to be an obligation. Like, don't do this out of duty. I mean, do it because you want to, and if you don't want to, you don't have to. That's what God is thinking, I think. Relationally, when we try to operate out of a list of things to do, hoping to appease him, just do enough, not make him mad, that works-based religion. See, God's not blessed by that. He wants you to serve him because you love him, because you're compelled by his love for you, and your love for him, because he's a father, and you're a son or a daughter. You're not a hired hand in the household of God. You see, that is the implication. Look at verse six, and because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of a son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. He's telling the Galatians, don't go back into that works-based religion. Don't let anyone deceive you and bring you back under the law of trying to work your way there like you're some hired hand. No, he wants a relationship as a son or a daughter. He's revealed himself as a father. God has sent his spirit into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. That word, Abba, is Aramaic. It's a term of endearment. It implies a personal relationship.

Listen, I never called my father, Father, I think, one day in his life, unless I was just messing around, playing around. Father, I am your father. No, I'm telling you, till the day he died, here I am, middle-aged man. He died four years ago, middle-aged man, full-grown man. So you might be thinking, I'm not sure he is, but I promise I am, full-grown man. Till the day he died, I called my daddy, my daddy. That's who he was, full-grown man. Sat right over here most of these years until four years ago. See him after church. Calling my daddy. Might be the southern Missouri in me, not sure, but he was my daddy. Or sometimes he'd be my daddy-o, my papa. See, these are terms of endearment. Implies a relationship. Father is formal. Father implies a distant relationship. Abba, you know, it's a term of endearment, daddy. It's my papa. That's the relationship God's trying to say I want with you. It's different than some doulos. Yes, we are doulos of God. We're called to be servants of God. But we're more than servants.

He wants sons. He says, therefore, you're no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Romans 8, 17 says we're children of God, and if children of God, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. You understand, as members of God's household, we have an inheritance, undefiled, uncorruptible, that faded not away. Because we're his children, we're sons and daughters. Servants have no right to the inheritance. A servant has no inheritance. They have no right to the estate. But you and I do, and what God is trying to teach you is he wants to live with you as a father. He wants a family. What does God want? He wants this right here. He wants what every father wants. He wants fellowship. This is my family. These are my heirs. My oldest son is Jake. My middle child is McKay. She's my daughter. I told you last week, she got my hair. I gave her all of it. Beautiful blonde hair. My youngest son is Josh in the back. There's my daughter-in-law, Abby.

Daniel's my son-in-law. The mother of my children is. Christo, we're downtown Chicago. Man, we're having fun together. We're having a family moment together. You can see how traumatized they are. Don't they look so unhappy? Yeah, I spanked all their little bottoms when they were little. Somebody says, oh no, I don't spank little Timmy. Yeah, we know. We all know. You understand, God our Father spanks his sons and daughters. Just look in Hebrews chapter 12. He'll bring it on your little backslide if you're one of his. If you backslide, he'll put it on your backside till you slide back up again. He loves you. He does, he's not gonna let you get away with sin. You better make your children take you seriously or they will not learn to take God seriously. Listen carefully. The joy I have now as a father is better than it's ever been. I miss my little ones. I miss having kids in the house. But I gotta tell you, the joy of being a father is now they're full-grown men and women.

See, as a father of little ones, you can't be their friend. The worst thing you do is try to be their friend when you're called to be their father. If you'll be their father when they're little, you'll get to be their friend when they're grown up. And I gotta tell you, the joy is now, the fellowship we have now. My sons are more than my sons. They become my brothers. I mean, we have grown-up conversations. We have real conversations, you know what I'm saying? We have real fellowship now. And I'm trying to tell you, this is what God wants from you. He wants you to grow up from being a mere child that has to be told what to do. Think about it, my oldest son, Jake, is 30. He lives down in Austin, Texas. If I still had to tell him, son, time to go to bed. Son, time to get up, get out of bed. Son, time to go to work. Hey, son, clean up your room. Hey, quit picking on your sister. Imagine what kind of relationship we would have today. I don't have to do that anymore, you know why? Because a full-grown man don't have to be told what to do. They don't need a list of things to do. That's what God's trying to say about you. And check this out, my relationship with my son is closer than it's ever been, even though I'm seldom now in his presence.

He lives in Austin, Texas. He's seldom in my presence, yet we're closer than we've ever been. You know why? Because he pursues me. He sends me these random texts in the middle of the day, like he'll FaceTime me out of nowhere. And there are very few people, I will stop what I'm doing to answer that text or answer that phone. He's one of them. My children are three of them. They're like, I'm sorry, but if I'm talking to you and they call me, don't be offended. I'm taking the call. Whatever I'm doing, I'm gonna stop and take the call, answer the text. It's my son, it's my daughter. Understand, the reason we are close today is not because he lives in my house physically, but because he pursues me relationally. He sends me texts out of, you know, just randomly in the day. He'll FaceTime me, calls me two or three times a week. I want you to understand, even though you're not in the Father's house physically, you're not in the Father's presence literally, not yet, you can be closer than you've ever been. In the same way, you wanna be pursued. He wants to be pursued.

Every father wants to be pursued. Listen, I pursued my children when they were little so that now they pursue me. And I'm trying to tell you, that's what every father wants. Do you understand that God has given you his heart to hold? Why can our children hurt us so deeply? I'll tell you why. Because we love them more than anybody. They hold our hearts. That's why they can hurt us so much. Do you understand God has given you his heart as a child of God? He's given you the ability to hurt him. He's given you the ability to grieve him. Ephesians 430, grieve not the Spirit of God. Our sin grieves the Spirit of God. Do you understand it hurts God? He's given us the ability to hurt him because he's a father. He has sons and daughters. And I want you to understand, he's given you his heart to hold. What does he want in return? He wants your heart to hold. I have my father's heart. He had my heart. My son has my heart. I hold his heart. That's the nature of this type of relationship. And I want you to understand the implication.

God wants what every father wants, the heart of his children. He doesn't simply want a relationship of hired hands and household servants. Do this, do this, do this. He wants a relationship born out of love, not lists. And that is the implication that Paul is now making. Verse eight, he says, but then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served him. those which by nature are not God's, but now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage? Paul's saying to the Galatians, why are you going back to that religion of being nothing more than a hired hand in this transactional relationship when you can be a child of God and live as a child of God? Why are you going back? He says this, we observe days and months and seasons and years. This refers to all the Jewish feasts, all the Jewish festivals, the Sabbaths. We're talking all the ritualism, all the ceremonialism. He's saying, why are you going back and you're doing all the lists of things to do when Jesus has set you free to be a child of God?

He's adopted you into his family. He's redeemed you to live under this new covenant of grace. Why are you going back under the covenant of law that works-based religion? He says, I'm afraid for you, lest I've labored for you. Listen, why is Paul afraid for them? I'll tell you why. Because religion and man-made deception will send more people to hell than any vice known to man in history. Satan is a counterfeiter of all that God is and all that God does. John 10 and verse 10, Jesus said, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. How does he do it? Through counterfeits. He counterfeits redemption for religion. He counterfeits who God is. He counterfeits the gospel. And I'm trying to tell you, man-made tradition, man-made religious systems in 2,000 years of church history has been passed off as New Testament doctrine. What is doctrine? Doctrine is not a bad word. It means teaching. What does the New Testament teach? That's all that matters to us as Christians. Now, I'm trying to tell you what's happened in 2,000 years.

Man-made traditions, man-made religious systems have been passed off as doctrine. And my hope for you is that you are so deeply grounded in the truth of the word of God that you can't be deceived. Ephesians 4, 14, be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine and the cunning craftiness of men. I pray that you are so deeply grounded in the truth of the word of God that you can't be deceived, that you hear a false gospel and you know the truth and the Galatians are being deceived. And Paul says, I'm afraid for you. Why? Because religion cannot get you into heaven. Religious people go to hell. Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven, what I call the scariest verses in the Bible, he said, one day, many will come to me on that day when they stand before me saying, Lord, Lord. And he says, not everyone who comes to me saying, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. He says, but they that do the will of the Father in heaven. And they will say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not done mighty works in your name? Have we not preached in your name? And you'll say, depart from me, I never knew you. Now here's the reality, why that's so scary.

We're not talking about atheists here. We're talking about religious people here. People who were in church. And that's why Paul says, I'm afraid for you. When you start putting your hope for heaven in anything you do, or a list of things somebody has told you, you're putting your faith in something that cannot save you. And here's the nature of religion, listen carefully. Religion always teaches to put one's faith in the symbols and the shadows of our salvation instead of the substance and the source of our salvation. That's what Paul was saying to the Galatians. You put your hope in the weeks and the months, the shadows and the symbols. In this case, it was circumcision. Now, I don't have time to take a deep dive. You listen to the Well podcast tomorrow. I do a deep dive into the Hebrew rite of circumcision. What was it, why were the Galatians so hung up on it? Don't have time to talk about it. It was an outward symbol, that's all it was. It was a shadow of something God would do prophetically in me and you. Today, nobody's hung up on circumcision. Nobody's arguing you gotta go through the Hebrew rite of circumcision to be a Christian. Today, it's baptism. New Testament baptism is a shadow and a symbol but not the substance or source of our salvation.

Now, today, we are prepared for spontaneous baptisms. That's right, we're baptizing in between services at all of our campuses, even our church houses because I'm convinced when you hear the Holy Spirit prompt you, I want you to learn to obey without delay. Today, God prompts you to take your next step and go public with your faith. We're prepared, we got clothes you can change into. Now, listen carefully. Water baptism does not save you. It's a shadow of your salvation. It's a symbol. of your salvation, not the substance, not the source. And I'm telling you, this has been a huge source of division and deception in 2,000 years of church history. So Chris and I, before we got married many years ago, we got our life right with Jesus. We started dating, neither of us was following Jesus. About 21 years of age, we start following Jesus, and we start thinking about marriage. And the first thing we started talking about was baptism. Because in her religious tradition, she was baptized or sprinkled as a little baby and taught that sprinkling as a baby is what made her a Christian, it's what made her salvation. I was taught, on the other hand, that baptism is not the substance of your salvation, it's simply a faith declaration, and baptism happens after belief, not before belief.

Now here's the deal. We had a real disagreement about this, like this could have been a deal killer, because we wanna raise our children in unity, and we knew ahead of time we should make a decision before we got married, and I gotta tell ya, I mean, this was a hot topic a lot of our dates at that time in history. I mean, we're just, I'm just gonna say some really, really intense fellowship around the area of baptism. Now here's the deal. Neither of us knew a lot about the Bible at the time, but we made a decision. We don't know who's right, we just wanna know what's right. She thought she was right, I thought I was right. We came to the mutual decision, we just wanna know what's right, and we agreed that the Bible would be the referee. The Bible gets the final say. And if I've taught you anything, it's to go to the Bible. The Bible is your final authority. There is no man that's infallible. The only man that's ever walked the earth that is infallible is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man. Every other man is fallible. Listen, the Catholic pope is just a man, he's fallible. The church fathers that often get quoted were just men. They're fallible. The reformers of the 16th century, they're just men.

They're fallible. Pastor Phil is just a man, he's fallible. I could be wrong about something. If I teach you anything, it's in the end, you go to Scripture as your final authority for what you believe and practice. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You'll listen to the well tomorrow. Again, a lot of the well tomorrow, I'm answering a question somebody emailed me about the Bible. How do we know the Bible is something we can trust? How did we get the Bible? Why the 66 books of the Bible? Why were some books included, others left out? How was it put together? I'm answering those questions on the well tomorrow. You should listen. But I'm telling you, the Bible's perfect. Men aren't. Men will lead you astray. I guarantee I'm wrong about something. I don't currently know of anything I'm wrong about, though. Full disclosure. But I guarantee I'm wrong about something.

And what I will promise you in 26 years of preaching, when I have discovered something in the Word of God that is different than what I thought, I have always changed my mind. The Bible is always right, even if I have to admit I'm wrong. Now most people, I'm telling you, aren't willing to do that. Let me ask you before I proceed, are you willing to unlearn stuff you thought you learned about the Bible to learn what you need to know about the Bible? The hardest thing about learning the Bible sometimes is unlearning what you thought you learned about the Bible. The hardest thing about learning about God is sometimes unlearning what you thought you knew about God. So Chris and I decided, listen, the Bible gets the final say. I don't know what's right. We just wanna know what's right. We began to look up every single verse in the Bible on baptism. I mean, literally, every single time it's found, we looked it up, we took a deep dive into baptism, and guess what we discovered at the end of our study after looking up every verse on baptism? Guess what we discovered? I was right. Now to be clear, I've been wrong about a lot of other things since then, okay? Oh, here's what we discovered.

Baptism always follows belief. Not one time in the Bible, not one verse is any baby ever baptized. Not one verse, one time are we ever told to baptize babies, not one. Now listen carefully. Don't hear what I'm saying and what I'm not saying. I'm not saying there aren't good, godly people who love Jesus in the Roman Catholic tradition, Lutheran tradition, Presbyterian tradition. I'm not saying that. I'm saying when it comes to baptized babies, it's tradition. It's not New Testament doctrine. The word baptized is a transliteration of. The word baptizo, it means dip, immerse, plunge, or sink. There's no such thing, sprinkling, when you baptize. Because baptism represents a death and a burial. You bury somebody, you don't sprinkle dirt on them. You put them all the way under, why? Because there's gonna be a resurrection. It's a symbol, it's a shadow of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And when you are baptized, you're making a declaration of faith that your hope is in the death and burial of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus, that you've died to your old self, that you've died to your sin, that you've been resurrected to a new life in Christ. That's the faith declaration.

And the truth is, you don't see anything about sprinkling or infant baptism till about 400 years after Christ and the apostles. Augustine began to teach on original sin. He began to teach that a baby has original sin. This is 400 years after Christ and the apostles. And Augustine began to teach about original sin, and he taught that if a baby died with original sin and they hadn't been baptized, they'd go straight to hell. And baptism was how you washed away original sin. Not in the Bible. It amazes me how we quote the church fathers like Augustine who lived 400 years after the apostles, as if Augustine had authority. Listen, he had no more authority than I have. Ephesians 2.20, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Acts chapter two, the church was studying the apostles' doctrine. Not the church fathers who lived 400 years after Christ and the apostles. Not the 16th century reformers. We should revere them. There's a lot we can learn from them. But we're not studying the reformers' doctrine. You're not studying Pastor Phil's doctrine. We're to study the apostles' doctrine. What does the Bible say? I would go to my church with Christa, her church. She'd come to my church.

I'd go to her church, and I'd listen to her pastor, and her pastor would often sprinkle a baby, christen them, and he would read from this verse, 1 Peter 3.21. There's also an antitype which now saves us, baptism. He'd sprinkle a little baby. He'd stop reading right here, see? Baptism saves us. He'd sprinkle a little baby. I'd sit there going, hey, read the rest of the verse. Read the rest of it. The parentheses defines what Peter's talking about. What does save us from? It's not the removal of the filth of the flesh. Augustine, you're wrong. Water baptism does not wash away the filth of the flesh. Only the blood of Jesus can do that. And you appropriate it by faith. Romans 5.1, therefore having justified by faith, we have peace with God. We're saved by faith, Jesus plus nothing. It's not Jesus plus baptism. Not the removal of filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. What's he mean? It means we have good conscience now before God because we took our first step of obedience, which is baptism. We put the ring on our finger. Listen, baptism is like a wedding ring.

This ring that I now wear does not make me married. It simply declares publicly that I am. I could take it off, I would still be married. Doesn't change a thing. Only Christa would beat me. Plenty of reason to wear it. Here's the point. Imagine me saying, honey, I love you. I just don't wanna wear my ring. Imagine me saying, honey, I'm glad we're married, but I just don't want anybody else to know. That's like a believer who won't be baptized. Listen, a believer who won't be baptized needs to question whether or not they're really a believer. Baptism doesn't save you, but if you're saved, why wouldn't you wanna be baptized? That's how important it is. And today, some of you need to be baptized. You know why? Because when you were baptized the first time, you had no idea what was going on. It was somebody else's decision. Today's the day. Now you know to put the ring on your finger and make a faith declaration, I'm a follower of Jesus. My hope for heaven is in him. and his crucifixion, it's in his resurrection. And yes, it's a symbol, it's a shadow. It's not the substance or the source. What is the substance and source of our salvation?

Peter goes on, it's the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's our hope for heaven, it's the crucifixion and resurrection. Not the symbols, not the shadows. He goes on, he says this in verse 12. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. You know that because of physical infirmity, I preach the gospel to you at the first. In my trial, which was in my flesh, you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. We know that Paul was clinically blind. He probably had glaucoma, maybe cataracts. He's saying, guys, when we met the first time and I preached the gospel to you, you received me as an angel from heaven. You loved me in such a way that if you could have, you'd have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. What happened, what changed? He says this, have I therefore become an enemy because I tell you the truth?

The Galatians were turning on him, treating him like an enemy now, because they told him the truth. Can I tell you why? Because Jesus said the truth will set you free, but sometimes it makes people angry. Let me ask you, have I become your enemy today because I told you the truth? Hey, I get fired every week. I'm serious. Not going back to abundant life, not going back there again. Because somebody got offended by the truth. Well, check this out. I love you enough to tell you the truth, even if it makes you angry. I care about your soul enough to tell you the truth, even if you never come back to abundant life. That's how much I love you. I'll take a chance every time because we're talking about your destiny. We're talking about your soul. They, the false teachers, zealously court you, but no, for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. Every false teacher has this in common. They want to control you and deceive you because it's all about them.

It's all about their own following, their own gain, their own fame. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. That's God's desire for you, that Christ is formed in you. That's what this two-year A-Life Discipleship Journey is about, that Christ is formed in you. That's why we're studying Galatians, that Christ be formed in you. You've been born of his seed as a child of God. Now would you grow up to become like him? That's God's desire as your father. I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I have doubts about you. You know, in the same way, some conversations you shouldn't have over email or text because you can't read somebody's tone. Paul's saying that now. He's saying, guys, I wish I could be there personally to share this with you, because you can't hear my tone. He's saying, guys, I'm not mad at you. I'm sad, I'm sad, I'm not mad. He's heartbroken over his spiritual children that have been deceived by a false gospel. And some of us are defending a religious tradition. Well, if this is true, what about my mom and dad? That makes them, what about my grandma and grandpa?

That I understand the implication. That's why it's so scary. What does it mean for my family? The bigger question is, what's it mean for you? What's it mean for you? God's desire is that Christ be formed in you. That's not religion that can do that for you. That's knowing the real Jesus who really died for a real you. Would you bow with me right now? Jesus, I pray for every person here that not one would leave this moment in time without preparing for eternity. If you don't know today where you would be, I want you to pray with me right now. For by grace, you're saved through faith. Ephesians 2.8, this prayer does not save you. These words do not save you. It's your faith. that saves you, but faith must be exercised, and right now we're gonna do that together. I want you to pray with me right now, wherever you are. Pray this with me. Jesus, I know I've sinned. I'm separated from heaven because of my sin. And I know that mere religion cannot get me into heaven. I need redemption. And I know there's nothing I could do, but Jesus, I believe you did everything for me, that you died for my sin and rose again.

And by faith today, I ask you to forgive my sin. Come change me from within. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you give Jesus the glory today? Praise him, church, would you?