Benefits Of Being In Christ | Sonship | Galatians 3:26-29

January 8, 2013

Following Jesus seems to come at a pretty steep price. Jesus tells us clearly that whoever wishes to follow him must lay down his own life. Sometimes it can be hard to do this, especially when you can’t see the immediate benefits. But being a Christian is a life with only advantages! I am going to give you some really good reasons to give up everything and live for Christ.

Galatians 3:26-29 ²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The blessings procured by the Lord Jesus Christ in His death is eternal. Jesus died on the cross to save us from everlasting condemnation. It is God’s most wondrous and necessary work that He prepared a way for mankind to be rescued from eternal condemnation and brought into eternal life. God created the entire universe, the world in which we live, as a stage for that redemptive purpose.

In the OT times, God sent many prophets to announce and promise salvation. He designed many ceremonies in the OT to illustrate salvation. God established a priestly service to provide the sacrifices and offerings that depicted salvation. God designed every book of the Bible to carry on the redemptive story to its culmination in the glory of Christ in the book of Revelation. God designed the gospel. He designed the incarnation, the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension of Christ.

He called the apostles and gifted them to preach the gospel. He empowered them and other preachers by the Holy Spirit to spread the good news across the world. God designed and conducts the whole history of the world from the beginning to the end to serve the plan of saving sinners and to bring them to eternal life.

Hebrews 2:3 …how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

There is no escape if you ignore God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.

How Can Man Receive Salvation?

We Receive The Gift Of Salvation By Faith in Jesus Alone.

John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 3:21 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Romans 3:21-26 ²¹But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—²⁶he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Ephesians 2:8-9 ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

That is the Christian gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That is what was rediscovered in the Reformation. You are saved by faith alone.

Now, Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians to make this truth clear. In Galatians, Paul’s entire intention is to clarify that salvation is by faith alone.

Why does he do that? There were many churches that he had planted in the region of Galatia. The gospel was preached, people had come to faith, and these churches were moving on in the truth. And some Jews came from Jerusalem who claimed to be believers in Christ, who claimed to represent James the leader of the Jerusalem church. They came into the Galatian churches, and they told the believers that their salvation was not valid because it required more than faith, it required works; namely circumcision, sabbath laws and Jewish table laws. They said that salvation was by faith and works. Paul identified this as a false gospel or a distorted gospel.

Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

Galatians 3:11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

He quotes Habakkuk 2:4 …the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.

Galatians 2:16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Anybody who believes in a gospel that includes works, Paul says is foolishly bewitched. Galatians 3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?

The true gospel, salvation by faith, that’s how you receive this immense gift that God has provided through Christ. It is by faith and faith alone.

The question then comes up, “Then why the law? Why did God give the law if we’re not saved by the law?”

“Why Was Law Then Given?” Galatians 3:19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.

The Law Does Several Things.

The Law Defined Sin.

People did not have a full understanding of sin. So the law of God given to Moses, summed up in the Ten Commandments, defines sin in its widest sense. The law was given to keep the people distinct that would eventually bring froth the Messiah.

The Law Describes Sin As An Open Violation Of God.

The law describes sin is opposition to God, rebellion to God. Sin is a crime against Holy God.

The Law Is Given To Declare To Us That When It Is Broken, The Result Is Death.

The wages of sin is death.

Law Was Given To Show That The Law Can’t Save.

The law was given from the time of Moses to Jesus. It was given to the people of Israel with the best opportunity to keep it, the people with the best history, God’s people. They had all the blessings of God. If any human beings could be saved by the law they had the best shot at it. And as we follow Israel from the time the law was given until the time of Christ, it is nothing but violation and divine punishment. And the proof is that throughout the era of the law from Moses to Christ, all that the law did was demonstrate its inability to save. And by the time Christ comes you have a completely apostate nation of Israel who have totally corrupted the law.

Paul is telling, you don’t want to come to God through the law but by faith in Christ Jesus.

What the law did for us?

Galatians 3:23-25 ²³Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Paul said the law is two things:

The Law Was A Prison.

There is no way to escape, because we cannot keep the law perfectly. The Jews were locked up under the law until Messiah came. All Gentile believers were locked up under the law of God. The gentiles might not have had the written law of God, but they had the law of God written in their conscience.

Romans 2:14-15 ¹⁴(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

Even the people without the written law of God have the law of God in some measure in their hearts. The Jews were prisoners. That is the condition of all men before faith comes – bound to the law.

The Law Was A Guardian.

A guardian is usually in the Roman world a master’s slave who would take care of a master’s child. The slave had the responsibility to be the personal guardian who would disciple the child and keep from harm. So the boys in the Roman world would long for the day when they were old enough to step out from under the guardian, paidaggos.

That is what the law did. The law was a disciplinarian. So the law does have a distinct place, but its place is as a prison and as a severe guardian.

The purpose of all of that: Galatians 3:23-24 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

Now that Christ has come, now that we have heard the gospel to be justified by faith means we are no longer under a guardian and we are out of prison.

Christ Has Freed Us From The Law.

First of all, we’re out of prison, and the death sentence is reversed, and we now have the promise of eternal life in heaven.

We’re free from external bondage, fear, and dread, which is the dominion of the law; and we now have in our hearts a loving eagerness to obey God out of love and gratitude. We are no more under a guardian. So we are now free. We have reached adulthood, we have reached maturity, and we can be trusted now to live, because the wellspring of righteousness in the new nature that has been given to us, the fruit of conversion, draws us into loving God and obeying God from the heart.

Blessings that we have in Christ.

Galatians 3:26-29 ²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Benefits Of Being In Christ?

But if you put your faith in Christ, this is what you receive.

You Become A Child Of God Through Faith In Christ Jesus.

You are not just a son of Abraham, but a son of God

You used to be sons of Satan; your father the devil dominated you. Now you have been set free and you have become sons of God. You are mature sons of God who obey out of love and desire.

John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

What Are The Benefits Of Being A Son?

Galatians 4:6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

What Are The Benefits Of Being A Son?

With Sonship Comes Authority And Confidence To Go To God.

We have authority, confidence and boldness to go to God and say, “Abba.” That means “papa.” The Jew would never think of saying that. No Jew would ever say, “Father,” even, let alone, “Abba.” “But you as sons of God not only can say, ‘Father,’ but, ‘Abba.’” Those are the words that our Lord Jesus used to speak to His Father. We can put our trust in Jesus both now and for eternity.

With Sonship We Possess The Holy Spirit Who’s Taken Up Residence In Us.

So we have an internal witness of the Spirit. We have an external witness of the Spirit in Scripture.

With Sonship We Have Promise Of An Inheritance.

You are not a slave, you are a son; you are then an heir, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

We Are Heirs Of The Promise.

Galatians 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

You’re the true sons of Abraham in Christ. You are the descendants of Abraham. Abraham’s seed is Christ, you’re in Christ who is the one true seed, and therefore you receive the promises that belong to Christ. Again, you are a joint heir.

Second benefit of being in Christ:

We Are Clothed With Christ.

Galatians 3:26-27 ²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Paul does not say we are baptized into water, but we are baptized into Christ. We are immersed in Jesus.

Romans 6:3-8 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We Are Clothed With Christ. Your appropriate clothing every day is to put on Christ. People should see that you belong to Christ looking at your life.

We Are United With Christ

We Have Been Set Free From Sin

We Can Now Live A New Life

So Paul the apostle is saying, “Look, by faith you became sons of God with all the rights and privileges.” By faith you have been clothed with Christ, His robes for mine. “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness.”

Like that young Roman boy who came to the age where he became an adult and was given the robe, toga virilis. We have been given the robe of righteousness, righteousness of Christ. We are clothed with Him. We are covered with Him. That’s the imputation of His righteousness to us, and it’s by faith.

We are sons through faith, and we are clothed with Christ through faith.

Universal Brotherhood: We Are One With Each Other

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Now let me say this: this is talking spiritually. Obviously there are Jews and there are Gentiles, there are slaves and there are freemen, there are men and there are women, and God does not intend to erase the distinction.

But what it’s saying here is: In Christ, those distinctions are meaningless, because in Christ we are one, whether we be Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, we are all one in Christ. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

This is not saying we need to get rid of all the distinctions. This is not saying that slaves ought to be all set free, and women ought to be equal to men in all their functions and roles. Not at all. The Bible is crystal clear: “Slaves, obey your masters. Masters, be good to your slaves. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives.” God has set the boundaries of nations, we understand that.

But in Christ, we make no distinctions of gender with regard to our mutual love; we make no distinctions of social strata; we make no distinctions of ethnicity. That’s all alien to the fellowship of Christ.

National Distinctions Vanish. The old hostility of Jew and Gentile disappears. Christianity now tries to blend nations. Whether you are an Indian or an American or a Nigerian; we are all one in Christ. The world fights for national identity, our identity is in Christ.

Social Distinctions Vanish. Slaves are free in Christ. Masters are brothers to the slaves. The gospel is the enemy of all caste-feeling. There is no high class and low class in Christ.

The Bible says that:

All human beings have the same substance, we are made from the dust of the ground, Genesis 2:7.

All human beings are made in the image of God, Genesis 2:26

And all human beings are tainted by sin, Romans 3:3

Cast has even affected the church.

It is sad to know that despite urbanization, industrialization, and legislation; land, property and jobs are assigned on the basis of cast.

Any kind of racism, any kind of white supremacy, any kind of anger and hostility toward other people because of caste, color, region etc is vanished in Christ. This is all part of the world, but not part of the church. Church should never practice this.

Distinctions Of Sex Count For Nothing. The world is fighting for rights for women, some are telling men are superior. In Christ, both male and female are one.

We are known by our love, and it knows no ethnic limitations, and it knows no gender limitations, and it knows no social limitations. We’re all one in Christ. When you come to me, whoever you are, Christ comes to me. You are in Christ, Christ is in you. I’m in Christ, Christ is in me. We are one in Christ.

Joy In The Earthly Life

Everywhere you look people are wondering what the formula is for a joyful life. It is a universal goal yet very few have come up with the answer. But as Christians, a joyful life is promised to us!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

It was never God’s intention that we should be miserable on the earth for 80 years and then become happy in eternity. God has thoughts of peace towards us – He wants us to be joyful now! And as long as we align our will with God’s will for our lives, then of course that is what is going to happen.

2 Corinthians 7:4 I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

This is what it means to be a Christian: to be exceedingly joyful in all our tribulations! It is easy to be happy when everything in your life is going well but being a Christian means being happy even when things seem to be going against us.

The world is a very uncertain place. Covid-19 crisis, natural disasters, financial insecurity, economic crisis, relationship problems – how can anyone possibly find rest in such a tumultuous time? No matter what happens in the world, God takes care of His children. Come what may, God will take care of those who love Him. Whether we understand what the end result of a situation is or don’t understand it at all, we can go through life in complete confidence and rest in God, knowing that our whole life has been arranged for the best.

God allows us to experience trials that – taken in the right way – are opportunities to put our sin to death and experience more and more joy.

Conclusion: There are tremendous benefits of being a Christian and a child of God. This is the greatness of salvation. The benefits of Christ greatness of salvation, that God would go to this extent to provide rescue from hell and entrance to heaven. Do not remain in the prison and the discipline of the law when you can come to freedom and joy and heaven in Christ.

If we are Christ’s, then…

We find our place in eternity, because we are sons and daughters of God.

We find our place in society, because we are brothers and sisters in the family of God.

We find our place in history, because we are part of God’s plan of the ages, related spiritually to Abraham by our faith in Jesus.

Being in Christ “It enables me to answer the most basic of all human questions, ‘Who am I?’ and to say, ‘In Christ I am a son of God. In Christ I am united to all the redeemed people of God, past, present, and future. In Christ I discover my identity. In Christ I find my feet. In Christ I come home.” (Stott)

Following Jesus is not easy. One has to first believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and by faith you are saved. Once you are saved, you receive all these privileges but there is a cost to follow Jesus. We are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

You Become A Child Of God Through Faith In Christ Jesus.

What Are The Benefits Of Being A Son?