Sunday we will work through another section of Galatians. Last week we saw the relationship between the law and the promise in 3:15-26. Paul showed us that the law was never intended to give life but was added because of transgressions. He described the law as a guardian or disciplinarian that hems us in under the wrath of God and drives us to the savior in order that we might inherit the promise by faith. As we continue in 3:25-4:11, Paul will explain more fully who we are in the gospel of Jesus. It is the gospel alone in which we find our identity before God. The Galatians were falling into an all too familiar snare of many Christians. They were tempted to believe that their standing before God was dependent upon Jesus plus works of the law. Over the course of our study in Galatians, we have seen how easy it is for any of us to fall into this temptation. When we fail to walk in the commands of God that we love, our heart breaks and we feel that God has removed his loving presence from us. When we succeed gloriously in doing good according to God’s word, sometimes we feel that we have earned a higher standing than we had in the gospel. Paul shows us in this section that, in the gospel, if we have been born again - God eternally sees us in Christ - holy and blameless before Him. We cannot add to what he has given and it is the height of arrogance to think we can. We can easily see the folly of claiming an identity that doesn’t correspond with reality. We are seeing from the world during this month in particular. And we also know that the gospel is desperately needed by the world that embraces such sinful falsehood, in order to be brought to salvation and transformed to live for God. But as we seek to speak the truth in love and share the saving gospel of Jesus with the world, we also must hold fast to that gospel ourselves. In Jesus our identity is secure and perfect before God. Regardless of how we feel in the moment, that is reality. In the gospel, we have been saved from sin, and we have been transformed to live for sin no longer. That is the identity of the born again believer in Christ. We are:

I. United with Christ Through Faith (3:25-29) - and Paul lists the benefits of this union

II. Redeemed From Slavery & Adopted (4:1-7)

`And therefore we must:

III. Live As Children of God (4:8-11)

As we walk through the book of Galatians, the main point is repeated over and over again. Jesus is enough. Jesus is sufficient. We have all things in the gospel through faith alone. I know that the point of these messages in Galatians have been repetitive as we take the book in sections, but there is no greater truth that believers need to have repeated over and over. We must preach this to ourselves daily. The gospel is sufficient. The gospel is the grounds of our growth into maturity. The gospel is the hub around which the whole Christian life turns. We need the gospel more today than we ever have before - and tomorrow we will need it even more.

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