Adopted by Grace

To live under law is to live as a slave. It is to live a life in spiritual bondage. But Dr. Tony Evans says Christians haven't been left in bondage. They've been adopted by grace.

You're not in a master-slave relationship with God. You're in a daddy kid relationship with God. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Some Christians live life in spiritual slavery, not truly believing God has already set them free. Today, Dr. Evans explains what it means to be adopted by grace and fully embraced as sons and daughters of God. Let's join him as he takes us to the book of Galatians to talk about our new identity in Christ. Paul is writing to the church at Galatia.

This is in Turkey. Modern day Turkey. And he is writing to them. Because The faith is being undermined by the Judaizers. Jews who are trying to bring people back under the law.

And Paul wants to write to tell them. That's going backwards. You're in a new administration now. called grace. Grace is unmerited favor.

It cannot be earned, it can only be accessed. You access grace through faith. Faith accesses grace. What you do. Out of faith.

involves works.

So, works are tied to faith, they're not tied to grace.

So, if you get that flow, That's in Ephesians 2:8, 9. By grace you are saved, by faith, not according to your works, so that no man should boast. Then he comes in verse 10: for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

So he goes from grace to faith to works.

So you can take a mountain off of your head that you don't have to work to gain God's favor.

So he goes further and he wants to get into what we introduced last time. In verse 29 of chapter 3. And if you belong to Christ, you're Christians, then you are Abraham's descendants. heirs according to the promise. And if you remember, he skips Moses.

He says, no, don't go back to Moses. You are connected to Abraham.

Now you're not connected to Moses. Moses is the law. Abraham is the promise. You're connected to the promise, not the law.

So he wants to go deeper into this now and explain your airship. Your inheritance, if you will. And he does it by discussing adoption. Adoption. Where you bring somebody into your family.

who belonged to another family. Biologically, they belong to another family. but you bring them into your family as your own. Through the process of adoption.

Well, that's the concept he wants to explain now. To explain our new relationship under grace. from our old family of the law. That we have been grafted in or adopted into another family structure. and another way of operating.

When you are formally adopted. You are no longer obligated to. to your biological parents. You're no longer obligated to them. They have lost.

rights over you. once you are legally adopted. And he wants to point this out in terms of making them flow. from our old parent law to the new parent grace. He says, Now I say, as long as the heir is a child.

He does not differ at all from a slave, although he is. owner of everything.

So A child has the legal rights. But only did he get the legal rights in Rome, because that's the context they're in, when he reached a certain age. They had to reach a certain age before he would be recognized to have those rights. Until he reached that age, he was like a slave. He was simply there to do the bidding of the Father.

So, in the meantime, these managers or tutors or guardians would be preparing the child for. the time when they would graduate. to adulthood.

So while we were children, in our immaturity We were bound by the principles of the world. We were bound by a non-Christian way of thinking and operating. And the non-Christian way of thinking and operating. is performance-based. Everything about how you operate in the world is performance-based.

You get your salary based on your performance at work. You accept or reject people based on performance.

So that principle is how we operate in society. He calls that a baby principal, what he calls it elementary school. He says an elementary principle. It's a merit-based system of living and operating. And he says, that's the system you were under.

So follow this now. But when the fullness of time came, when at the right perfect time. God sent forth his son. Born of a woman, notice no man is in the picture. Born of a woman.

Born under the law, very important. Jesus wasn't born under grace. He was born under the law. Jesus was born under the old administration, the law. Because He had to fulfill all righteousness.

That is, he had to Keep the law. Nobody had ever kept the law. The law was the righteous standard of God. We summarize those in the Ten Commandments. There's nobody who has ever kept the Ten Commandments.

And Jesus came to see. Satisfy a man meeting God's standard. Jesus Christ was born not under a grace administration, but a law administration in order to satisfy the demands of a holy God as a man. And he did it at the fullness of time, that is, at the perfect intersection of history.

So that he might redeem those who are under the law. that we might receive what? The adoption as sons.

So here we are with the word adoption. God wants to adopt you. or wants to adopt humanity. Bring you into his family, into his fold. Because you are sons, Christians.

God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. I'm trying to make this plain. Crying ABBA Father.

Okay, when you get adopted by another dad other than your biological dad. The idea is that this new dad is your father. He says, I redeem those who are entrapped to the slavery of the law so that. God will send forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

Well, his son It's Jesus Christ. You and I are sons, daughters. We are his children. By what? adoption.

Jesus is his only begotten son. For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten. Sun. That's unique. Begotten means unique one of a kind.

He is the unique one of a kind son. Virgin born. We are adopted children. Into the family of God. And we possess in ourselves the spirit of Christ.

Well, what spirit is that?

Well, it's the Holy Spirit, but what does he mean that we have the spirit of Christ?

Well, remember. Jesus was born under the law. to fulfill the law.

So God's standards have already been met. By Christ. And where is Christ? in our hearts.

So Christ, who has met the standard You've got it.

So when God looks at you, the standard has been met. But it wasn't meant by you. It was met by Christ, but Christ is in you.

So when God sees you, he sees Christ and he sees The standard.

So you can now say ABBA. Father.

So, God is not just God, He's the word Abba means dead. It's a personal term. You don't just pray to God, you talk to dad.

So, your interaction with God needs to be, you have a. You want to respect him as God, but you want to relate to him as dad. Because he's Father, our Father who art in heaven, okay?

So God wants you now to relate to him. on a very personal level, not only an official level. Because if you only relate to God officially, He's way out there. When he's daddy. That changes the interaction.

So you cry, ABBA, Daddy, Father. Because we are now what sons. That is, adopt it into the family. But he doesn't just want you to say father, because even that can be a distant term. He wants you to ab a father.

That's the intimacy of the parental relationship. Dr. Evans will explain what it means to be part of God's family and how that changes everything. when he returns in just a moment. In today's message and throughout the Galatians series, Dr.

Evans explains how God has adopted us as His children. and given us a new identity. And we'd like to send you a copy of all 11 full-length messages as our gift to review on your own or to share with your family or Bible study group. All we ask is that you make a contribution to help support the Alternative Broadcast Ministry. And for a limited time, we'll include a bonus resource, Dr.

Evans' powerful book, Kingdom Prayer. Touching heaven to change earth. You can request both resources in the special package today at tonyevans.org. All the details are right on our home page. Or reach out to our Resource Center for some in-person help at 1-800-800-3222.

That's one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's lesson. Let's rejoin Dr. Evans now in Galatians chapter 4.

So Therefore, Now that you're saved, you are verse seven, no longer a slave. You're not in a master-slave relationship with God. You're in a daddy-kid relationship with God. Because you've been adopted. And in this father-child relationship with God, where you cry, have a father.

Daddy. Just knowing that right now without going any deeper. should change how you relate to God. How you relate to him now. should be softer and relational.

not abstract and legal.

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Because the Judaizers are saying that Paul's lying, that you know, you got to be under the law, even as Christians. They easily seek you. Not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you. We'll seek them.

So they were They were making it difficult for the believers, the Judaizers, making it difficult for the believers to progress. because they were even rejecting them for not coming under the law. What is his concern? Verse nineteen, my children. With whom I am again in labor.

Until Christ. is formed. And you. The idea here is of a conception, of a woman conceiving. Inner room.

and now waiting for the baby to take form. What is the life he wants to form? He says that Christ might be formed in you.

Well, when a baby takes form, it takes hands and feet and ears and nose and legs. It's taking formation, it's taking shape. You do the ultrasound to see the formation of life. He says, I want to see the formation of Christ in you.

Okay, well. Christ in you has already kept the law. This is all connecting. Christ in you has already satisfied the demands of God.

So For you. to satisfy the mans of God. It's simply Christ forming in you. In other words, As Christ takes shape in you. Since he's already satisfied God's demands, you will be satisfying God's demand because his form will be in you.

So you won't be working. To meet God's demands. You'll just be forming Christ, which means you'll meet God's demands.

So he wants to make this point of grace and law. by coming up with this story to create an analogy. And so here he goes in verse 21. Tell me. You who want to be under the law.

So you see, he's still talking about the same subject. Do you not listen to the law?

Okay, you want to be under it, well, you ought to pay attention to it. For it is written. That Abraham had two sons. One by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. One by Sarah, the free woman, who was his wife.

based on God's plan and one by Hagar. Hagar had Ishmael. Sarah had Isaac.

So you had two women. and two sons. But the son by the bond woman Hagar We'll call her the mistress. Hagar was born according to the flesh. He was born the Hagar.

out of an illegitimate relationship.

So it was a human attempt. to achieve something. in the flesh. And the sun by the free woman. Through the promise.

Okay, Sarah got a son based on God's promise. God's promise was that you're going to have a son through Sarah. Not through Hagar. But they meant well. They wanted to help God out.

But helping God out. Your way is called the flesh. She got her son by the promise. This is allegorically speaking. I'm making an analogy here.

That these two women are two covenants. They represent something bigger than two ladies and two babies. They represent a way of operating.

So two covenants is an arrangement.

So, I use these two women to make these two bigger points. The two bigger points are the covenants. One proceeding from Mount Sinai. Bearing children, who are to be slaves. She is Hagar, So watch this.

He says, one covenant is Mount Sinai. And that covenant is like Hagar.

Now what happened at Mount Sinai? Moses got the law. The law was given at Mount Sinai.

So he makes Hagar equal to Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai. was the law. The law was awesome. It was the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai.

It was a wonderful thing when God gave the law, but it connects the law to Hagar. And Hagar was the flesh.

So, what he is saying is. This covenant, this arrangement, this administration. Of the law only proves the inadequacy of the flesh. to try to meet God's standard. And All they did was create a mess.

He says now, verse 25: This Hagar. Is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem. That was the physical Jerusalem where they are living, where the temple was, where the Jews were, where the laws were. Earthly. That's earthly.

For she is in slavery with her children.

So, to live under law is to live as a slave. It is to live a life in spiritual. Bonded. Mm-hmm. What many Christians don't understand is Their attempts to keep the Ten Commandments is holding them hostage.

And yet, What they're trying to keep is good. Sarah was trying to do something good. Because she was trying to help God fulfill his promise. But it wound up doing something bad. College.

It put them in bondage. But the Jerusalem above is free. Heavenly Jerusalem. as opposed to the earthly Jerusalem. above The Jerusalem above is free.

She is our mother.

So he's referring now to the other covenant. Sarah, the other woman. The free woman. For it is written, Rejoice, barren woman. Who does not bear give birth?

Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For more numerous are the children of the desolate than the one. Who has A husband. And you, brethren. like Isaac.

are children of promise.

So now he's gone to Sarah. Sarah is desolate. Because she's barren, she can't have kids. She don't have kids, but she has a promise. The promise is you're going to have a kid.

There's a long time between the promise. And a baby. Because she's barren a long time. She's 90 years old before she has this child.

So she is waiting on a promise. And the promise had nothing to do with the law. The promise preceded the law. With the law Is like Hagar that came slavery, but look what came out of the promise. Isaac?

Then comes Jacob. Then comes the 12 tribes of Israel. Then comes the nation of Israel. In other words, all these descendants. Are coming out of the promise.

In other words, the promise can produce a whole lot more. The heavenly approach. can do a lot more than the earthly fleshly Hagar approach. Which is gonna lead him into talking about grace. Obviously.

Verse 29. But as at the time he who was born according to the flesh, Ishmael, persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. What's this point? Law persecutes grace.

He's comparing the two boys to make his two points. But what does the scripture say? cast out the bond woman. and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.

These two kids can't live in the same house. You cannot have. Law and grace living together. You can't operate on both covenants at the same time. The two have got to be separated and kick.

the law out. The bond woman's gotta go. Because these two can't get along. The law will always persecute grace. Stifle grace, hinder grace, interrupt grace.

Don't try to mix covenants. Because if you mix them, if you try to live by law and grace, you got to fight. Got a war on your hands.

So then, brethren. Here's his point, verse 31. We are not children of a bondwoman. But we are children of a free woman. You're not a child of both mamas.

And then he's going to come in chapter 5 and tell you how. How to live with the free woman. without needing The woman of bondage. Dr. Tony Evans, reminding believers they've been adopted by grace and are no longer bound to live a life of spiritual slavery.

Today's message is just one part of Tony's eye-opening Galatians series. and we'd love to send you the entire 11-part collection as our thanks for your gift to help support the alternative. As I mentioned earlier, if you contact us right away, we'll include an added bonus to go along with the Galatians audio series. It's Tony's powerful book, Kingdom Prayer. designed to help you pray with greater clarity and confidence.

Just visit tonyevans.org to make your request while this limited time offer is still available. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222. to connect with our resource team. Again, that's tonyevans.org. or call 1-800-800-3222.

Some people think freedom in Christ means doing whatever we want. But Paul says otherwise. On Monday, Dr. Evans explains what true liberty looks like. and why we need to guard it carefully.

I hope you'll join us.