Fishkill Baptist Church
Sunday, September 6

      • Isaiah 1:18ESV

      • Psalm 145:1–7ESV

  • A Thousand Tongues
  • Oh the Deep, Deep Love
  • Living Hope
  • Redeemed
  • Doxology
  • Intro: Theme/Topic (What’s the problem, the question, etc.)
    There's a scene in The Shawshank Redemption that's hard to forget. Brooks Hatlen has spent nearly fifty years inside Shawshank prison. He went in as a young man and when he makes parole, he leaves as an old man.
    And you'd think the day they open those gates would be the best day of his life. He's free. He's out. The nightmare is over.
    But that's not what happens.
    What happens is that Brooks walks out into a world he doesn't recognize.
    Cars move too fast. People don't know him. Nobody needs him.
    Inside those walls, Brooks was somebody —
    He was the librarian. He had a role, a routine, a place. People knew his name.
    The prison was oppressive, but it was structured — and within that structure, Brooks knew exactly who he was.
    But, the walls that once confined him had also defined him. And without them, he's lost.
    Morgan Freeman's character, Red — narrates this scene with these words:
    These prison walls are funny. First you hate them. Then you get used to them. And after long enough, you come to depend on them.
    We hear that and we think, "That's tragic." And it is. But we do the same thing. Maybe not with prison walls — but we all latch onto something to tell us who we are.
    It might be your career —
    "I'm a teacher, I'm an engineer, I'm a business owner."
    It might be your family role —
    "I'm a good mom, I'm a provider."
    It might be your moral track record —
    "I'm a person who does the right thing."
    It might even be your religious performance —
    "I go to church, I read my Bible, I volunteer, I tithe."
    And none of those things are bad. But what happens when they get taken away?
    What happens when you retire and you don't have the job title and respect anymore?
    What happens when the kids grow up and move out of the house?
    What happens when you fail morally and the track record you were building is shattered? Who are you then?
    We all need something to tell us who we are. The question is are we letting the right thing define us?
    That's exactly what's at stake in our passage this morning. So, let’s turn there now…
    Scripture
    Grab your Bibles and turn with me to Galatians 3:26-29. If you need to use a pew Bible, you’ll find today’s text on page 1156. Once you’re there, please stand with me if you are able and follow along with me as I read...
    Galatians 3:25–29 ESV
    But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
    This God’s Word!
    Prayer
    Father may we come to know Christ more through Your Word this morning and in knowing Him may we discover more about who we really are by faith alone in Him. And may these truths be far more than head knowledge but may they revive our hearts in fresh affection for Jesus! We ask this in His name — AMEN!
    Intro: Formal (give context to passage, setting the scene, big idea)
    Now remember, last week we saw that God's law functioned like a guardian over a child who isn't old enough to manage his own affairs.
    It was good, but it was never meant to be permanent. It pointed God's people to Christ, but now that Christ has come, the guardian's job is done.
    But in the Galatian churches, false teachers had slipped in telling these Gentile believers,
    "You trust in Jesus? That’s a good start. But if you really want to belong — if you really want to know that you're part of God's family — you need more.
    You need circumcision. You need the dietary laws. You need to live like Jews. That's what will tell you who you are."
    The law was being offered to them the way those prison walls functioned for Brooks — as the thing that would define them.
    And Paul says: No. So if the law doesn't tell you who you are — who does?

    If you're no longer under the law, who are you now?

    Here's Paul's answer — and this is the big idea I want you to walk away with this morning:

    Through faith, you are all equal heirs of God's promise because you're united to Christ.

    That's it. That's who tells you who you are.
    Not the law. Not your performance. Not your background. Christ.
    And Paul unfolds this in three ways. And these will be my three sermon points this morning…He says:
    In Christ, you have a new identity.
    In Christ, no one is second-class.
    And in Christ, you are heirs of the promise.
    Let's look at each one, starting in verse 26.

    In Christ You Have a New Identity

    Last week, I kind of left you hanging because verse 25 ends in the middle of a sentence in our translation. We ended with Paul telling us we are no longer under the guardianship of the law — GREAT! But now what?
    Who are we if we're no longer minors who need the supervision of the law?
    Verse 26 completes Paul's thought and gives us the answer:
    "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith."
    The guardian is gone — not because you've been abandoned, but because something better has come.
    You've moved from supervised minor to recognized son. Not just released — promoted.
    Now, some translations have made the unfortunate decision to translate the word "son" here as "children" because it's more inclusive. But let me tell you why I think that's a mistake.
    Paul doesn't use the word "sons" here to be warm and inviting. The Greek word used is the language of legal status.
    In the ancient world, a son — particularly the firstborn — held a recognized status in the household. He had legal standing before his father. A name and a claim.
    And that's the opposite of where we were under the law. Under the guardian, you had no independent standing. But as a son, you have full standing.
    So ladies — don't feel left out by the word "sons." This isn't about gender. It's about status. Every woman here who is in Christ has the full legal standing of a firstborn son before God.
    And if it helps — every man in this room is included when Scripture calls the church the "bride of Christ."
    That word doesn't limit who's included. It describes the kind of standing you have.
    So if the men can live with being called the bride of Christ, ladies can embrace being called firstborn sons.
    And how do we come into this status? Paul says:
    Not by performance. Not by circumcision or keeping the law. But through faith you are all sons of God.
    It’s faith — not law-keeping — that defines you, because faith connects you to Jesus, the One who truly defines you.
    Now verse 27 explains how faith gives you this identity:
    "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
    Now, Paul is not teaching that the act of physical baptism is what unites us to Christ. That would run contrary to everything he's been arguing for in this letter.
    Instead, Paul is pointing to their lived experience. When a person came to faith in Paul's day, they were baptized as soon as possible —
    And remember, baptism is a public, visible sign that points to the invisible, internal substance of your faith.
    So what does it mean to "put on Christ"?
    In the Roman world, when a young man came of age, there was a public ceremony where he set aside the garments of his childhood and put on an adult toga.
    That ceremony marked a change of legal status — from boy under the supervision of a guardian to a man with full legal standing in society.
    That's the image. You've taken off the old identity — the one defined by the law, by your background, by your performance — and you've put on Christ. And it’s His identity that now covers you.
    I coach a soccer team, and every player who takes the field puts on a jersey that identifies them with our team.
    It's how everyone can tell them apart — from the other team, from the fans, from the referee.
    That jersey lets everyone know who they are and who they belong to.
    And if my players ever need to be reminded of who they are on that field, they only need to look at what they're wearing.
    Church — what tells you who you are? It’s what you're wearing that tells you who you are. And you're wearing Christ.
    But there's something even deeper here. To put on Christ is to be covered by Him — and being covered is what makes us acceptable to God.
    Think about this. God has been providing clothing to cover human shame since the Garden of Eden.
    When Adam and Eve sinned, what did they do? They grabbed fig leaves and tried to cover themselves. They tried to make their own clothing — their own solution to their nakedness and shame. But it wasn't enough. It's never enough.
    So what did God do? He made them clothing out of animal skins. And that communicates a profound truth: Something had to die to cover your shame and make you acceptable.
    This is what Christ has done. He died and rose again so that you could put Him on — So that His perfection could cover your sin.
    So when you put on Christ, you are covered not just in forgiveness but also covered in His perfection.
    And when God looks at you, He sees you as a son — because you are clothed in His beloved Son.
    So let me ask you — What are you wearing today? What are you relying on to tell you who you are and to make you acceptable?
    Is it your job where you feel respected? Is it your role as a parent? Is it your relationships? or your religious performance?
    If so, you're doing exactly what Adam and Eve did — grabbing those fig leaves. Trying to stitch together your own covering.
    But they will never be enough. And they will never hold.
    One day you will lose your job… Your kids will move out… Your relationships will change.
    You need a better and more lasting covering… You need Christ as your primary identity… But to put Him on… You need to put off whatever you’ve been trying to find your identity in.
    So what do you need to put off today? What's the identity you've been hiding behind? Whatever it is — put it off.
    And put on Christ who never changes. Come to Him by faith — not faith in what you've done, but faith in what He has done…
    His death to cover your sin. His resurrection to give you life. His righteousness for your full acceptance before God.
    That's the only covering that will hold. And it's yours through faith alone.
    So faith unites you to Christ, and in Christ you are sons of God with full standing.
    But Paul isn't finished — because some in Galatia, and maybe some in this room, might be thinking:
    "Sure, but some sons must have more standing than others, right?
    The Jewish believers who had the law and circumcision — aren't they a step closer?"
    Paul answers this next in verse 28.

    In Christ No One is Second-Class

    Paul writes in verse 28:
    “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
    Now remember — Paul just told us that every believer has put on Christ. So what he's doing here is drawing out the unavoidable implication:
    If everyone is clothed in the same Christ, then no one's old uniform makes them more of a son of God than the next person.
    Paul names three categories that the ancient world used to rank people's standing — including their standing before God. And he demolishes every one of them.
    First — ethnic and religious identity. This is the heart of the Galatian controversy. False teachers were saying Gentiles needed to become culturally Jewish to have full standing in God's family.
    And Paul's answer is emphatic: No. If Jewish and Gentile believers have both put on the same Christ, then neither group is closer to God because of their ethnic or religious background.
    Now, this exact divide may be harder for us to see in our context. But we create our own versions, don't we?
    The person who grew up in the church versus the person who walked in off the street last month.
    The one with seminary training versus the one who hasn't yet read the whole Bible.
    I wonder in what other ways we might treat some people as more "in" than others?
    The second category Paul presses into is — socioeconomic status. In Paul's world, your legal and social position determined your access to almost everything — and in many religions, that included your access to the gods. Paul demolishes this. Your social position gives you no advantage if you've put on the same Christ.
    The white-collar executive and the Door Dash delivery driver:
    Share the same pew, Sing the same songs, Take the same communion — And have the same standing before God.
    Your financial position, Your level of education, Your social influence — None of it earns you a closer seat.
    The third category Paul points us to is — gender. And notice something here. Paul doesn't say "neither male nor female." He shifts his language and says "no male and female" — I think this is a deliberate echo of Genesis 1:27: Where it says: “male and female he created them.”
    What Paul is doing here is he’s reaching all the way back to creation to say…
    That even the most fundamental human distinction — the one God wove into the fabric of creation itself — does not create a hierarchy of access to God.
    Now let me quickly address a common misunderstanding.
    Paul is not saying these distinctions cease to exist. He's saying they cease to function as the basis for your standing before God.
    Your ethnicity, Your social position, Your gender —
    These are real, God-given aspects of who you are. Paul isn't erasing them…
    In his other letters Paul gives instructions for complementary roles for men and women in the church. He also speaks to the distinct responsibilities Christians have within different social structures.
    The point is simple: none of these categories creates a two-tier system of belonging in God's family.
    And Paul isn't just tearing down walls here — he's building something in their place. He says you are all one.
    This means the church is not a collection of individuals who happen to believe the same things.
    We are one unified body, defined by our shared union with Christ.
    But this is unity — not uniformity. Remember my soccer players?
    Same jersey. Same team. Equal members.
    But still different players In different positions, With different roles, And different gifts.
    That's the church. Not everyone becoming the same — But everyone having the same standing because they're all clothed in the same Christ.
    So here's the question we need to wrestle with: Where are we tempted to create second-class citizens in God’s family in the church?
    Maybe it's the longtime member who gets the ear of the elders while the newer member is dismissed.
    Or the person with impressive resources who gets more influence than the person without.
    Or the person whose past is "respectable" compared to the person whose testimony involves things we'd rather not talk about.
    Or maybe it's something entirely internal. Maybe you're sitting here right now quietly feeling — that you are a second-class citizen in this church.
    Because of where you came from. Because of what you've done. Because of what you lack.
    Paul's word to you is this: If you are in Christ through faith, You have the same standing before God, as every other believer in this room. Period. —
    So, who tells you who you are? The world tells you your distinctives determine your access.
    Christ tells you that faith in Him gives you full access — The same access as everyone else at this table.
    So in Christ you have a new identity as sons of God. And in Christ, all sons have equal standing — United as one body, but not pressed into one mold.
    But remember — this whole controversy in Galatians has been about one question: Who really belongs to Abraham's family? The false teachers had an answer — You belong if you keep the Jewish law. But Paul gives a very different answer in verse 29…

    In Christ You are Heirs of the Promise

    This matters because God's promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
    So, if you're not Abraham's offspring, you have no claim on the promises. And the false teachers knew this — That's why their argument had teeth. They were saying: "The Jewish law is the door into Abraham's family. You want in? Keep the law."
    Paul has been dismantling this argument piece by piece through all of chapter 3. And here in verse 29 he delivers the final blow.
    “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
    Now I want you to follow Paul's logic carefully here because this is where everything he's argued for so far comes together.
    Look back at verse 16 with me. Paul made a critical move there. He argued that the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring — singular.
    Not offsprings. Not descendants, plural. One offspring. And Paul says that offspring is Christ!
    Now watch what happens in verse 29.
    You belong to Christ — through faith… Christ is Abraham's offspring… Therefore — you are Abraham's offspring in Him.
    And if you are Abraham's offspring — then you are heirs of the promise God made to Abraham.
    Do you see it? There is no law in that chain!
    No circumcision. No dietary code. No religious performance of any kind.
    The only link between you and Abraham's family is Christ. And that link is unbreakable — because it was forged by God's promise, not your performance.
    This is the nail in the coffin of everything the false teachers were selling.
    And notice — Paul doesn't just say you're Abraham's offspring. He says you're heirs according to promise. You inherit what was promised. And what was promised?
    I traced this out in a sermon a few weeks ago, but I don't want us to rush past it — sit in this for a moment.
    The promise — the blessing God gave to Abraham — is none other than the very presence and favor of God Himself.
    Not just forgiveness. Not just a ticket to heaven. Not just the righteousness of Christ.
    All those things pave the way for you to have The living God — His presence with you and His favor over you.
    And that is the deepest source of joy anyone could ever know. And Paul says it's yours. Not because you earned it. Not because you performed well enough. But because you belong to Christ — and Christ is the heir.
    Church, we forget this too quickly. We forget who we are in Christ. We are heirs to the greatest treasure in the universe. And when we forget — we start living like something less than what we are.
    Some of you live like beggars — Constantly unsure whether God really accepts you. Always feeling like you need to do just a little more to secure your place at the table. Paul says: you're not a beggar. You're an heir.
    Some of you live like orphans — You believe in God, but you don't really believe you belong to Him. That the blessing is actually yours.
    Paul says: you belong to Christ by faith. And if you belong to Christ, you belong to Abraham's family. The promise is yours.
    And some of you live like servants — You show up, put in the hours, and hope the master is pleased enough to keep you around. Paul says: you're not a hired hand. You're a son. And the inheritance isn't a paycheck. It's a birthright.
    The question isn't whether the inheritance is real. The question is whether you're living like you believe it. And you will — when you remember who Christ says you are.
    Conclusion:
    Remember Brooks Hatlen? He walked out of those prison walls and didn't know who he was. The thing that had defined him was gone — and he had nothing to replace it.
    But praise God — that is not how it works in Christ.
    When Christ came, the law's job as guardian was finished. And it cannot tell you who you are anymore. Only Christ can do that. And look at what He says:
    In Christ — you are sons of God. In Christ — no one is second-class. In Christ — you are Abraham's offspring and heirs of the promise — the presence and favor of God Himself.
    You don't need the law to tell you who you are. You don't need your performance. You don't need your background or your status or your track record.
    All you need is Christ. And if you have Christ — you have it all.
    Let's pray.
    Prayer
    Father, thank you that in Christ you have told us who we are — and that nothing can change it.
    Forgive us for forgetting. Forgive us for living like beggars when we are heirs. Forgive us for wearing fig leaves when you've given us Christ.
    Help us to live this week as who we truly are. Help us to find our identity in Christ alone — not in our performance, not in our status, not in what others think of us.
    And help us to be a church where no one is made to feel second-class — where everyone who belongs to Christ knows they belong at this table.
    And for anyone here who hasn't yet put on Christ — let today be the day.
    We ask this in the name of Jesus, the true offspring of Abraham. Amen.
    Closing Song: Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
    Closing Words:
    Amazing Grace — That’s what we’ve been talking about all morning!
    Grace that doesn’t ask you to earn your place. But gives you a new identity and a priceless treasure beyond your wildest dreams!
    Final Gospel Appeal:
    If you're here this morning and you've never put on Christ — if you've been relying on your own effort, your own fig leaves to make yourself acceptable to God —
    I want you to know that today can be the day that changes. You can’t earn your way in. You simply need to come to Christ by faith —
    trusting that His death covers your sin, His resurrection gives you life, and His righteousness makes you fully accepted by God.
    If that's the step you need to take today, there will be people available up front after the service. They would be honored to walk with you in helping you take that first step of faith.
    Next Steps:
    And for those of you who are already in Christ — maybe God is showing you that it's time to take a next step in living out who you are.
    Maybe you've trusted Christ but you've never been baptized. Baptism is how you publicly put on Christ.
    Maybe you've been attending but you've never become a member. Membership is how you say to this family: I belong here — and you belong to me. If Christ has made us one body, then let's live like it.
    Maybe it's time for you to find a place to serve. Heirs don't sit on the sidelines — they invest in the family.
    Or maybe you need to get into a discipleship group — a place to do life with others who remind you who you are in Christ when you're tempted to forget. We have new groups forming this fall.
    Whatever your next step is — let us know so we can help you take it. Just fill out our Next Steps form by scanning the QR code or tapping your phone to the white tag in your pew.
    Missional Charge:
    Now church — as you go from here, go as who you are — sons and heirs — and live in such a way that makes the people around you ask: who tells you who you are?
    Benediction: Jude 24–25
    “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
    You are sent church!

      • Galatians 3:25–29ESV

  • Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Fishkill Baptist Church
lori@fishkillbaptist.org
845-896-9386
http://fishkillbaptist.net
15 members