Turn with me this morning to
the fourth chapter of the book of Galatians, chapter 4. Beginning at verse 4, let us read from verse 4 to verse
8 of Galatians chapter 4. It says, But when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. That Spirit cries, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, ye are not any more a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Howbeit then when ye knew not
God, and we have labored on that so much, that a man by nature knows not
God, regardless of his rank or title. or his personage, or his education. By nature, no man knows God. If a man ever finds out who God
is, it will be by revelation, the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It will be God revealing Himself,
and when He reveals Himself to us, it'll be in Christ Jesus. And when that takes place, we'll
no longer be slaves or servants. We'll be sons entitled to an
inheritance by our joint heirship with God in Christ. Let us look
at the first statement there in verse 4. It says, But when the fullness of time was come, this time was agreed upon. When the fullness of time was
come, this time was agreed upon. and fixed upon by the eternal
Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The fullness of time has come. God sent forth His Son. Time fixed upon by the Holy Trinity. A set time. He didn't come before
his time or after his time. He came according to a fixed
time. Time was fixed by the blessed
three in one, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. A fixed time when the Son of
God would come and assume a human nature. God would be born of a woman
when God would become a man in the fullness of time, a fixed
time. It was God's appointed time,
God's appointed time. It was determined from the beginning. It was not something that was
thought of after the fall of man, but it was fixed by the
Trinity, by God Himself, and appointed before time ever was. He determined. God determined
from the beginning. to send the Lord Jesus Christ
into the world to save His people from their sins in the fullness
of time, God sent His Son to redeem His people, to pay the
ransom price, to pay what they owed, discharge their liabilities, God chose a people out of Adam's fallen race unto
Himself and sent the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of time,
born of a woman, made of a woman, to redeem those that He chose
Himself according to His good pleasure before time ever was,
before the world ever was. God fixed a time. God appointed
a time. Christ came not behind His time
or before His time. He came in God's time. Our times are in His hand. Our times are in His hand. I
read that to you in the book of Ecclesiastes, there's a time
to be born, and there's a time to die. There's a time to weep,
and there's a time to mourn. There's a time to fix, and a
time to cast away. Time to pick up stones, time
to gather them, and time to throw them away. fullness of time. Over here in the book of Ephesians
it says this, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, blessed be His name, God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, to know God, to know
who He is, to know Him is to call Him blessed, blessed. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. All things are yours in Him,
according as He hath chosen us in Him." According, according
as He hath chosen us in Him. How did you get in Him? God puts
you in Christ if you're in Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him. When did He do that? Before the
world ever was. before the foundation of the
world. He chose us in Christ that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now, we can't
be holy and without blame before Him apart from us being in Jesus
Christ. You're holy and without blame
before God In Christ, in Christ, not in yourself, but it's in
Him. No wonder the apostle could say,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
is He. He has chosen us in Him before
the world was, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. No man, the most holiest of God's saints
that ever was and ever will be, cannot in himself be absolutely
holy and without blame before God. He cannot be. But he says
that we should be, and we will be, and we are, and the only
way that we should be, will be, and can be is to be in Jesus
Christ, who is the perfect, sinless One. You see that? You understand
that? You can't be holy and without
blame in yourself before God. It's got to be in Jesus Christ. It's got to be made accepted
in Him. Well, God chose a people out
of Adam's fallen race. I read that to you. And He appointed
the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, to be their surety
and their Savior and their substitute. He appointed Him. He sent Him. He commissioned him. He gave
him authority because he sent him. See that? It says in Galatians
4, it says, And when the fullness of time was come, God sent for
his Son. God sent him in his time. not before His time
or behind His time, but the time determined by God Himself. He came at the hour, the very
minute, the very second that God had determined. God appoints
the time of every event. When I die and you die, you can
be truthful in saying, He or she died at God's time, not at
your... You say, well, what if someone
shoots himself? Well, that'll be God's time.
That'll be God's time. Whatever the situation, circumstance,
or the surroundings are, it's appointed by God. Our times are
fixed by God. Our times. the measure of our
years. God appoints the time of every
event. All time is in His hand. There are no loose threads in
the providence of God Almighty. There are no stitches dropped,
no events left to chance. The great clock of the universe
It keeps perfect time. Perfect time. God willed it to
be. And where it was to be, and His
will to us, is the ultimate cause and the ultimate reason. God
willed it. God predetermined it. God fixed
it. God appointed it. and sent him. Now, his coming. Let's talk a
little bit concerning his coming, the Son of God. The fullness
of time was come when it was time. No need to ask questions,
why did he come? Why didn't he come? at this particular
time in this year or that year. There's no need to even discuss
that or even raise questions. He came in the fullness of God's
time and God sent His Son. Now, one thing I want you to
notice here, it was not that we moved towards God. But it was that God moved towards
us. The world never sought after
its Maker. No, the world, you and I, there
was not a time that I was looking for God. I never looked for God. When God saved me, He was looking
for me. I wasn't looking for Him. I wasn't
looking for him. I had no acquaintance with him. I knew nothing about him. All
that I knew about him was what someone told me, and they didn't
know who he was either. I wasn't looking for him. I wasn't
repenting of my sins. I wasn't crying out to God, begging
him to come and do something on my behalf. I wasn't looking
for Him. He was looking for me. He found
me. I didn't find Him. I found Him
after He first found me. God is not lost. You and I are
lost. God sent Him. God sent Him. We never sought after our Maker, but the offended God Himself. It was God who was offended by
our iniquity and our transgression and our sins, and the offended
God Himself. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born of a virgin, it was God Himself who condescended into
the woman's womb, the virgin's womb. It was God Himself who
was offended. It was God in His infinite compassion,
in His great love and His mercy. It was He, God Himself, that
broke the silence and came forth to redeem a certain number of Adam's fallen
race. You see, all things begin with
God. They don't begin with you or
I. They begin with God. It's not
when you found Him. It's when He found you. And that's
grace. God sent forth His Son. I take great pleasure in that
expression. Great pleasure when God sent
forth His Son. I'll tell you why. Because it
seals the whole work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that
Christ did and everything that was done by Christ was commissioned
and authorized by the Father Himself. God sent Him. You see, here, the Lord Jesus
Christ is called His Son, notice, and when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son. Here the Lord Jesus Christ
is called His Son, which tells me that He existed before I was
born. He always was. He always will
be. It's with Him that we have to
do as a swine. He that existed before I was
born. That is, he was already in being,
or he could not have been sent. If he had no being, how could
he be sent? He had being. He existed. And God sent him. God sent him. God authorized him. God commissioned
him. He has God's authority. And the
Bible says he was made of a woman, made of a woman. You may understand it better if I say made to be born of a
woman, which is the same thing. Made to be born of a woman. Now listen to me. He was. He was and is, but in this case
he was truly and really of the substance of his mother, the
Virgin Mary. Just like any other baby that
is born into this world, God did not create the human nature
of the Lord Jesus Christ apart and then transmit it unto the
Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, no! God did not do that. She was the substance of who
He was. That woman, He was made to be
born of a woman. A woman. What a high and blessed
privilege a woman has. That God become a man incarnated
in her womb and his human nature was the substance of his mother. His son was made, born of a woman. He is not only of humanity, but
He is of our humanity. He did not send an angel. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ,
who became a man, our humanity. He became one of us, our brother,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, was born of a woman,
not of a man. Born of a woman, not of a man. The Bible says that the Holy
Spirit overshadowed that Virgin Mary, and that holy thing that
was born of her was born without original sin. We are, by natural descent, born
in sin, conceived in iniquity, and on our nature we are tainted
with original sin, which we got from our father, Adam, in the
Garden of Eden. Oh, listen, he was made under
the law, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Now, what does
that mean? Well, all whom he represented,
he's the substitute for sinners, he's the savior of sinners, he's
going to die. He's going to live and die as
somebody's representative. Now, I know that He didn't live
and die for all men. I know that because if He did,
all men would be saved. If there's some that Christ died
for, listen to me now, if there's some that Christ died for and
yet they go to hell, then Christ failed. Christ failed in His
work. If one for whom Christ died perishes
and ultimately goes into the pit, you could say that the Lord
Jesus Christ was a failure. But He's no failure. He shall
not fail. He shall see the travail of His
seed and be satisfied. He shall not fail. All whom He represented, See,
now, I know that the majority of the religionists of our day,
all the major denominations and the minor denominations, all
of them believe where it says, In the fullness of times come,
God sent his Son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that are under the law. They take that to mean? that
when God sent the Lord Jesus Christ and He was made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, that means that
He is the Redeemer for every member of Adam's race. It doesn't
mean that because every member of Adam's race is not saved now.
Men have died and went to hell. Hitler died and went to hell,
didn't he? Judas died and went to hell,
didn't he? Well, what about them? What about
thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands that die every
day? No hope in the Lord Jesus. Never trusted in Christ. He died
for those that the Father gave Him before time ever was. He
died for those that God Himself chose before the world ever was. And those that He died for sooner
or later is going to hear the good news. God's going to open
their ears. He's going to open their eyes.
He's going to open their intelligence. And they're going to see Jesus
as their Savior and their substitute, and they're going to trust Him.
Now, that's all there is to it. They're going to do it. You say,
I'm not. I'm not. If you're His, you will. He'll make you willing. He'll
make you willing. He'll soften your heart of flesh,
your heart of stone. He'll give you a heart of flesh,
enabling you to believe and to trust in His Son. He'll do it. He'll do it. But at the same
time, let me insist on this, you're responsible. You're responsible
being a creature of God. God has commanded you. He said,
I command all men everywhere to repent. come to me. You're responsible. What I'm
saying is, all whom He represented owed
a debt. All men owe a debt, especially
the men whom He represented, men, women, and boys and girls.
They owed a debt to who? To God's law. Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy strength and
all thy soul. That's the first and great commandment.
You owe God that. I owe God that. I'm in debt to God's law. I'm
in debt to it. All whom he represented owed
a debt to God's law and to God's holy justice. A debt that they
could not pay! My God, that's bankrupt! Bankrupt! They didn't have nothing
to pay! Nothing to pay! That's beggars! Paupers! Lost everything! They didn't have nothing. They couldn't pay, and all their
salvation was conditioned on him whom God sent. He had to take the responsibility
of their debts and have their sins transferred to him, placed
on him. Now, you think of this a little
bit. The Lord Jesus Christ is the lawmaker. He's God manifest
in the flesh. He's the lawmaker, and He's the
lawgiver, and He's the judge of the law, and He is the executioner
of the law, yet He Himself comes under the law as our representative. Huh? Everything about God's salvation
is conditioned on this person whom God sent. Everything. Your soul. Your soul. What shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Your soul. The value of your soul. The longevity of it is all conditioned. on this man whom God sent, who
was made of a woman, made under the law, to do what? To redeem them that are under
the law. How is he going to do that? Well,
by his obedience unto death. He stood in the place of his
people and he rendered obedience unto God in every tittle of God's
holy law. He satisfied the law and he satisfied
God's holy justice against those who are under the law and indebted
to the law. He stood in their place, and
through His obedience and satisfaction to God's law and justice, for
them, for them, for those that He chose before time ever was. Oh, listen. Satisfied in the
law and justice of God, by establishing righteousness. Law requires righteousness. That's what the law requires,
righteousness. He so kept the law that by faith
his righteousness comes and covers all believers. And we are not
condemned by that law because of him. Now, once we were under
the law, we who are believers, we were under the law at one
time. And we tried to keep that law in order to earn favor from
God. We became slaves servants to
that law, thinking that our partial obedience to some aspect of God's
holy law would earn us favor in God's sight. We once were
under it. But now we have no such motive. We have no such motive now. The law said, This do. and thou shalt live. This do,
and thou shalt live. And while we were under that
law, we were like slaves trying to escape the penalty of that
holy and just law. We tried to be rewarded for what
we did. And so our salvation is conditioned
upon us. and not conditioned upon him
whom God sent." Oh, how important it is this morning for you and
me to see the truth of what I am talking about, that this salvation
is conditioned upon He whom God sent forth, and He sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law. Oh, listen, His righteousness
is the only righteousness that will stand us in good stead with
God. That's the only righteousness
that will cover us. It's like over there in the Old
Testament talked about the cover was too short for the bed. It
didn't cover the whole part of the man. It didn't cover his
legs. The cover only came down to about his knees. The cover
is too short. but the cover of his righteousness
is not too short. It covers us all. And we are
as righteous as he is, as righteous as God can make him. This righteousness
that we have by imputation, that cometh by the grace of God to
all that believe, was wrought out by him. It was wrought out
by him who was born of a woman. Of him! who was born of a woman. And the merit by which we enter
heaven is the merit not made by our hands but of Him that
loved us and gave Himself for us. So we are redeemed, see,
from the law by our Lord's being made under the law We became
sons, and we're no more servants. We're not slaves now, trying
to earn God's favor. We already found God's favor
in Him whom God sent. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. We found favor in Him. We don't disregard the law. We
love the law. But the law, our motive to service
unto God, is not generated by the law. It's generated and it
motivates us. It's the love and the compassion
of the Lord Jesus Christ in us that He wrought all that God
required of us. He wrought it in Himself. His
righteousness is imputed to us. Believe Him, and we trust Him,
and we follow Him, and we love His law. We're not against it. We're for it. But it doesn't
motivate us because we're not servants now and slaves trying
to escape the wrath of God and earn favor in God's sight by
what we do. But we're motivated by what He's
already done in our behalf, in our place, in our stand. See, we become sons, no more
sons. Why? Because the great and glorious
Son of God becomes a servant. He becomes a servant in our place,
as our substitute. Well, see, if a man does not
fulfill all righteousness, he's going to perish. If he's not
perfect, he's going to be lost forever. If you have not been
perfect in your obedience and in your righteousness, you must
take your wages and be gone. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Which
will it be? Will you take your wages? Or the gift? The gift of God. God so loved the world. that He sent His only Son. What? He sent His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem us. I believe that. That's the
good news. I believe it. He only is my Lord
and my Savior. Whatever else anybody else thinks
or believes does not deter me when I would not want He only, He only, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Fullness of time. God's time. His time. Fullness. He controls every event, doesn't
He? Every event. Let's stand, we'll be dismayed. Maybe it's your time. Maybe you heard. Maybe you're
interested. Could be that it's your time.