So just to read them again, the
fourth chapter and the first five verses. Now I say that the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be lord of all, but is under tutors, and governors
until the time appointed of the father, even as we, when we were
children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 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 so here we have a continuation
from the third chapter. And as, of course, I'm sure we
realize that in the original, there weren't any chapters or
verses. The whole letter just continued
from the beginning right through to the end. So really, the apostle
is continuing here from that which we finished with when the
Lord was speaking about the people being under a schoolmaster. until
the Lord came and touched their hearts. And it was indeed, they
were under the law. And now he says, now I say that
the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be Lord of all. And the apostle here is speaking
really, first of all, drawing the analogy of those people who
are children, who are heirs perhaps of an inheritance, but are not
in a position to receive that inheritance until they come of
age. And that's what the apostle is
speaking of here. And of course, in those days,
it was, I think, generally to the Jews, they had to be over
13 years of age before they could receive an inheritance. And similarly,
it is in our law today, you have to be, I think it's over 18,
to be able to come into this position and take charge of that
which might be yours. And that's what the Apostle,
therefore, is speaking here and drawing this analogy in this
way. And he says, even so we, when
we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But then he comes and says, but
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law. And when we think of
that, the fullness of time, of course, was when the Lord Jesus
came. That had been some 4,000 years
in waiting. There had been, of course, those
words spoken by the Lord in the Garden of Eden. And now all these
years had come to pass. But it did come to pass. And
the fullness of the time came to pass. And it was come. And
when it did come, then God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law. The Lord Jesus submitted himself
to the law of the land as he was a boy and brought up by his
parents. And then the time came, of course,
when he was revealed as the son of God, when he was revealed
as the savior of sinners. And what a great blessing it
was. What a great blessing it is for us today to realize that
the Lord fulfilled His promise, to realize that God is faithful. All God's promises come to pass. And although in this case there
were many, many years, yet it came to pass. And the Apostle
speaks of it, therefore, in the fullness of the time was come. It came to pass and God very
wonderfully of course granted the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ
in a very humble way, not the way that man would have expected.
but that way which was to bring honor and glory to God. And of
course, we know that man had no work to do. It wasn't included. He was born of the Spirit. God's Holy Spirit, as we know,
overshadowed Mary so that she conceived and in due time brought
forth a son whose name was Jesus. made of a woman. And he had to
be like that, because the Lord Jesus Christ had to take our
place. He had to stand in our place.
He had to be just as we are, yet without sin. That was the
amazing difference. Otherwise the Savior was just
as we are. And so we are thankful today
for this great salvation, which was wrought out by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And indeed, when the Apostle
Paul spoke to Timothy, he tells us about the Saviour who has
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. What a great and glorious truth
it is. And when the Apostle Paul wrote
to the Ephesians, he also confirmed this great truth when he said,
and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery. which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God." There it was. It was a mystery.
It was hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. to the intent that now, unto
the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be
known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Apostle is really directing the
Galatians to this great truth which we're able to read and
have confirmed by other scriptures that the Apostle wrote. And then
he comes and tells us in the fifth verse, to redeem them that
were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. we all needed, as the Jews did,
as the Gentiles did, to be redeemed. And there was no possibility
in redeeming ourselves. If we had been able to have kept
the law without any fault, without any failure, then there would
have been no need of a saviour. But of course, we were born in
sin and shaped in iniquity, so we were not able, therefore,
to keep the law. And we needed somebody to come
to keep that law for us and to redeem us from it. And that's
why we read here, as the apostle says, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,
adopted into the glorious family of God. We couldn't put ourselves
in. But the Lord adopted us in. He brought us into the glorious
family of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in order to do that, of course,
we had to be pure. We had to be holy. And we could
not be in and of ourselves. And we needed to be amongst those
who indeed are redeemed. You see, we were, as the apostle
said at one time, servants of sin. He wrote to the Romans,
and in the sixth chapter, the 17th verse we read, but God be
thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. You
see, it's not the works of the flesh. It's that which is of
the heart, that which God grants. Being then made free from sin,
he became the servant of righteousness. And the Apostle Paul also, when
he wrote to the Hebrews, just one final reference, a very wonderful
reference, as we know, the Apostle so gloriously spoke about the
redemption and the sacrifices and the shedding of blood in
the epistle to the Hebrews. And in the second chapter, he
tells us, for as much then as the children of our partakers
are flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of
the same. that through death he might destroy
him and the power of death that is the devil and deliver them
who through fear of death rule their lifetime subject to bondage
for verily took not on him the nature of angels but he took
on him the seed of abraham we of course are the seed of abraham
Wherefore, in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Well, tonight, surely we are
thankful that we have such a saviour who willingly came into sinful
worlds to redeem our souls, so that we are amongst those who
have been adopted into the family of God. It's an amazing favour,
isn't it? When you think, by nature, we
are sinners of the earth, were no different to anyone else.
And yet God in his great sovereign mercy elected a people, chose
a people in eternity past who he would come and redeem so that
one day they would be in glory with him throughout eternity.
What a blessing it is then for us if we have this great and
wonderful evidence that we're amongst those that this Word
applies to and can praise God tonight for His great love, for
His great mercy, for His great favour in giving us living faith
to believe the great truths contained in the Word of God and to trust
those words which were written Believe those words which are
written and go on and we're rejoicing in that belief that we're amongst
those whom the Lord has called out of the nature's darkness
into the glorious light of the everlasting gospel. Well, may
God instruct us from these truths and help our brethren now to
lead us in prayer. Joseph, please when you pray.