All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Galatians chapter 4. For the next few weeks, I
will be spending some time in Galatians 4, the first part of
verse 4, I should say. But for this morning, I want
to read verses 3 through 7. Galatians 4, 3 through 7. Now,
Paul, having given this illustration of a wealthy man who has both
a child who is heir to his wealth and also servants. Having given
that illustration, he then says this in verse three, even so
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 because ye are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Now, as I pointed out, it's probably
been several weeks ago. This letter that Paul wrote is
different from many other of his letters because Paul Though
he dealt with error in almost every letter, he will often give
some doctrinal thing concerning the personal work of Christ.
And then he kind of moves on to other things as well, with
Christ always being the sum and substance of all of it. But here
in this letter, he is, and I use this word, relentless. He does
not quit. And let me point this out, because
when I was in religion, when I was lost, they pointed out
that this epistle was faith versus works. But that's not quite it. It is Christ versus law. That's what this is. The Judaizers,
these men who were causing trouble in the churches of Galatia, they
weren't denying faith. But they were denying the absolute
efficiency of Jesus Christ in all aspects of a believer's life.
That's what they were doing. They weren't denying faith. They
weren't denying Christ outright. But if you deny, and Paul kind
of mentioned, if you deny anything about Jesus Christ, that is personal
work, it's legalism. And God willing, as we will see,
just to wet your thirst, we will see that legalism is idolatry. We'll see that. We will see that
legalism is idolatry. So here, though it may seem as
Paul is taking a kind of a breath from this relentlessness, he's
not, he's establishing the person and work of Christ in these verses. And then of course he goes right
back to this relentlessness of hammering, now listen, against
the law for any favor before God. Okay, for any favor before
God, with that said. God ordained the redemption of
his children before he ever even created the world. That is a
scriptural fact. It's just so. And he ordained
it to be done by his eternal son. And I said eternal son because
it calls, while the scripture never uses the phrase eternal
son, it does use the phrase eternal father. And you cannot be an
eternal father if there's not an eternal son. It's just the
way it is. Somebody says, I don't agree
with that. Well, then you're wrong. You're wrong. So he had
ordained it to be done, that is this redemption, done by his
eternal son. And he appointed the time. the
time in which that redemption was to be wrought, secured, and
received. Our brother Paul refers to it
in our text. That's what I've just read to
you. And my title and my subject this morning is The Fullness
of The Time. The Fullness of The Time. Let's consider three scriptural
facts about this redemption. I will spend most of my time
on the third one. I will give you the first two
and show us from scripture its relevance, but number three is
where I want to concentrate on. Here's what it is. We were redeemed
from the law and its bondage. Secondly, we were redeemed by
God's son. Everybody talks about being redeemed
from something, some kind of bondage, but here Paul's clear,
we're redeemed from the law There's more than that, but here he's
dealing with, we're redeemed from the law and its bondage,
and secondly, we are redeemed, this redemption was by God's
son. And then he sums it up this way,
this time was, and is not a single moment in time, okay? So number one, we were redeemed
from the law of disbondage. We read that in two places, even
so we, he just refers to it here. Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage, but now notice what he calls it. Now remember,
he's talking about the law, legal bondage, but he calls it under
the elements of the world. Okay. Most people don't think
about God's law that way, do they? And when we make statements
like that, then we'll hear things like, well, you are putting down
God's law. No, we're stating the truth about
God's law. That's what Paul calls it here.
Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements
of the world. And then also we read it in verse
five. What? To redeem them that were
under, what? The law. And somebody says, I
thought he redeemed us from sin. He did. But he also redeemed
us from the law. And it's not two redemptions.
It's one redemption. It's all wrought in the one redemption
wrought by Jesus Christ. So we see that. To redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Now, just one more passage for that. Turn to Romans 7 if
you're following along. And I know you're familiar with
this, but there's a couple things I want to point out to you. Romans
7, the first six verses. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
her husband be dead, she's loose from the law of her husband.
So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another
man, she shall be called adulteress. And that's what the law says.
I don't care what the circumstances are. Even when it come to fornication,
our Lord said, Moses suffered you to have that in the law because
of the hardness of your hearts. But from the beginning, he said,
it was not so. Isn't that what our Lord said? But look, this is what the law
says. So if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another
man, she shall be called an adulteress. And that's what you are, that's
what I am, under the law, if we're married to somebody else
and our first spouse is still living. Period. Period, okay? Guilty. If you're under, guilty. Quit
trying to make excuse, guilty. But look, but if her husband
be dead, she's free from that law. See it? From that law, so
that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Do you see that? Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also are become dead to, sin, is that what he
says? Mm-mm, now that's true, he speaks
of that in other places, Romans chapter six. But you're dead
to what? The law, isn't that what that
reads? Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law, but it's not by anything we did.
We're dead to the law by the body of Christ. And we know that's
his sufferings, because that's when he suffered and died, because
it talks about being married to him that's raised from the
dead. Look at it. Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that
ye should what? Not serve yourself. not serve
sin, not serve the law. You're dead to the law by the
body of Christ that you should be what? Married to another. So if you wanna go lay flowers
on the grave of the law, no, the law ain't dead, but you're
dead to it. The law ain't dead, but you're
dead to it by the body of Christ. Go lay flowers on the grave of
the law, if you will. You're married to another. Do
you see that? Look at it. even to him who was
raised from the dead, that we should bring, here's the reason,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Well, but somebody,
people's got to have some kind of rules and regulation. They
do, one rule. It's called God in you, Jesus
Christ in you, the spirit of God in you, the hope of glory.
That's the only way you're gonna ever do any kind of honor to
this new husband you're married to. And you're married to another. Okay, now look. that we should
bring forth fruit unto God for when we were in the flesh the
motions of sin which were by the law. Do you see that? All you gotta do to stir up the
flesh is just give it some law and say you cannot. And it says
I will. All you got to do is give the
flesh some law and say you must do this. And it says I will not. That's what it'll do. Now look,
for when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were
by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death,
but now we are delivered from the, what's that next word? Law. Delivered from the what? Not just sin, not just condemnation,
not just bondage, but we're delivered from the law itself. Isn't that
what he says? So again, we were redeemed from
the law and its bondage, not just from bondage. We weren't
redeemed from just its bondage, we're redeemed from the law. Secondly, we were redeemed by
God's son, verse four and five. 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. Do you see that? Nothing
there did we do or have anything to do with. We are simply recipients
of something Christ has already done. Right, you know what that
says? Read it again. But when the fullness
of the time, now, yes, God purposed this before the world began,
but Paul's not dealing with before time, he's dealing with the time. Do you see that? The time, 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.
My only question is this, did he do it or not? And that's it. Now some say, well, he made it
possible. That's not what the book of God teaches. He made
it available. That's not what the book of God
teaches. He redeemed us from the law and
all that goes with it, from sin, from bondage, from corruption. Why does sin not dominate in
your life? Though you may think it does,
it does not if you're a believer. Because if it dominated you,
you wouldn't even be here interested about this. What was it that kept you from
believing God? The dominion of sin. That's what
it was, the dominion of sin. And God freed you from that dominion. Oh, it's still there. It still
kicks up its heels, but it doesn't dominate you. And the only reason
we think it does sometimes is because we pay more attention
to the flesh and the law and the rules than we do to Jesus
Christ, person, and work. Now let's just be honest. That's
why we think it rules over us, because we pay more attention
to that than we do to Jesus Christ. So remember, we were redeemed
from the law and its bondage. We were redeemed by God's Son,
and I'm gonna add this in there now before I get to the third
one, only, only, only. And again, I will say this. How
can you tell me a man is righteous before God, but he's not completely
sanctified? How can that be? How can you
really be righteous if you ain't completely sanctified? God calls
us, according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 5, glorified already. Doesn't it say it? Doesn't it
put it in that language? Whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate. And whom he did predestinate,
he called who he called. It goes glorified past tense. Why? Because the fullness of
the time has come. So remember this, here's the
third point. This time was and is not one single moment, okay? It had a, here's the first thing
under this. This time was and is not one single moment. The
fullness of the time wasn't one single moment. It had a commencing
point, it had a crescendo, and it has continuing results. That's what he says right here
in the architecture, just those few verses that we read right
here. I'll illustrate that. Someone throws a large rock into
a pond, okay? A large rock into a very calm
pond. Now, we know they had the purpose
to do that, Jack, before they even do that, but that pond still
remains what? Calm, as long as it's only purpose,
right? He picked the rock up, Paul,
and it's still, that pond's still what? Calm. as long as it's just
purpose. But when that person, when the
fullness of the time comes and that person says, all right,
splash. That's the crescendo. The person
has to cast the rock, the rock hits the pond, big splash, but
what still happens? Waves. After the whole splash,
you just kind of might just crumble down. What happens? Still has results, don't it?
Those little riffles you see just float out to every corner
of that pond. If the rock's large enough and
the pond's small enough, and our God's a lot bigger than this
world we live in, and he's a lot bigger than even his law, because
he tells you don't kill, and he says, I kill and I make a
life. Mm-hmm, and he's a lot bigger than your sin, else we'd
have no hope. It wasn't just one little moment
in time. It has this commencing point,
it has this crescendo, and it has continuing results. The commencing
point is this, what? God sent forth his son. Do you see, that's what he says.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements
of the world. And remember, he's talking to many people who may
well have been alive when Jesus Christ was alive and hadn't even
died yet, right? But God then, in that what, sending
forth his son, he says, throws the rock out. Do you see it?
Throws the rock out. The fullness of the time. And
what did our Lord say? You don't have to turn to it.
This is familiar too, listen. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Now we see this fullness of time,
he's speaking about a specific time now, ain't he? And that's
not even just 60 minutes. Okay, but he's talking about
a specific moment in this, the fullness of the time. The hour
has come, glorify thy son that thy son may also glorify thee
as thou hast given him power, that is authority and might. Both. People argue, which one
is it? It's always both with God. Always
with God. Quit letting these so-called
theologians confuse you. Which one is it? With God it's
always all right and all might. He never has less might than
he does right, and less right than he does might, because he
is all powerful, right? Look, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. Is this sending important? And
this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast given. Sent do you see that? There's the phrase whom thou
hath sinned and when did this the fullness time? God sent forth
his son what made of a woman Made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. He sent his son This is vital
and our Lord told those unbelieving Jews and you can read it in John
5 verse 36 it's vital to believe that God sent him and What's
that lets us know? When God started this thing,
that fullness of thee time began to happen. When he let go of
that rock, I'm still illustrating with that illustration. When
he let go of it, it wasn't by accident. God had purposed to
do this in eternity. When only God, before the angels
even existed. Before the angels even fell. And what they did, he just let
the ones that fall go, didn't he? They have souls of some kind
and can be tormented. Do you know what the book says?
Yet God just passed over all of them, Tommy, and was mindful
of us. Was mindful of us. Doesn't that
boggle your mind? Made of a, there's the commencing
point. When he sent forth his son, but
then he says made of a woman. Think of it, conceived in a virgin's
womb by the Holy Ghost, Matthew 1, 20. Developed in her womb
and was birthed naturally, Luke chapter one, verses 30 and 31.
Luke chapter two, verses one through seven. And this is vital,
it behooved him. It was absolutely essential.
It behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, but not like
an angel. Remember, there were angels that
appeared in the Old Testament, and they appeared as what? Men. You remember that? They looked
by the sight of these fallen sons and daughters of Adam, maybe
some of them redeemed, maybe some saved, maybe some lost,
but they seen angels, right? And those angels looked like
men, but that wasn't the way he came. He actually was conceived
in the womb of a woman. And that seed, that the spirit
of God, I can't explain it, implanted in her womb, grew for nine months. And he was born just like we
were born. But with the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman. This is vital. It behooved him
to be made like us. But what else? Made under the
law. Think of it. According to Luke in Luke 2 verse
21, he was circumcised on the eighth day. And I've said this
before and I'll keep saying it again. I've said it in some other
churches. And I can see the jaws dropping, the eyes bug open.
I'm talking about God's people. Now they never heard this before.
You're going to bow and worship a circumcised Jew or you're going
to hell. You hear me? You're going to
bow to and worship a circumcised Jew or you'll perish forever. circumcised the eighth day. That's
what it says. Presented to God in the temple
as the firstborn male, Luke 2, verses 22 through 24. In the
temple of God at 12 years old, he was doing, it was about his
father's business. And then according to Matthew,
in Matthew 17, verses one through five, Peter, James, and John
went up into a mountain with Christ, and there he was what?
Transfigured before them. But he didn't lose his clothes.
They just shone like the brightness of the sun. He didn't lose his
arms and his legs. He didn't become, Tommy, a spirit
again. And I don't even know if that's
the right way to even put that. I don't know. He was still there
as a man, but they seen him in his essential glory. But what
did God say? He talked from heaven and said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He ain't never said that of me
and you. The only way he could ever say that of me and you is
if we're in his son. But then he said what? Hear ye
him. And Peter, James, and John have
been saying that ever since that mountain experience. So much
so that Peter said, you don't need an experience like we had.
We got a more sure word of prophecy. Right here. This is better than
that mountain experience that Peter had. He said so. He experienced
it. If he said so, I better take
his word at it, Jack. This here's better than that
mountaintop experience, Tommy. This word pop because you can't,
I know there's been argument for this. People on this side
or that side. You can't separate Jesus Christ from his word. He
is the word embodied in human flesh. And what he says is God
speaking. And Paul was right. If I say
what God says, God is speaking to you. If I give you an opinion,
you can brush it off simply as that. That's Walter's opinion.
That's all good and well. But if what I'm telling you is
God's word, you better heed it. What happened to the people that
didn't listen to Moses in the wilderness? They perished. Why? Because God was speaking
through that man. It wasn't his opinion, it was God's word. That's how highly you better
recognize the men that stand behind this podium right here.
Because God sent them too. Does that, is that not what the
book says? How can they preach except they
what, be what? Sent. Sent. made under the law. He always pleased the Father.
That's the commencing point. But here's the crescendo. Galatians
4, verse 5, first part, to redeem them that were under the law. All of that was for this one
crescendo. That's when the rock hit. That's
when the major splash went up, when the Son of God hung on that
bloodied tree. That's what it was all before.
He said, for this cause came I into this world. You know what
he said? Here's your crescendo. God threw
the rock. And it had, what was it, 30 some
years that it was traveling, Tommy, toward the bottom, traveling,
traveling. And all of a sudden, he dies
on that tree. He dies on that tree. But that
splash didn't last but three, days. On that third day, what
happened? The splash was over. He come
up out of the grave. But you know what's happening?
The little waves are still going out. What's those waves for?
To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Had Christ not died on that tree,
God couldn't even give us that gift. The might here is not a
stipulation for us, it's the holy God and how he can still
be just and justify the ungodly. How, that's the might, okay?
A holy God had to do this if he's gonna bring you and I to
himself. Because he can't do it just us. We had to have a substitute,
we had to have a redeemer, we had to have a surety. We had
to have somebody stand in the gap. Isn't that what even Job
cried for? Way back yonder when he didn't
know nothing like what we know today. He said, if only I had
a, I need a, what? A daysman. Job knew that. Job knew that. The crescendo
is what he, this is vital. Why? Because, let me just read
it to you. Romans chapter eight in just
one verse. Listen to it. For what the law could not do,
and it never can. Never can. For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. God, here it is, sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, what
did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh. He took care of that problem
back right there on that tree. Splash. For three days, that
splash rose up. But on that third day, he arose
victorious. There, what about continuance
results? I want you to look at it in our
passage. It says this, we have, let me find my spot. We have
a that, we have a because, and we have a wherefore. Look at
it, verse five. To redeem them that were under
the law, that. You see these results, still
going on? That we might receive the adoption of sons, and because
you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus
Christ. Do you see that? And you tell
you what, that time is still going out. Why? Because we're
still here. There's somebody out there God's still gotta do
something for, that is give them this adoption. bestow it freely
upon them, put his spirit upon them. They go cry out, what? Abba, Father, Father. Christ commenced his work for
us when he was made like us. The crescendo occurred when he
suffered on the accursed tree. And I believe and you believe
and we do believe. Huh? We do believe. Okay, I believe
and you believe and we rejoice in him whose crescendo still
ripples throughout time to reach even the most different shore
of my and your need. Not just salvation and getting
to go to heaven, but every morsel of food you put in your mouth.
Even the unbelievers, every morsel of food they put in their mouth
is because Jesus Christ was suffering for a people and God was going
to save them. Or he'd have wiped all of humanity
out long, long ago. That's where it's at. Amen. Amen. Heavenly Father, these things are so beyond our
ability to so lay hold of, Lord, that we Never bellyache about trouble
again. But we do, we bellyache. And we murmur, but oh God, we
thank you that you sweetly force us by your spirit. You keep showing
us what we are and forcing us to run to Jesus Christ. We thank you in his name, amen.