Okay, turn if you would to Galatians
chapter 4. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful book which the Holy Spirit had Paul write. And the
Holy Spirit again is the true author of the scriptures. So
we have this set before us. And he wrote it to the churches
at Galatia. Now the churches at Galatia, they'd been infiltrated
by the Judaizers who were bringing the law in with grace and saying,
you must be circumcised and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be
saved. So this is a constant battle
for Paul. If he's not battling the Judaizers,
he's battling the Gnostics. See, works-based religion has
been prominent right from the beginning. You had Cain and Abel. One brings the fruit of his hands,
and the other one brings the proper sacrifice, right? So right
from there it started, right from there. So let's read verses
one to seven to see the context of the verses, which will be
three and four, which we'll go through today. They go with verse
five, but I want to bring a message just on verse five by itself,
and you'll see why as we read the scriptures here. It's just
incredible. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differ in nothing from a servant, though he be
lord of all. But as under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father, even so we, when we were
children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But,
when the fullness of 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, what a wonderful verse here, and because
ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. See, that shows us that the Holy
Spirit goes, it's called fetching grace, right? You've heard me
say that. The old timers used to call it
fetching grace. He goes to those for whom Christ redeemed and
he regenerates them. He regenerates us. That's so
right there. Because we're sons. God has sent forth the spirit
of his son into your hearts, kind Abba Father. Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Let's read verses three and four
again. I'm not going to go over what we looked at last week because
I want to get right into these verses here. Verses three and
four. Even so, when we were children,
we're in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law. So we see in verse three that
we were in bondage. We were in bondage. That's our
natural state, beloved. We're in bondage to sin. It has
us captive. There's no way for us to get
away from it. It becomes our master. It becomes our master. Sin was our master. We were chained
up. And what were we doing? We were seeking those things
that pleased us in the flesh, right? Whatever we wanted to
do in the flesh, we indulged in it, didn't we? Now what a
change, God rots in his people, isn't it? We don't desire those
things anymore. We did at one time, but now the
Holy Spirit, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Now
we don't want those things. We don't desire those things.
Now we see them for what they are. And we struggle still, though,
don't we? We're going to struggle till
the day we die. We're going to struggle till the day we die
with sin. But sin at one time was our master.
It's not our master anymore. Our master is Christ. He's our
master. And see the word bondage in verse
3 there, when it says, even so, when we were children, we're
in bondage. That means slave in the Greek. We were a slave.
We were a slave under the elements of the world. That's what we
were. It also means to make a slave
or servant, to subject, to be conquered in the perfect tense.
The word here in the Greek is used in this part in the perfect
tense, which means that we became dependent upon it. We were so
enslaved by sin that we became dependent upon it. That's slavery,
isn't it? You know what? Christ has set
us free. We're set free. Right? How do we know that? Well, just
turn to Galatians chapter 5. Paul's going to get into that
later on for us. Look at this. Stand fast therefore in the liberty,
verse 1, wherewith Christ hath made us free. We're free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. If the Son shall make you free,
what? You're free indeed, aren't you?
Amen. Oh yeah. Free, we're free, beloved. My,
oh my. And we were in total slavery
to the elements of the world. Even though we were God's elect,
even though we were chosen sons of God, we were in bondage to
the elements of the world. Now, one thing we weren't under
was wrath. God has not appointed us to what?
Wrath. But to obtain salvation. My oh
my. Paul says we were by nature children
of wrath when we were dead in trespasses and sins. He's not
suggesting that God's objects, God's elect are objects of his
wrath. No, we've always been objects
of his mercy. But when we were dead in trespasses and sins,
we were children of wrath even as others. Remember, we look
just like those who were servants of sin. Because we were, we were
servants of sin. Oh my, I'll tell you what, our
great God, he's absolutely amazing. He's absolutely, we are so blessed. We are so blessed to be in Christ. My oh my. I'm trying to find
that scripture over there. Look at this. Turn if you would
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Look at this. Now as Paul said,
we were children of God. We were alienated in our minds.
Scripture says in our minds we were enemies with God, right?
That's what we were. That's what we are by nature.
That's what everybody is by nature. But look at this. Look at this.
This is mountain top stuff, man. I remember studying this out
and my jaw just fell when I saw this. Look at this. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 verses 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath. What? We're not appointed to
wrath? Nope. but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we
wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore,
look at this, comfort, comfort you one another. Comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as also you do. Comfort
yourselves. We, look at that, we were not
obtained. We were not appointed to wrath,
but we were obtained to salvation. This is where it comes in. One's
a vessel of honor, and one's a vessel of dishonor. We have
no clue who they are, do we? We have no clue. But God knows. God knows. So we were enemies
in our mind. We were children of wrath, even
as others. But God's elect were objects of His wrath in the sense
of His holy wrath is going to fall on. Because who did it fall
on in our ruined place? It fell on Christ. That's right. That's right. Before we trusted
Christ, we were under the sense of guilt and wrath, right? We
were condemned by the law in our own conscience, and we were
governed and controlled by the elements of the world. Turn,
if you would, to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy, chapter 1. And we were under the fear of
the law, weren't we? But did God always know us as his elect?
Yeah. Did God always know us in Christ?
Yes. Did God make a provision for
his wrath not to fall on us? Yes. Did any drop of the wrath
of God fall on Noah and his family in the ark? That ark was beaten,
right? Tossed. They were protected in
there. The pitch, which pitches the
blood of Christ, they were sealed in there. He even shut the door
on them. God shut them in. We're shutting
Christ, beloved. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Look at this in 1 Timothy 1,
verses 8 to 11. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. The law as a schoolmaster brings
us to Christ, right? Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man. but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for man-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, if there be any other thing that
is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God which committed to my trust. Now, by nature,
we're all those things, aren't we? But in Christ, we're none
of them. You remember what you just said
earlier? Yeah? In Christ, we're seen as perfect
and blameless by the Father, even though we're still sinners
right now. Isn't that incredible? That's amazing grace, isn't it?
That's truly amazing grace. Before we were born again, before
we were regenerated by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, we walked
according to the course of this world. And we can remember those
things, and we can look. I was telling Vicki, I did a
little test online, one of them tests, and I'm not going to tell
the score, but one of them. How Christians don't know what
the Bible says. So I tried it. They got me. They got me with the click bait.
So I went and I did it. And there was a few questions.
I had no idea. I've got to admit it. Who's such
and such a son? I don't know. I've got to look
that up now. And some person who I'd never
even... But anyways. But as I was going
through that, and it came to the end, I went, Lord, you gave
me all that knowledge. Because the old Wayne didn't
know any of this. Maybe, you know, where was Jesus born? Pretty
well everyone knows that, Bethlehem. But I didn't know any of that.
And then as I was putting the Sunday morning message together,
all about grace again, and the things that we've learned as
believers, I didn't know any of that before I was saved. And
everything I know now, I can't claim for myself, because God
showed it all to me. And you too. He gets all the
glory, as you said. He gets it all. Just give it
all to Him. Glory be to God for everything
we know. Just the fact we know Christ
in the saving way, we're going to see. Paul says, Paul says, you know, but I'm going to paraphrase
this. Basically, be thankful that you know God, but rather
that He knows you. rather that He knows you. Oh my, isn't it
wonderful? Oh, it's wonderful. My. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord rejoice. He bought us with the shedding
of His precious blood on Calvary's cross. We're purchased people.
We're purchased by the blood of Christ. And we see in verse
4, look at verse 4, here we go. He came to redeem His people.
at a time appointed of God. Do you see? Nothing in this world
happens by accident. I mean nothing. God knows everything
that's going to happen and everything happens according to his plan
and purpose. He's God, right? He's sovereign. If he wasn't sovereign, he wouldn't
know when things are going to happen. But he knows everything,
beloved. That's our God. That's our Savior. He knows everything. It's wonderful. Do you know he even appointed
when we would be saved, where we would be? He bought our families
from different places to be in the exact place where we'd hear
the gospel. That's glorious. My. And our God, he always does
things according to his perfect timing. You ever notice that
you're asking God to do something and it doesn't happen when you
want it to? Probably 90% of the time, right? See, we're like
instant, boom. No, God says you're gonna wait.
And then we find out why he made us wait. And it's wonderful. It's wonderful, isn't it? We
rejoice. And sometimes he says, no, you're
not having that. Because it would destroy us.
And sometimes he opens his hand and says, yes. But it's all according
to what his will and purpose is. Always remember that. See,
the Lord says, we ask amiss, don't we? Even as believers,
we ask amiss. My oh my. But God, he always
works things according to his plan and purpose. He always does
things according to his perfect timing. And we believers see
that in our lives. We see that in our lives. Now
let's read this amazing verse, verse four. Look at this. Dave, you're gonna lack a word
in here, man. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent. sent forth his son. He sent him.
Made of a woman. Made under the law. Look at that.
Marvel at these wonderful words. Marvel at these wonderful words.
There's so much instruction in here for us. And we see here
the season which our freedom and our redemption was bought
about. When it was bought about? It was bought about when the
fullness of time was come. That's when it was bought about.
God's perfect, sovereign timing. In these words, the fullness
of time are full of instruction, as I said. The time was fixed
and set by God. Fixed and set by God to the exact
second. Not a second later, not a second
earlier. Christ came into this world at
the perfect time. The perfect time. And this was
all come about by God's eternal purpose. Again, he's sovereign
over all things. Oh my. In all things that come
to pass, everything is accomplished exactly according to his purpose
at the precise timing that he's appointed. Think of when we came
into this world, when we were born. It was at the exact second
and at the exact place with the exact parents that God ordained.
Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. My, and then
maybe we moved around when we were little. I stayed in the
same place for 24 years until I moved out and then moved down
here. I never in my wildest dreams
thought that I would move to the U.S. Never even entered my
imagination. I didn't even know where Oregon
was. I had to look it up on the map. I'm honest with you. And then the Lord brings us from
Oregon all the way over to here? You know Vicki's family settled
here in Germany, from Germany? Isn't that amazing? Oh my. It's incredible. And she didn't
know that until we got here and was doing some history stuff
in the family and found it out. I said, the Lord brought you
full circle. It's amazing. But the fullness of time. Nothing
comes to pass before it's time. Nothing comes to pass after it's
time. Our great God is not in a hurry. Again, we're a people of instant
gratification, aren't we? We like things just like that.
God's not in no hurry at all. We say, even so, come quickly,
Lord, and we're begging him, aren't we? He'll come when it's
His time. But He will come. He's coming. He's coming. He works all things
according to His own timetable. We see in this text here that
Christ came into the world at the appointed time agreed upon
by the Father, by the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. Because we
know they made a covenant in eternity. It says, but when the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a
woman, made under the law. We see the means of this great
deliverance of God's people from the bondage of our sins, which
is mentioned in verse three. What's the means of deliverance?
Christ. Christ Jesus our Lord, God incarnate
in the flesh, is the means of our deliverance. God sent forth
his son, made of a woman. You know, a brief look at history
will reveal that our God is absolutely sovereign. He arranges all things, all things,
for the coming of his son. The Jews had been carried into
Babylon, remember? They'd been carried off into
Babylon. But they were delivered by the
hand of God, just as he promised. And afterward, they were never
again given to open idolatry. Ezra, the scribes, compiled the
scriptures and taught them in the synagogues, which were established
for the teaching of the scriptures. Throughout the known world at
that time, Everywhere the Jews went, they tried to build a synagogue. And there's the scriptures. What
did Paul preach from? The Old Testament scriptures.
So here, these little synagogues are all over. My, oh, my. And by the conquest of Alexander
the Great, the Greek language became universal. In the known
world then, known world is what they called the civilized world. It became universal just like
English is today. Then God raised up the Roman
Empire. And what did the Romans do? They built roads. They built roads so that things
could travel, news could travel. You know they had a mail system
of horses on those roads? And their delivery was quick.
Caesar would send a dispatch and they'd be in Rome within
a day or two. And they'd have horses along the way for the
guy to just get a new horse and go. My, oh, my. They built roads
everywhere. And they formed a strange system
of taxation that required every man to return to his hometown
to pay taxes. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
2. People may ask, well, what do
these things have to do with God preparing the way for Christ's
incarnation? Well, we're going to see here.
And we know it happened at the precise time, right? In the book
of Malachi, I'm going to read Malachi 5.2 to you while we look
at, while you turn to Luke. Malachi 5.2, if you want to write
it down. Look at this. But thou, Bethlehem, if I read
though, thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee he shall come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose going forth has been from old, from everlasting. Look at this in Luke chapter
2. It came to pass. Some folks would say, well look
at that, it just happened. No, when it says it came to pass
here, it's not by chance. It's by providence. It came to
pass in those days that there was a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed. Now all the world there
is not the whole world. It's the known world. It's Rome's
empire. They considered the Gauls and
the others to be barbarians, to be barbarians. So he's talking
about the empire here. All the world should be taxed.
And this taxing was first made when Cyrenus was governor of
Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone to his own city. You know, this is just the Romans
way of doing things. You gotta go back to the city
you came from. Do you see how God's perfect
plan is at work here? And Joseph went up from Galilee
out of the city of Nazareth, they were in Nazareth, unto Judea,
unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because
he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary,
his espoused wife, being great with child. Now, the Lord wasn't
born on the trip there, was he? Because it wasn't God's appointed
time for him to come into the world. But in Malachi, or Micah, chapter
5, verse 2, it said he'd be born in Bethlehem. Oh, my. And it was so that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son. And she bought forth her firstborn,
wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the inn. Let's go back to Galatians
chapter 4, verse 4. Look at this. But when the fullness
of time was come, not a second earlier, not a second later,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman made under the law.
And take note of Verse 4, it says, God sent forth his son. We didn't send for Christ. The people didn't send for Christ,
did they? No. God sent his son for us. He did it. He did it. So it is in redemption
too, right? Did we seek God? Did we seek
Christ to save us? In our natural state, we were
enemies with God. Felt no need to be saved. So in redemption, we saw no need
to be redeemed. But God sent His Son to redeem
us. To save us from our sins by the
shedding of His precious, precious blood. So in regeneration too,
did we seek to be born again? No, we didn't seek that, did
we? We didn't seek that God the Holy
Spirit would come and do an operation to God. We didn't seek that. But you know why He sent His
Spirit into it? Look at verse 7. Or verse 6, I mean, verse 6.
And because ye are sons. How long have we been sons for?
from eternity in Christ. And because you're sons, God
sent forth the spirit of a son into your heart, into our hearts. He did it. He sent forth the
spirit of a son. Remember Christ said, I won't
leave you comfortless. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit
to you. He sent forth the spirit of a son into your hearts crying,
Abba Father. Now we cry, Father, Father, have
mercy on me. We never did that before, did
we? Isn't it wonderful? Wonder of
wonders. It's God who comes to us in grace. We don't seek him. We don't understand
God. There's no righteous. And he
comes to us. And we didn't even know we needed
a Savior. And 2,000 years ago, He sent
a Savior for us. Now we rejoice, don't we? With joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Glory to God. Notice also something in verse...
Let's read verses 4 and 6. There's a wonderful truth set
before us in these verses here. Look at this. Verse four, but
when the fullness of time was come, God, that's the father,
sent forth his son, right? Made of a woman, made under the
law. So note, God the father sends his son forth. Notice verse five, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Who's redeemed us? Christ. So there's the father. And there's the Son. God the
Father sent Christ. The Son redeemed us with His
precious blood, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
He saved us from our sins. And then look at verse 6. And
because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your hearts, crying out before you. There's the Holy Spirit. There's the Holy Spirit at work.
He regenerates us. He regenerates those whom Christ
redeems, because it says, and because you are sons, God sent
forth the spirit of a son into your hearts, crying, I have a
father. He gives us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So what do we see here? Wonders of wonders. We see in
our salvation, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit right here in these three verses. There it is. Set right before us. Salvations
of the Lord. Right there. It's finished. It's done. It's right there.
See, we're just receivers. We're mercy beggars, like Tom
Harding says. I love what Brother Tom says. We're just mercy beggars.
That's all we are. And preachers and teachers are
just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. That's all
we are. Look at this. He's the bread
of life. He's the bread of life. Oh my. The Holy Spirit comes to all
those whom Christ has redeemed and regenerates us and grants
us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance before
God. Did we repent before the Lord
saved us? Before we were born again? I don't know. Oh, I got
caught doing something. I was awful sorry. But then the
next day I was right back at it again. Yeah, same day too.
Yeah, not even the next day. Same day, brother. My oh my. My oh my, what a statement here.
God sent forth his son. This statement, do you know what
the statement brings forth too? The pre-existence of the son. Because if he was sent, then
he existed before he was sent. He's God the son. It's wonderful. It just gets better and better,
doesn't it? I'll tell you. So it brings forth the pre-existence
of our great King, the one who's equal with the Father, equal
with the Holy Spirit, humbles himself and becomes a man. My,
voluntarily subjects himself to the Father's will, all to
save us from our sins, all to redeem us at Calvary's cross. And because He has sons, God
sends forth the Spirit of His Son, whereby we now cry, Abba,
Father. It's all God. So what love, what great love
is manifested here? The fact that the Father sent
the Son, the fact that the Son redeemed us, and the fact that
the Holy Spirit regenerates us. What love the Father has, what
love the Son has, what love the Holy Spirit has. for the bride
of Christ, for the people of His choosing. Oh my. So this brings forth the
everlasting love of God. We looked at that in our study
in John 17. My, it's an infinite love. You
can't measure it. It's infinite. My, oh my. And here it is manifest
for us. The fact that God the Father
sent His Son to die. sent His Son to redeem us with
His precious, precious blood. He did that. And that same matchless
love, that same infinite love is manifest by God the Son when
He willingly came here. He willingly came here to die
for us. He wasn't forced. He willingly
came here. He's compelled by His love for
us. And here He comes to redeem us, to shed His precious blood
for us. My, and at Calvary's cross, I'll tell you what, that
wrath of God just poured out on him. As one preacher said,
oh, the sword of God's justice is taken out, and it's just plunged
right into Christ. See, that's the wrath that was
due us. It fell upon our Savior. It fell upon the Great Substitute.
My, oh, my. And he's redeemed us from all
our sins, beloved. by his perfect work of redemption.
Turn if you would to Philippians chapter two. We see this, he
did it willingly. He willingly did this. My oh my, when we even get a
hold of a little bit, because our minds are finite, his mind
is infinite. When we get a hold of the fact
that God himself became man, The very one who gave the law
at Sinai comes to fulfill the law. And he's perfect, right? He's sinless. He does that for
you and I, beloved. When we get a little thought
of that, it just fills our hearts with joy that he did this. Look
at this in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 to 8. Let this mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. He must save us from our sins.
He must. My, so let's look at the rest
of this wonderful verse. I'm hitting the end here. God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. Our Redeemer's
human body and soul were made of a woman. He was the seed of
the woman, without the aid of a man. That's supernatural. That's supernatural. He was conceived,
though, by the Holy Spirit of God. Remember, Scripture says
that the Father prepared a body for him? Sinless. Spotless. Perfect. And being made of a woman, the
infinite God became our near kinsman to whom the right of
redemption belongs. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. And God, the Holy Spirit, formed
and prepared a body for the Son of God. I can't explain to you how that
all came about. I'm not about to even start.
It says it, and I believe it. The scripture says it, and by
God's given faith, I believe it. Again, God, the Holy Spirit,
formed and prepared a human body for the Son of God in the womb
of a virgin. Mary, that he might, and remember,
that he might perform the work of redemption and save in our
souls. That's the whole reason. That's
the only reason he came, is to save us from our sins. That's
the only reason. My, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law. Marvel, marvel at that wondrous
fact set before us. Again, he who gave the law at
Sinai made himself to be under the law. He subjected himself to the law,
doing it for you and I. Doing it for you and I. That
he might perfectly fulfill the law for his people, thereby establishing
the righteousness of God, which we're clothed in. Isn't that
amazing? He did it all, beloved. He did
it all. That's why he gets all the glory.
He was made under and perfectly obeyed all the law, civil, ceremonial,
moral, as a substitute of his people. He did that for us. He
would not allow one jot or tittle of the law to go unfulfilled.
Christ fulfills it all completely and perfectly as our substitute. So the law has absolutely no
claim on us. None. None. We're like, we're a bunch of
sinners. None. No claim on us in Christ. And
from the beginning of His incarnation until the end of His earthly
life, the Lord Jesus kept the commandments for us, which we
could never keep. He did it all. And then by His
blood, poured out unto His death, He extinguished the wrath of
God against us. So there's not even smoke coming
from the fire of the wrath of God. It's totally extinguished. It's gone. It's gone for his people. And
our blessed Savior canceled the penalty of the law by his obedience. You see, he fulfilled it for
us in our room and place. And in
light of Christ's accomplished work, His life and His death
as our substitute, the Holy Spirit declares that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. He's it. He's it. So we have the condition in which
Christ came, made under the law. Then we have the freedom and
deliverance of God's people from their sin through the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse five. To redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoptions
of sons. He did this. He did this to free
all the elect from the curse and punishment that was due us.
That was due us for the transgression of the law. What do we say? What
a savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Praise His mighty name. Praise
His name. He's so wonderful. Brother Brian,
can you close us in prayer?