that beautiful hymn. Appreciate
those who play the instruments here. If you will this morning,
I want you to take your Bibles and open with me to the book
of Daniel. I want you to take a bulletin
or some marker and once you have found Daniel chapter 9, place
that there. Once you have found that, then
let's turn to Galatians, the letter of Galatians. The last two Sunday mornings
I've been bringing messages from verses of scripture which speak
about the incarnation, that is, the birth of the Son of God. I would remind us of several
of these verses. In Isaiah chapter 7 and verse
14, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name Emmanuel, which we know means God with us. And then in
Haggai chapter 2 and verse 7, God told the Israelites that
the desire of all nations shall come. And we know that Christ,
he was the promised seed in whom all the nations of the earth
should be blessed. And then in Matthew chapter 1
and verse 21, The angel said, She shall bring forth the Son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins. And also in Luke chapter 2, For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which
is Christ the Lord. Now this morning, I want us to
look in Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. This verse also
speaks to us of the incarnation, that is, the coming of the eternal
Son of God into this world as a man. Galatians chapter 4 and
verse 4, 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 they might receive the adoption
of sons. As we look at these two verses
of scripture this morning, I want us to think about this. First
of all, the timing. The timing of the birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then second, we will consider
the purpose of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then lastly,
the result. of the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ. First, the timing. The timing
of the birth of the Lord Jesus. This verse tells us, when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman. Now what does that mean? In the
fullness of the time, or when the fullness of the time was
come? Well, that may be answered in
several ways. Let me give us a very simple
and correct answer. First of all, when the fullness of the time
was come, that is, the time which God had purposed, the time which
God had ordained from all eternity. And there can be no question
about that. To suggest differently, that
his birth was some random act would malign the wisdom of God. The all-wise God, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from old eternity, purposed the
time of the birth when his Son would come into this world and
be made flesh. A second answer might be this,
and it's also a simple answer. The fullness of the time would
be the time which God had revealed in His Word. The time that God
had revealed in His Word when the Savior would be born. And
that's the reason I asked you to find Daniel chapter 9. Let's
go back and let's read here in Daniel chapter 9. where God gave
the time in which His Son would come into this world as a man. In Daniel chapter 9, and beginning
in verse 24, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. Now, thy people,
that means the nation of Israel, the people of Daniel, the Jewish
people. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Now, we recognize
that refers, of course, to Jerusalem, the place where God had put his
name, the place where God had his temple built, the place where
God had his altar, the place where God set the mercy seat. That's where I will meet with
you. So seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and
to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness
and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most
holy. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, unto the coming of the Messiah,
the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks.
The streets shall be built again and the wall even in troubled
times. and after three score and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off." In other words, in that 70th
week. Now a week has seven days and
each one of these weeks represents seven years. So 490 years would
take place. Now, we don't have the time this
morning to look at all of the things that are declared in verse
24 that would happen within this 70th week. But consider this
one thing. Notice it says, to make an end
of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity. Now notice, and
to bring in an everlasting righteousness. Now if you know anything about
the Word of God, if you know anything about the Scripture,
you know this. that the one who brought in this
everlasting righteousness is the Messiah, the Son of God,
who came into this world as a man. And all of this. Now the difficulty
is in fixing the time. If you notice the way the prophecy
was given, it is at the Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up division and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand,"
now here's the problem, that from the going forth of the commandment
to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince. This is not the commandment to
restore and rebuild the temple. Now that was given first, and
so it's hard to determine exactly when. Most writers, I believe,
believe that Artaxeres, when he was king of Persia, that's
when the commandment was given to restore and rebuild the city
of Jerusalem. But be that as it is, the general
time among men wasn't known, the exact time I should say,
but it was to God. And there can be no question
in my mind, and I don't think in yours either, if you notice,
and after three score and two weeks, that is in the 70th week,
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. You know who that is, don't you?
The Messiah. He would be cut off. He'd be
crucified, but not for himself. He had no sin. But for those people that God
had given unto Him in that everlasting covenant of grace, Messiah would
be cut off. So the answer, what is meant
by the statement, when the fullness of the time was come? First of
all, the time that God had purposed in old eternity. Secondly, the
time that God had revealed in His Word. through the prophet,
or to the prophet, Daniel. And this would all take place
within 490 years of the time that the commandment went forth
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Now God's Word, listen to me
now, God's Word, what a blessing, what a tremendous blessing every
one of us here today have, that we have God's Word. We have God's Word in our hands
today. We study from God's Word written
by men, yes, but men who were inspired, who were carried along
by God the Holy Spirit. And this is true about God's
Word. It is established in the heavens,
and it will always be faithful. And in other words, we've got
a firm foundation, don't we? Our faith today, if your faith
is in Christ, your faith, we have a firm foundation. We are founded upon the Rock,
the Word of the Eternal God, who cannot lie, who never changes,
who is faithful. Yes, His Word had declared when
Messiah would be born. But another third answer to that,
what's included in this statement when the fullness of the time
was come? Another answer which is not so
simple, but it is true. The condition of this world. The condition of this world when
Christ was born. The world had reached what some
people call the apex of sin. History records that both in
Rome and Greece, Greece of course known for its wisdom, for its
knowledge, for its learning, Rome for its legal system, both
were in the lowest moral condition imaginable. Fornication, adultery,
Infanticide, gluttony, and the bloodiest of entertainments to
please men all were accepted as a way of life. Two-thirds
of the known world at this time were slaves. And these slaves,
now remember, two-thirds of the population of the known world
at this time were slaves, and their masters had absolute power
over them to do with their slaves as they wanted to do, even to
end their lives. The pagan religions, they were
polytheist, and they were pantheist. They believed in many gods. You
read Greek mythology. and the worst of the imagination
of men's minds, the gods which they invented. But there were
many of them, and they believed that everything was God. Pantheists. And we learn from the Gospels,
from reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, we read that
the condition of Judaism, the people of God, that they were
concerned with outward ceremonies. They were not concerned about
the heart. It all had to do with outward
ceremonies, outward forms. The Lord Jesus charged the most
religious segment of Judaism, that is the Pharisees, with making
clean the outside of the cup, but being within full of extortion
and excess. They were teaching that what
goes into man is what defiles the man. And they were denying
the fact that all men, all of us, when we are born into this
world, we are born with a deceitful heart which is desperately wicked,
and we must, we must, we must be born again if we are to see
the Kingdom of God, the condition of this world. but also included
in that, the condition of this world, would include what turned
out to really facilitate the preaching of the gospel, and
that is the Greek language. The Greek language was spoken
and known over all of the known world. And so when the Lord sends
out his apostles and when the church goes out into all the
world as he commanded, preaching the gospel everywhere they went,
there was a common language in which they could preach the glorious
truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Plus, Rome, we thank Rome for
this, the Greeks for the language, but the Romans for the roads. that were built upon which the
gospel went out of Jerusalem. They were witnesses to Christ
first in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
parts of the world. Here's my second point. So the
time of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the purpose of
the birth of the Lord Jesus, Notice what our text tells us.
God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law. Now, in considering the
purpose of his birth, let me mention these three things. First
of all, he who is the eternal son of God, equal with the Father,
equal with God the Holy Spirit, eternal, without beginning, without
end, He who always has been and always is, in a covenant of grace
which was made with the Father before the foundation of the
world, the Son of God agreed to be sent, to be sent by the
Father, and the Father sent His Son made of a woman. He agreed to be sent into this
world to take into union with his person, his glorious person,
that body which was prepared him by the Holy Spirit from the
woman, made of a woman, that is the Virgin Mary. When we worship
Jesus Christ, we worship God. And let me tell you something,
if God is not your savior, you're not saved. This matter of salvation is a
much greater and bigger work than most people have any idea. To reconcile a sinner unto the
thrice holy God is only accomplished by one who is both God and man. So first of all, we read here
the purpose of God, the purpose of the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ, was to send his son into this world made of a woman. And secondly, he was made under
the law. Now, which law? You say, well,
I never have thought about that. Well, think about this. Which
law? He was made under the law of Moses, there's no question
about that, because he was of the seed of David. He was of David's seed. He was
of the tribe of Judah. He was made under the law of
Moses. But you and I I would imagine
we were never under that law of Moses, unless you are a Jew. We're Gentiles. We're Gentiles. Christ came, the promised seed
in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Yes,
he was born under that law or made under that law of Moses,
but he was also made under that law which many people call the
natural law and some refer to it as the moral law. You say,
well, what is that? That's the law, my friends, which
was written on the heart of Adam in creation. You see, from Adam
to the giving of the Ten Commandments was several hundreds of years.
But it had always been wrong to worship any other God. It
had always been wrong, morally wrong, evil, to commit adultery,
to lie, to murder, to steal, to covet. That didn't just become
law when God gave the Ten Commandments on the Mount of Sinai. No, the
law, the moral law, the natural law, was written on the heart
of holy Adam. But this is what happened. When
Adam sinned, that law was marred. But yet, there has never been
a tribe of people, no matter how primitive, no matter how
backward, if we could use that term, how alone, that has not
existed with knowing that there are certain things which are
wrong. Certain things like murder, stealing, those things are wrong. They didn't need the Word of
God. They didn't need the Ten Commandments to tell them that.
They have the Word written on the heart, even though it is
marred, no doubt. Like the image in which Adam
was made, the image of God, it's marred, but still there are fragments
of the moral law written upon the heart of all men. This is
the law. He was made a man. The man, Christ
Jesus. This is the law he was made under,
both the law of Moses and the natural, the moral law, the law
that you and I, I don't care who you are, I don't care what
your heritage is, whether Jew or Gentile, the law which we
have all broken. What is sin? Sin is the transgression
of the law, the breaking of the law. So the purpose of his birth,
he came into this world as a man, he was made under the law, and
he was given a work to perform. He was given a work to perform. You say, how do you know that?
How do I know it? I know it because of his words. in his prayer in John chapter
17. He said, Father, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. What was that work? Well, it was to do what the first
Adam failed to do. What did he fail to do? He failed
to glorify God. And the scripture says we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, he came into this world with a work to perform,
and he finished the work. He said, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Now the work which he was given
to do was to obey that law perfectly. That's the reason I pointed out
to us there in Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24 that he would
bring in an everlasting righteousness. And that everlasting righteousness
which he has brought in is his perfect obedience unto the law
of God. In thought, in word, in action,
he always did the Father's will. He always glorified God Almighty. And what was he doing? He was
establishing a righteousness, a righteousness which, when imputed
unto those who believe, allows God to be both just and justifier. You see, with his righteousness,
with His righteousness, His perfect obedience, then I too am made
righteous before God, and declared just, justified, not by anything
I could ever do, everything I do. And just like God told the Israelites
about an altar, remember? He said, if you build me an altar,
you just take those stones and you just stack them up there.
Don't you take your hammer, don't you take your chisel and start
smoothing off those stones, putting it together, making it real pretty. Why? Because when you put your
hand to it, it's polluted. And everything we do because
of our nature, sin nature, is tainted, is polluted. Thank God
this morning, those of us who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who know Him as our Lord and Savior, we have a righteousness
that He accepts. It's perfect. It's perfect righteousness. No one can lay a charge to God's
elect. Why? Because it's God that justifies. And how does He justify? By imputing,
by giving unto those who believe in Christ that righteousness
of Christ. Now notice what the text says,
redeem them that were under the law. This is the work he was
given to do, to establish that righteousness, to redeem those
who were under the law. If you look back just a page
maybe in chapter 3 of Galatians in verse 13, we read Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now what was the curse
of the law? Death. Death. In the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die, and in dying thou shalt die a death. The curse of the law was death. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How did he do that? Well, he
did it with his blood. That word redeemed means to buy
back, to purchase. And we know that it was with
his precious blood, his death, in other words, being made a
curse for us by being nailed to a tree. And not just bleeding,
but bleeding unto death, dying. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. You know, John in the Revelation,
John chapter 5, he's given a glimpse into heaven. And there's thousands upon thousands,
yea, millions of people there. And they're all around the throne.
And they're all singing praises to the Lamb of God. And they're
praising Him for this. They say, Thou was slain and
hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood, out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation. God, in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. That's all men. We're all under the law. And
he has his people, as that scripture says there, from every kindred,
every tongue, every people, and every nation. Now here's the last point. The
result of the birth of the Lord Jesus. that we, notice the verse,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. 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. Now this last statement,
let's look at several words in it. that we might receive the
adoption of sons. The first word is we. We. That we, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Who are the we? Who are the we
in this statement? Well, obviously, everyone's not
included. Everyone's not included in this
we, because everyone is not saved. Everyone's not redeemed. Everyone
will not spend eternity in heaven. There are those who will hear
those awful words in that last day. Depart from me, you cursed,
for I never knew you. They were not redeemed. Who are
the we? in this statement. Let me answer. Let me identify the we in these
three ways. First of all, the we are sinners. He shall save his people from
their sins. Are you a sinner? Are you a bona
fide sinner without any excuse Without any accentuation, because
of your circumstances, because of your environment, because
of this, that, or the other, can you hold up your hands today
and say, I'm guilty? If no one else in this room is
a senator, here's one. Here's one. I'm one. I have failed
to keep God's holy law. I have not loved God with all
my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, and I have not loved
my neighbor as myself. I'm guilty. We, first of all, are identified
as sinners. Secondly, we are chosen sinners. chosen sinners. Scripture says
in Ephesians, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure
of his will. I tell you what, some people
get all upset about this matter of God choosing a people, don't
they? I wish they'd read the Bible.
I wish they'd read the Word of God. They'd find out that from
all eternity God has loved His people with an everlasting love.
And God doesn't change, my friends. He doesn't love a person today
and then hate that person tomorrow. His love is eternal. We are sinners. We, in this statement
here, we are chosen sinners, and third, we are redeemed sinners. We, that we might receive the
adoption of sin. We, we who are sinners, who are
chosen sinners, who are redeemed sinners. Redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The next word is receive. Notice
that we might receive. What does that word tell us?
Well, that word tells us it's a gift. It's a gift. You can't earn it. And no one here, hopefully, would
say, I deserve it. I deserve it. We receive. It's a gift. We don't earn it. We don't deserve
it. We do not merit it. We receive
it by faith. By faith, we believe we receive
the gift. We don't bring anything in our
hands. We don't add anything to the work of Christ. We don't
trust even in our faith. We receive Christ. and we receive him as God's free
sovereign gift. The third word, the last word,
is adoption. That we might receive the adoption
of sons. Now this signifies both the privilege
of adoption and the inheritance of those who are adopted. To
as many as received him, to them gave he power, that is the privilege
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
Sons of God we are, those who trust in Christ. We are sons
of God first by adoption, but we're also sons of God by regeneration. Now you go to the orphanage and
you adopt a child, and I think that's a wonderful thing, don't
you? That people adopt children and take them into their homes
and love them and care for them. You can give that child your
name, you can provide for that child, but one thing you can't
do, you cannot give that child your nature. But we are sons of God by adoption
and also by regeneration. In the new birth, we are made
partakers of the divine nature. We have a new nature. Yes, we
still have that old nature, but we have a new nature that loves
God, that loves righteousness and holiness. And a third way
that we are made sons, not only by adoption, by regeneration,
but God the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. And the Holy Spirit in you is
the seal. It's the seal. You're sealed
unto the day of redemption. Never make any mistake about
this. God's sons are sealed. God's daughters are sealed with
God the Holy Spirit. And then this inheritance adopted
to an inheritance. Peter said it like this, an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through faith under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. I trust the Lord has and will
bless and use his word to all of us here today. What a wonderful truth. Everything about Christ is wonderful,
isn't it? They're playing that hymn
a while ago, Oh Holy Night. It's easy to get emotional, isn't
it? when we think about the birth
of our blessed Savior. My, my, my. Let's sing hymn number
85, Silent Night, Holy Night.