I invite you to open your Bible, not to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, but I invite you to open to the book of Galatians. I've chosen a passage this morning that is perhaps not a normal passage that would be used on a Christmas message, but I think one that will really encourage our hearts. Christmastime is a time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. And of course that is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world. Yes, Christmas is about the manger scene with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. It includes the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. It includes the wise men with gold, frankincense, and myrrh following a star from the east. Christmas is about angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing, and Christ the babe born for you. But there is so much more, so much more to the story. And that's what we want to consider this morning, Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5. 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. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for Christmas time, a yearly reminder of the sending of your Son into this world. of the incarnation of the Son of God. It's a reminder to us that our Lord left heaven's glory and came to a sin-sick world to seek and to save that which is lost, to give himself a ransom for many, to die on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind. He was indeed born to die. And Father, as we reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas, I pray that you would stir our hearts, that we might refocus our minds and hearts upon the real meaning of Christmas, that we might indeed celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we might celebrate his birth in that humble manger, and we might worship him. We might worship him today with our whole hearts, that we might adore him, that we might exalt him. And indeed we pray in his name, amen. The Nativity of Jesus marks the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the First Advent. Advent simply means coming or arrival. And so we have His first advent. The beginning of His first advent is with the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That marks the beginning of His first advent. And, of course, His death, burial, resurrection, and then ascension to heaven marks the conclusion of His first advent. Now, first implies that there's a second. And indeed there is a second advent, a second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will come again. The Bible concludes with the saying from Revelation 22, 20, Jesus says, surely I come quickly. And we as believers are to respond, amen, even so come Lord Jesus. And so we have his first advent, his second advent. But Jesus' birth is only part of the story then. And it's not even the beginning of the story. The story actually begins in the eternal counsels of the triune God. And this morning we want to step back and consider the big picture. And from the verses that we're looking at this morning, we're going to consider God's plan, God's provision, and then God's purpose. So let's begin with God's plan. Verse four implies that God has a plan and he has a timetable. It says, when the fullness of the time was come. You see, the divine plan is unfolding in accordance with the divine timetable. Jesus coming to earth was part of the plan and it all happened according to God's timetable. Now there's a concept that we think of today called the arrow of time. And that actually goes back to 1927, a physicist by the name of Sir Arthur Eddington developed this concept called the arrow of time. And his point was that time is inherently directional. It goes in a given direction. The unalterable past lies behind us, and the unseen future lies ahead of us. It's the arrow of time in the physical realm. And of course, we understand that God, the creator of all, is the creator of time. And so he is the one who really established the arrow of time. But in the spiritual realm, the arrow of time always points to Christ. It points to him. The Old Testament points forward to the coming of Christ. And the New Testament points back to his first advent, and indeed, both Old and New Testament point forward to his second advent. And so the arrow of time, spiritually speaking, always, always points to Christ. I want to read something that was written a long time ago, and we don't know who wrote it, so it's anonymous, but I think it expresses this idea so well. It's called Behold the Man. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then for three years, he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteenth centuries have come and gone and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life. Of course, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our Lord. He came into the world in obscurity. Born in a almost nameless village, Bethlehem, so small, such a small little place, so insignificant it would seem. Born in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And yet from the very beginning, He was worshipped. He was worshipped and adored because, in fact, He's the Lord of Glory. God's plan for fallen humanity revolves around this babe born in a manger. It revolves around this man, this Christ, this Redeemer, this Messiah, And like the petals of a flower that gradually unfold, God's plan of redemption gradually unfolds for us in the pages of scripture, going all the way back to the very beginning. The book of Genesis anticipates a Redeemer. In Genesis 3.15, God said to the serpent, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head. and thou shalt bruise his heel." So that's the seed of the gospel right there, looking all the way forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, which will be emphasized in our passage today. And so he came and his heel was bruised in the sense that Satan got the upper hand and caused the enemies of Christ to rise up against him and nail him to a cross. But Jesus got the final victory, crushing the serpent's head, because he died on that cross to become our Redeemer, to save us. And so all the way back in the book of Genesis, this anticipates a Redeemer. And then the Exodus, the book of Exodus teaches us that God's people need to be redeemed. And that Yahweh is the Redeemer God, he's the deliverer, he's the one who rescues his people. Leviticus teaches us that redemption is costly. For without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption. All throughout the Old Testament, key figures spoke of God as their Redeemer, Job, David, Solomon, and so on. And we come then to the prophets, and the prophets prophesied of the redemption of God's people. And all of this points forward then to the coming of Christ. It's God's arrow of time pointing to Christ, the Redeemer, the Messiah, to come from the Old Testament perspective. And then he comes. In the New Testament, we turn the page to the Gospels and we see the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, summarizes it so well for us in Luke 1, verse 68. He says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began. So Zachariah recalls all of these Old Testament prophecies, all of these words of prophecy spoken by the prophets concerning the coming of Messiah. And he says, yes, he's come. He's coming. And so we see the arrow of time pointing to the Christ. We come to Galatians 4.4, our passage this morning. And we see that the fullness of time has come. Look again at that verse. It says, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. Jesus came at the time of God's appointing. Jesus came precisely when it was time for him to come. precisely according to God's timetable. We might say when the time was ripe, when the time was ripe, when the timing was perfect, then God sent forth his son. You see, God's timing is always perfect, always perfect. In the eternal wisdom of God, it was the best possible time for the Savior to come. John MacArthur writes this, the fullness of time refers to the completion of the period of preparation in God's sovereign timetable of redemption. When the law had fully accomplished its purpose of showing man in his utter sinfulness and inability to live up to God's perfect standard of righteousness, God ushered in a new era of redemption. When he sent forth his son, he provided the righteousness for man that man could not provide for himself." And so the timing was perfect. God had allowed enough time to lapse so that God's people would realize they can't live up to God's righteous standard. They could not fulfill the law themselves. The Law is our schoolmaster, our tutor to bring us to Christ. It shows us our sinfulness, our need for Christ. And so the time was right. The time was ripe for Messiah to come. It was right in a number of ways. It was right religiously. The Old Testament canon of Scripture was complete. A gap in time of almost 400 years had passed since God had given any revelation. The Old Testament canon was complete. The synagogue system was in place. Jesus now could go and go travel from place to place and preach in the synagogues. This was at the height of Messianic expectation. For a number of reasons, the people of God, the Jewish people, were highly anticipating the arrival of Messiah at any moment. So it was right religiously. It was the right time politically. The state of the world at the time was what has been termed Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. You know, Rome, the great conqueror, the great power, the iron fist that ruled the world, had conquered the world. And so everything was in a state of relative peace. Things were under control, if you will, under the iron fist of Rome. It was the right time for Messiah to come linguistically. The Greek language with all its precision and attention to detail, was the written language of the day. And in fact, all of the New Testament scriptures would be written in the Greek language. And so it was a very good language. The New Testament being in Greek, and Greek being the written language of the day. And it was the right time for Messiah to come structurally, we might say. International trade routes were well established. Rome had built a network of these great roads because Rome wanted to be able to get their army from place to place very quickly. But boy, that really paid off. It was basically the interstate highway system of the day. And so it was very easy to travel from point to point and many people would travel throughout the region. This would facilitate then the worldwide spread of the gospel. In the Book of Acts we can read about that. We've studied the Book of Acts and how the gospel got out to the known world of the day. And a lot of that was thanks to those Roman roads. And of course we come to the birth narrative and we see that there is a decree that all the world would be taxed, would be registered. It was no happenstance that the Roman Empire had issued this decree. It required Mary and Joseph to travel while Mary was yet pregnant over these Roman-built roads to Bethlehem. And they were in Bethlehem by divine appointment in order to fulfill a messianic prophecy that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And so in every sense that we can imagine, Jesus came in the fullness of time. He came at just the right time, the time of God's appointing. He came at precisely the perfect time according to God's timetable. The divine clock of redemption reached the zero hour and Messiah came. So in our passage this morning, we see God's plan, God's plan unfolding. We see the arrow of time, everything pointing to Christ, to His coming. We see that the time was perfect. It was the fullness of time. It was just the right time for Messiah to come. God's plan called for his coming at this time. Secondly, in our passage, we see God's provision. God's provision. Verse 4 says, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. This is God's provision. God's plan of redemption revolves around the sending forth of His Son into the world. As one 19th century Methodist pastor once said, the hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable. Now this verb, sent forth, helps us to understand that prior to the sending forth, the Son was with the Father. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, eternally preexisted in heaven with the Father. And in fact, we really have the pre-existence, the eternal pre-existence of Father and Son, and the same thing is true of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 4, verse 6, it says, And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And so in this one passage, we have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three persons of the triune God, all mentioned here, all involved in God's plan of redemption. So we have the triune God, three in one, and one in three eternally pre-existing. And all three work together to bring about the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption. You see, in order for sinners to be redeemed, it was necessary for the Father to send forth His Son. And as we look at verse 4, it emphasizes two facts about God's Son that are especially relevant here. First fact is that God's Son was born of a woman. Now, some have understood this phrase to emphasize the virgin conception of Jesus, and indeed, we do affirm that doctrine. But really, the emphasis here is not on the conception, but on the birth. Jesus was birthed by Mary in the natural way, and he entered into this world as an infant boy. He didn't suddenly appear as a grown man. That's the point. He was born of a woman. He was, in fact, the Son of God, veiled in flesh. Son, of course, emphasizing his relationship to his Father, the Heavenly Father. And so, therefore, he is the Son of God. This speaks of his full deity. And yet, being the Son of God, he's also the Son of Mary, born of a woman. And that emphasizes his humanity. And so, in this, really, we have what's called the hypostatic union. We have God In flesh, we have deity, we have humanity. He's all God and all man, the perfect God-man. And think of that humanity, born of a woman as a little infant. Human life is most fragile at that moment, isn't it? So there's an emphasis here on the fragility of human life as it emerges from the womb. How amazing is this? Doesn't it boggle your mind to think about the fact that God the Son took on human flesh and was born a little baby? The story is told of Daniel Webster when he was in his prime. He was dining with a company of literary men in Boston. And during the dinner, the subject turned onto the subject of Christianity. They knew he was a Christian. And Mr. Webster frankly stated his belief in the divinity of Christ and his dependence upon Christ for his salvation. One at the table said to him, Mr. Webster, can you comprehend how Christ could be both God and Mr. Webster promptly replied, no sir, I cannot comprehend it. If I could comprehend him, he would be no greater than myself. I feel that I need a superhuman savior, end quote. And so he's of course reflecting on this magnificent doctrine that we have the son of God veiled in flesh, God and man together in one. Paul says this in Romans chapter 1 as he begins the epistle. He says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Now note this, which he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." There's a great doctrinal introduction to the fact that Jesus is God incarnate, the Son of God incarnate, the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, made of the seed of David, descendant of David. according to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God with power according to his resurrection. So Jesus was the Son of God, fully God, and he was born of a woman. He was fully human. Very God of very God and very man of very man, as the theologians put it. He was thus the perfect Redeemer. the perfect Redeemer, the perfect intercessor between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And so the first fact we see here about the Son is that He was born of a woman, and the second fact we see here is that He was born under the law. That is to say, very simply, that Jesus was born a Jew. His lineage was Jewish. He was subject to the Mosaic law. And yet he came not to abolish that law, but to fulfill that law. He's the only one who was able to fulfill that law. He was the only one who was able to keep every aspect of the law. He was, in fact, the sinless Son of God. To again quote from John MacArthur, he says, like every other Jew, Jesus was under obligation to obey and be judged by conformity to God's written law in the Old Testament. But unlike any other Jew, he satisfied the requirements of that law by living in perfect obedience to it." So he was born under the law. He was born a Jew and yet he fulfilled the law. He kept every aspect of the law perfectly. He is, in fact, the sinless Son of God. And since Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, He alone was qualified to be the Redeemer of all those who are under the law and, indeed, all of the Gentiles as well. So in these verses we see God's plan of redemption unfolding over time in the Old Testament, all pointing to the coming of the Messiah and His first advent. We see Him coming in the fullness of time. Just when it was perfect, the perfect time for Him to come, He came into this world. We see God's provision here, the Father sending the Son, the Redeemer. the God-man, born of a woman, born under the law. And thirdly, we see God's purpose. And what a grand purpose it is. What a glorious purpose is described here in these verses. Let me read again verses 4 and 5. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, For what purpose? To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. There are actually two purpose clauses here in verse 5. The first one is to redeem. God's purpose in sending His Son was to redeem. To redeem means to buy back. You see, prior to redemption, the sinner is bound helplessly and hopelessly to God's moral law. Paul writes about this in Galatians chapter three, if you want to turn back there in verses 22 through 24. It says, but the scripture hath concluded all under sin. that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, our tutor, to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. Oh, this is so glorious to think about it. You see, the law was given to instruct us. The law is the revealer of sin. It shows us how great our sinfulness is. So it helps the sinner see his sinfulness and consequently to see his need for salvation. That's what the law does. It's our schoolmaster, our tutor. It brings us to Christ. It shows us our need for Christ, our need to be saved. And so Christ comes to redeem us from the law that we may no longer be enslaved to it, no longer in bondage. He is, in fact, the Lamb of God. who is worthy as our Messiah. He is worthy of all praise and glory and honor because He has redeemed us from our bondage to sin and the law. The Apostle John writes about this in Revelation chapter five and verse nine. He says, and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. This is the song of the redeemed. We will sing this song, we who know Christ as our Savior, we will sing that song, giving Him glory and honor and praise, because He has redeemed us to God by His blood. It's His shed blood on the cross. It is the blood of the atonement that atones for our sins. And so we see this first purpose here, to redeem, to redeem those who need to be bought back from the slave market of sin, to bring us back into right relationship with God, to reconcile us to God. And of course, before the coming of Christ, there is the law, and the law is our schoolmaster, is to show us our need for Christ, our need for redemption. So the first purpose, to redeem. The second purpose is also glorious. The second purpose, in fact, builds upon the first one. Verse 5, to redeem them that were under the law. Why? That we might receive the adoption of sons. I mean, this is truly marvelous when you stop to think about it. God did not only redeem us, But He adopts us. He didn't redeem us to become slaves. He redeemed us to become sons. This is truly amazing. So redemption leads to adoption. And we really ought to marvel at this. We ought to marvel at the eternal purposes of God. This was His purpose. This was His plan. He sent His Son to redeem. He sent His Son to adopt. God adopts us into His family. We attain the status of sons. John writes about this in 1 John 3.1, I mean, this ought to amaze us. If we're sons of God, then we're heirs. Heirs of the Kingdom and join heirs with Christ. So God's purpose ultimately leads to the adoption as sons. We become sons of God so that we might address Him as our Heavenly Father and indeed cry out to Him, Abba Father, the cry of a child to a daddy. God's purposes are so amazing. His plan of redemption, so utterly amazing. Only God could have come up with such a marvelous plan, whereby the death of one could lead to the life of many. Jesus, the perfect Son of God who kept every tenet of the law perfectly, was the only one who could die. Now, if he were just a man, he could die to replace one other person. But he is, in fact, the Son of God incarnate, the eternal, infinite Son of God, and his one death can atone for many. And so what do we learn from this passage? Well, I think the big takeaway is this. God sent his son for us. He sent his son for us, to redeem us, to adopt us as his children. His redemptive plan was cast long ago in the eternal counsels of God. Even from the beginning, he ordained it to be so. Man fell in the garden. Sin came into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. But Jesus sent the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he might bring life. abundant life, eternal life to those who believe on Him. So God's redemptive plan led to the provision of a Redeemer, the sending of His Son, His Son, the Son of God, full deity, born of a woman, full humanity, born under the law as a Jew, He came to God's people, the Jewish people, first and foremost. But He is, in fact, the Savior for the whole world. God sent His Son for us, for us, for me, for you, for your children, your grandchildren. And this becomes, then, an individual matter. For as Paul wrote in Galatians, we must have faith. We go back to chapter three, he says, before faith came, we were kept under the law. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by what? Faith. And so this becomes an individual matter. Each of us must have the faith to trust in Christ. to embrace Him as our own Savior and Lord, dying on the cross for our own sin. He is the Son sent for us, for you and for me. Do you know this Redeemer? Do you know Him? Have you put your faith in Him? As surely as the plan of God intersected human history in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, so now the good news of the gospel intersects your life. And if you're here today or you're listening to this message and you've not come to that point of saving faith, of trusting in Christ as your Savior, the gospel is for you today. This message is for you today. And you may be a child growing up in a Christian home, but you must individually receive Christ as your Savior. And you can do that today. The Bible makes it very clear that every person is a lost sinner in need of redemption. The law of God shows that no one can live up to God's standard of absolute righteousness. And until you come by faith to the cross of Christ, you are still under the law, you are still condemned as a sinner before the holy and righteous God. And to be redeemed, you must come by faith to the Redeemer, to the Lord Jesus Christ. You must confess your need for redemption and put your faith in Christ as your Redeemer. And then, not only are you saved, Not only are you redeemed, but you are adopted as a son of God. Now for the vast many of us who are here today who know Christ as Savior, I think this is an occasion for us to again marvel at God's amazing plan of redemption. God had a plan and He worked His plan according to His perfect timetable in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son. What an amazing God we serve, that He would have such mercy and compassion upon us, that He would be willing to sacrifice His own Son to redeem us. Let us be amazed at His plan of redemption. Let us gaze upon that babe in a manger and give glory to God for His divine provision for our redemption and for our adoption as sons. Behold the Son of God, born of a woman, born to die, to redeem and to bring about our adoption. Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Behold the Son. sent by the Father in the fullness of time, sent for us. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for this message this morning, this passage, and we thank You for this great reflection upon Your divine plan, just how marvelous a plan it is, for Your provision for a Redeemer, sending Your Son And Lord, we thank you for your purpose in all this to redeem us and to adopt us as your sons. Our Father, we thank you for saving us. We thank you for this time of year when we're reminded of the fact that you sent your son into this world to be born as a baby, to grow into a man to have that human flesh so that he might be nailed to a cross to pay for our sin. We thank you for his resurrection, that he declared victory over Satan, crushing the serpent's head. We thank you that we serve a risen Savior today. And Lord, we pray for that one who still needs to come to that point of saving faith. They still need to accept Christ as their Redeemer, as their Messiah. We pray that they will indeed do so. In Jesus' name, Amen.