Take your Bibles and go with me to the book of Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. As Jan was singing that beautiful song, I was reminded of an article that I read recently, I think I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, by Stephen Lawson, who is a pastor down in Alabama, a great voice for solid biblical preaching of the Word of God. And it was on the story of Jonah and the miraculous revival that God ignited through the preaching of one man walking through the greatest city in the world at that day, declaring a message of impending doom and judgment. And the king, the most powerful man in the world of that day, got down off his throne, put on sackcloth, knelt in ashes and besought God in repentance. Powerful story scripture there in the story the book of Jonah about the work of God and what we need to pray for is yes there is going to come a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But we need to be a prayer that God will send that revival in the hearts of men today. that we as a nation will do that same thing. I was as well thinking as Matt was talking about Fanny Crosby. I love the songs of Fanny Crosby, don't you? What a wonderful gift she is to the church of Jesus Christ. I wrote in my Bible several years ago a poem that she wrote. Poetry flowed from that woman, did it not? She wrote this when she was seven years old. But what a happy soul am I, although I cannot see. I am resolved that in this world contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep and sigh because I'm blind. I cannot and I won't." That's a seven-year-old girl. That's why God used her, because of that heart. That heart of submission that she had to the Lord. Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Those were free thoughts. Lord, the message is before us this morning, your word. We open it with anticipation. That your spirit will come. And minister in our lives as he has already done. Father, as we have given to you. Lord, we haven't sacrificed much. Probably not a one of us can really claim to be like that widow who gave all that she had. We've given to you of the overflow. We thank you for what you've given to us. We do so in worship. We've sang. We've listened as the Scripture was read. And now, Father, we come before your Word and we pray that your Spirit would take the words of Christ and minister them to our hearts. Father, may we come as prepared people, still our hearts, still our minds, that we might receive from You the message today. In Jesus' name, Amen. Look with me in Galatians 4. We are looking at verses 1-10. Last week we began this section looking at the first three verses. Today we're really going to look at verses 4-7. Now, maybe you remember, maybe you don't. Verses 1-3 and verses 8-10 are really dealing with the analogy of the law as a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ at the appointed time. In verses 4 through 7, we have the crux of this message dealing with the fullness of the time in which God sent forth His Son, made of a woman made under the law, to redeem us. who are under the law. Now, you look with me in your Scriptures and let's begin reading in verse 3, and we're going to read through verse 7, and then we're going to look at these verses this morning, thinking about the fullness of the time and the completeness we have in Christ, and as we sang this morning, in Christ alone. Nothing added to Christ. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world." Now, you might remember, when He is talking there of children, He is not talking of us physically. He is talking spiritually. He is talking, as He says in the book of Ephesians chapter 4, we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and hurled about by every wind of doctrine. We need to be grounded in Christ. But he says when we were children, we were enslaved under the elements of the world. But, and here's this great contrast introduced with the word, but. But when the fullness of the times had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law in order that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Now, what we are talking about here today is the fullness of the times in which Christ came. But let's bridge into that by looking back at verse 3, specifically the last phrase. When we were children, we were in bondage, and we were in bondage under the elements of the world. We talked about that for a few minutes the other week. We went to Hebrews chapter 5, we went to Colossians chapter 2, where this very same phrase is used, where we are told, beware lest anyone take you captive through empty deceit and vain philosophies according to the rudimentary principles of the world, or the elementary principles of the world. And you remember we talked about this concept of elements. The elements are the things that are the building blocks of life. There are elements, we have them listed in the periodic table. You combine them and you make a life. There are six primary elements that compose 90% of our bodies. This same word is used in other places, in the original language, in the ancient world, to speak of things like the notes of a scale. We have wonderful musicians. Morgan did a great job on the piano this morning, and he took all the individual notes on the scale, and they are put together to form a piece of music. We have the alphabet, ABCs. We could go through all those individual letters, but you don't stay with the ABCs. You learn the ABCs that you might put them together into a deeper form of communication. And that is this concept. He says, when you were a child, you were under the elementary foundational principles under which the world operates. This is a reference to the principles that govern the world in which we live in the natural realm. There's a phrase, I want to put this up here, the word is natural religion. If you went to a secular university, maybe even some Christian universities, have a field of study in natural religion. And you could study natural religion. This is really the concept that Paul is talking about here that holds people in bondage. Now, when we're talking about natural religion, there's two things we're not talking about. First of all, we're not talking about natural law. Paul talks about that in Romans chapter 2, that even the unbeliever who does not know the law of God has that law written on his heart. That's what we call natural law. This phrase natural religion also doesn't mean worship of nature, kind of being a tree hugger that worships the world around us. It's not really what he's talking about when we think of this phrase, natural religion. What we're talking about when we talk about natural religion, it's a field of study and it basically is this. If you go around the world and you're an anthropologist and you meet people all around the world, all around this planet, and you meet people all scattered in many different nationalities, you will find out that there is a religion that is natural to the human heart. We're born with it. Now, that doesn't mean it's a right religion. It doesn't mean it's a good religion. But there is a religion that is natural to us. Now, it's interesting, in 1 Corinthians we're even told, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. It is foolishness to him. But you cannot find a culture where people are born irreligious. There is a religion people are born intuitively to worship. Now, that is distorted by the human nature and by our fall, by our depravity. So, when we're talking about natural religion, when we think of what Paul is saying here, what is it that holds people in bondage? Let me give you the major components of natural religion. This is true of all religions. that just spring up spontaneously in the world. It is also true of Christianity when it is distorted. And there's always a natural tendency for Christianity, biblical Christianity, to degenerate away from the truth of God's Word. When it does so, it always goes a natural way. The first thing that we would say is always true of natural religion is people want to worship. a visual image of God. Just like it says in Romans chapter 1. People want to change the glory of the incorruptible God and trade it in for an image. And they want to make an idol. This is why all around the world people worship idols. I went to a website this week. I was actually going to do this and put these pictures on of people worshiping. You go to a website and look up pictures of people worshiping. You can find pictures of people in Thailand worshipping before a golden Buddha. You can look at pictures of people in India worshipping before their gods. On the same website, there was a young person glued to a TV set. That was an interesting image to put there. There was a picture of people in South America kissing the feet of the statue of Mary. You see, there is in the human heart a natural bent to trade in the glory of God and to begin to worship an image. And that holds people in bondage, doesn't it? That's why even in the Ten Commandments, God said, you shall not make for yourself a graven image and bow down and worship before it. This is a natural tendency of the human heart. We have to fight against that urge. We worship God who we cannot see, and we worship Him, as it says in John chapter 4, in spirit and in truth. Now, notice here's another major component of false worship. It always degenerates into these strengths. Paul deals with these in Colossians chapter 2. I don't want you to go there this morning because we're going to come back to this next week when we get further in this chapter. But there is always this tendency to leave the true worship of God, which can only be done in spirit and in truth, and to trade it in for ritualism. And in Colossians chapter 2, Paul talks about self-denial and asceticism and legalism. And Paul says in Colossians chapter 2, these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body. But notice what he says, they are of no value against the indulgences of the flesh. But this is natural religion, and these are the things that hold people in bondage. This leads us into our text. In Colossians chapter 2, we are told, it is Christ in us who is the hope of glory, and we are complete in Him. We are complete in Christ. And this is what we see in Galatians chapter 4. I borrowed this from John MacArthur. This is good. Christ plus nothing. equals everything. If you believe in Christ and Christ alone and you rest your eternal hope on Him, you have everything and you are saved. But if you try to do a man-made religion and put Christ plus anything, and you can put anything in that blank, you try to add anything to Christ and you will end with nothing. with an eternity of hopelessness. Now, when we look at Galatians chapter 4, let's look at this description of what God did in the fullness of the times. Notice this in verse 4. But when the fullness of the times had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. We're going to come back to the phrase, the fullness of the times, in a minute. But before we do that, let's analyze what he says. In the fullness of time, first thing, God sent forth His Son. God sent forth His Son. That's an interesting verb. It's the same type of verb which is used to speak of an apostle. Christ sent forth His apostles. God the Father sent forth His Son. He commissioned Him with a mission and with a message. He was sent forth from the Father. This speaks of the eternal generation of the Son. When Christ was born, it was not His beginning. Christ and Christ alone had a premortal existence. You and I did not. We did not have a premortal existence. Christ did from all eternity. And thus, in John chapter 1, we are told that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Christ was in the beginning. And then in John chapter 1, it tells us the Word became flesh. And He took up habitation amongst us. He dwelled amongst us. Now, how did the Word of God become flesh? The Son of God become flesh? This speaks of the mystery of the incarnation. This is a mystery, isn't it? How could God become a man? Why? Think of that. Why would God become a man? The Creator God, the One who made us, who gave to us a commission as humanity and said, do not sin in the garden. And we did it anyway. Why would he then stoop and become a man to redeem us? That is an amazing thought. And how could that be accomplished? How did it happen? How did the word become flesh? It tells us here he was born of a woman. He was born of a woman. That is a reference. And we're not going to take the time with it this morning simply because of time. That is a reference to the virgin birth. He is born of a woman, of the agency of a woman, as the Holy Spirit overshadows her, as it says in Luke's Gospel. This is a reference to the virgin birth. That is described all through Scripture, isn't it? In the prophecies in the book of Isaiah. It is delineated in the Gospels. It is taught in the epistles here that Christ was born of a virgin. That is a cardinal doctrine that is foundational to us as Christians. It's an important one. He was born of a virgin. This, the virgin birth, ensured that he would be born human without the taint of Adam's depravity. And thus, Christ becomes a man. The Word takes flesh. He is born of a virgin, and he is born – notice this – he is born under the law. He completely obeys the law of God, something that none of us can do, in every precept and in every way, in every one of his motives. Can you imagine that? You know, sometimes it's easy, not easy. Sometimes there's certain parts of the law that we can keep externally, and yet we find within ourselves, we struggle in our heart with our motives or with our thought life. And so even Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, if you look at a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart. And so someone could say, well, I've never committed adultery. Oh, really? According to the law of God, you haven't. According to the teaching of God's Word, what Christ said or its ramifications. But Christ was born under the law to secure our righteousness by complete obedience to the law of God. In Romans chapter 8, the Scripture says this, for what the law could not accomplish. Because it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And He brought life to us by being born under the law and securing our righteousness. Secondly, notice the purpose of His coming. Why did He come? When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem us. to redeem us who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." Now, he's not just saying that Christ came only to redeem Jews, because they're the only ones who are under the law. No, all humanity is under the moral dictates of the law of God. And to stumble in one point is to be guilty of all. So, He came to redeem all who are born as men, because all are under the law of God. So, to redeem those who were under the law. This is the purpose of His coming. Now, we're not going to take the time this morning to talk about the word redemption, because we have done that exhaustively at other times. But when we think of redemption, we're talking about the price that He paid to purchase us from sin. And so He came to redeem us in order that we might receive the adoption of sons. Think of that, this concept of adoption. This word adoption, that we are adopted into the family of God. We do not come into His family by natural descent. If any man will see the kingdom of God, he must be born again. He must be adopted into the family. Jesus told the Jews of His day, You are of your father, the devil. Before we are born again, before we are in Christ, we are in bondage to sin and we are under Satan. But when we are adopted in Christ, we come into the family of God. This is an interesting word. When he talks about adoption, the word is hyriothesia, which simply means in the original language, the word hyrios, which is son, and then the Greek word, the verb, which is tithymi, which means to place. And the word to adopt literally means to place someone as a son. And since this has happened, since we are adopted as sons, this secures two things in our life. The first one is in verse 8. It secures the spirit of sonship in our heart. Notice what he says in verse 6. And because you are sons, God has sent forth, same verb, as Christ being sent, He has sent forth, the Spirit is sent, into our hearts, and the Spirit causes us to cry out, Abba Father. A term of endearment, a term of relationship. There is a relationship with this One that we have come to know, God the Father, and the Spirit cries out within us, Abba Father. That term comes up many times. It comes up several times. In Romans chapter 8, we find there, For you have not received a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. That is why the Christian, the true believer, he doesn't just pray to God. We don't just talk about God. We talk about our Father. We talk to God as our Father. When we pray, there is a Spirit who cries out within us, Father. And so we pray to Him, Abba Father. That term of endearment that is used throughout the Scripture to speak of our relationship to God, that is secured by our adoption. Also, we have an inheritance in the next life. We have the Spirit in this life. And in the life to come, we have an inheritance. So he says in verse 7, Therefore you are no longer a slave, but you are a son. And if a son, you are an heir of God. Think of that reality. That we are heirs to God. In 1 Peter 1, we are told we have been born again to an inheritance which is incorruptible. It is undefiled. It does not fade away. And it is reserved in heaven for you who trust in Christ. We have an inheritance, it is secured by our adoption. It's interesting, I was thinking about this concept of adoption. You read through the book of Deuteronomy, you read through the book of Exodus, there's no reference in the Mosaic law to adoption. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but there's no stipulated regulations on how adoption was to be done. But we know that the Jews did it. Because when you read the book of Esther, you find out that Mordecai adopted Esther, Hadassah, to come and live with him and he raised her. So they did adoption. When we think of it in the ancient world though, when they talked about adoption, this was a common means in Roman times of securing an heir. If you did not have an heir and you needed to secure one, many times someone would adopt someone from outside the family and would bring them in. And when you were adopted, you took the family's name. You took the societal status of the family. The most famous person in the ancient world that was an adopted son was Augustus Caesar. He was not the son of Julius Caesar. But in order to secure an heir, Julius Caesar adopted Augustus and brought him into the family and he was given the kingdom. And so it is with us. When we are adopted into the family of God, we become the heirs of God. Now let's go for just a minute to this phrase, the fullness of the times. The fullness of the time. When the time is full. Some of you women understand that. You go to the doctor. You find out when the due date is. And when the fullness of the time comes, a child is born. at the time that God has established. We understand that concept, the fullness of the time. When the time is ripe, our family really enjoys going out in the mountains in the late summer like this and picking huckleberries. You go too early and there are none. You go too late and they've all fallen off. When do you go? The right time. And if you live in Star Valley, you have your secret spot that you don't tell anybody about, right? And you go and pick your huckleberries. And you get them frozen for the winter. And you have your crop of huckleberries. But you pick them when they're ripe. And this is the concept that he's talking about. When the time was ripe, Christ was born. At the time appointed by the Father. It was not chance that Jesus was born, as it says in Luke, when the Caesar said that all the world is to be taxed. And everybody travels to be registered. And Jesus Christ is born in the home place of David in Bethlehem. You see, it happened at the right time. Now, there are two aspects of this phrase, the fullness of the time, as it relates to this, that I want to just draw our attention to for a minute. First of all, would be the scope of the ages. It happened at just the right time. Secondly, not only is the scope of the ages in this, but also the sequence of events of every individual who comes to Christ when God sends forth the Spirit into our life and we are born again. First of all, think with me of the scope of the ages. At just the right time, Christ was born. You know what else? At just the right time, Christ will return. No one will stop it. Your schedule in your day planner will not halt it. What's important to me on that day will all of a sudden become meaningless and secondary. Because He will break into the world and everything will change. And it will happen when He is ready at the fullness of the time. So, think of the scope of the ages. At the day in which Christ was born, the world of that day was under what was called the Pax Romana. Caesar Augustus is on the throne. He has established himself as the sole emperor. The second triumvirate is done and Augustus is on the throne. That set up a scenario in the world which has not often been duplicated. There were three things that were true. There were no international boundaries that would restrict the travel of the gospel. After Christ dies and the gospel is commissioned in the book of Acts, it runs like wildfire. It runs through wildfire because there are no boundaries to restrict it. The other thing that was true of the world at that time that is an amazing thought to think of is this. In the Roman Empire, you may come from Phrygia, you may come from Galatia, you may be from Italy, but everybody learned Greek. Even Christ. Think of that. Jesus Christ, our Savior, was conversant and fluent in at least three languages. He knew Aramaic. He spoke it. He knew Hebrew. He spoke it. We read it in the Gospels. And He spoke Greek. He knew them all. And He was very conversant in those languages. This is an amazing situation. Because think of this. When the New Testament is written, the Gospel writers write it in Greek. And everybody in the ancient world can read it. When they go to a town and they begin to preach, they can preach in Greek and people understand it. But the New Testament is written in Greek. Can you imagine what it would be like if the New Testament had been written in five or six different ancient languages? And then you were going to go to seminary and you were going to learn how to translate the New Testament and how to be able to read it in its original tongue. That would be difficult. But God ensured that the entire New Testament was written in one language that was easily accessible to everybody in the world. Think with me. This is the perfect time for Christ to be born. It tells us in Ephesians 1, verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him. And so it is the dispensation of the fullness of time. Time began at the Garden of Eden. There had been a progressive unfolding of God's plan of redemption by partial revelations, and they culminated in the unveiling of His Son. This unfolding of God's plan was in accordance with God's sovereign decree. And it all came to fruition in the fullness of time or these last days when Christ was born. The central circumstance of all time is the cross, the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Christ dies on the cross and He rises from the dead and the resurrection happens. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the centerpiece. Prior to that, People were saved the very same way that you and I are saved. We look back in faith on a finished work on the cross. They look forward in faith to what God promised He would do. But it has always been by grace through faith alone. But we live in a period of time the Scripture calls the fullness of the time. And this time will end When, as it says in Romans 11, 25, the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And then the second advent of Christ will happen and the Lord will return. Let's also consider one additional aspect of this phrase and then we'll close. Go with me back to Galatians chapter 1 and notice how the Lord works even in individual lives. It is not only in the scope of the ages, which is the fullness of the time, but also in the sequence of events of an individual. And I want us to consider our own life and our own testimony, how God's timing is always perfect. And He works in our life. Notice with me in Galatians chapter 1, Paul says of himself, you have heard in verse 13, of my former conduct in Judaism, in the law. How I persecuted the church of God beyond measure. I tried to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of the fathers. But when it pleased God, who had separated me from my mother's womb, and He called me through His grace to reveal His Son in me. The fullness of the time in Paul's life was when God brought him to that moment of decision on the Damascus Road and Paul was born again. Everything that happened before that was preparation for that event. And Paul was saved when he was ripe. When the Spirit of God was dealing with him. And that's what happens to us, isn't it? The Spirit of God is at work in our life. Maybe from a childhood we hear the things of God. Maybe it's not until we're an adult, every one of us who knows the Lord can look back on our situation and realize, as he says later in this chapter, it really wasn't us who was seeking God, it was God who was seeking us. And He brought us to that moment when we were born again. You know, you may be here today and you say, that's never been true of me. But maybe the Spirit of God is nudging on your heart today. And He's saying to you, unless a man is born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. And you know you need to be born again. Today is the day of salvation. Don't put it off another moment. Accept Christ as your Lord and as your Savior. Let's close in a word of prayer. Father, we thank You for the opportunity that You have given to us today to come before Your Word and to study it. We thank You for the redemption that You have won for us. in Christ. Father, I pray for that one who may be with us today who has never been born again, who has never been born from above, but they've always operated under bondage to those elementary principles of the world. And they've tried through religion and ritual, rather than with a relationship with Christ, to find themselves in Your favor. Father, I pray that they would release today and rest in Christ. and trust in Him and Him alone. Father, for us who know you, may we thank you. May we be living in gratitude continually for the finished work of Christ upon the cross. We thank you for the Spirit who lives within us, who cries out within us. Abba, Father. I pray that you would bless as we close, that if a decision needs to be made, that that one who is here, that Father there in their seat where they are and then coming and speaking with the deacon afterwards or with myself or Pastor Matt, they would seal that decision for Christ today. We pray in Jesus' name.