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hello and a reminder this is for everyone including visitors you're not so all are welcome after the morning service will have everyone go up to the luncheon hall as quickly as you can about just within a reasonable amount of time so we can enjoy a lunch together a reminder that when you go off the line up on this side go to the back of the wall of our wall and line out there so we don't block that so we don't block the entrance and as much as as possible at second announcement jonathan jones and elise Rempel are engaged so that's exciting news praise God for that they're out there somewhere jonathan jones and elise there they are right there will point them out so congratulations you guys that's exciting news we will definitely keep you in our prayers for that in a date for that no doubt forthcoming lastly Shane Abby we welcome him into the membership this morning so I'd like to call Shane Abby up most of you have probably met Shane but here's Shane and we welcomed into the membership before I officially welcome you I just want to remind the congregation some things that our confession says what our confession speaks to with regards to this of course coming from the Bible we read this in chapter 26 paragraphs five and six with regards to churches and church members in the execution of this power wherewith he is so entrusted that is Christ the Lord Jesus calleth out of the world unto himself through the Ministry of his word by his spirit those that are given unto him by his father that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience which he prescribe a--the to them in his word those thus called he commandeth to walk together in particular societies or churches for their mutual edification and the due performance of that public worship which he require of them in the world the members of these churches are Saints by calling visibly manifesting and evidencing in and buy their profession and walking their obedience unto that call of Christ and do willingly consent to walk together according to the appointment of giving up themselves to the Lord and one to another by the will of god in professed subjection to the ordinances of the gospel and christians become church members that's wherein they find themselves submitting to the ordinances of christ walking in the light of Christ and submitting to the Lord and one to another by the will of God and so we welcome Shane Abby into the membership of free grace baptist church it's been a joy to get to know you and it's a joy to bring another one of Christ Saints into our local fold here will let us go to the Lord in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for this day that you've given to us in this occasion where we can bring another one of your children into the membership of free grace baptist church we do pray that you would blushing as he grows in his walk with Christ might you give him grace to daily walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we do pray Lord God that he would find himself in the midst of this mutual relationship in this his local church and we pray that he would be a blessing to us that we would be a blessing to him and that together all of us would seek to glorify you as a local body we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen well let's begin our worship then please if you could turn in your Bible with me in your Bibles with me to Psalm 97 Psalm 97 is our call to worship this Lord's Day morning the word of the living and true God the Lord reigns let the earth rejoice let the multitude of Isles be glad clouds and darkness surround him righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne a fire goes before him and burns up his enemies round about his lightnings light the world the earth sees and trembles the mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the lord of the whole earth the heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory let all be put to shame who serve carved images who boast of idols worship Him all you gods zion hears and is glad and the daughters of judah rejoice because of your judgment so lord for you lord our most high above all the earth you are exalted far above all gods you who loved the Lord hate evil he preserves the souls of his Saints he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart rejoice in the Lord you righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name amen let's stand together and sing our first him is him number 135 in your larger Trinity hymnal let's stand and sing 135 as a church you you please be seated we'll go to our God in prayer now just one item that we can pray for and praise God for a donk witkowsky surgery went well and he is recovering now so we can pray for dawn and for the quick Koski family let's go to our God in prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we do rejoice now God that we can gather together in this place to sing the praises of our triune God we praise You Father Son and Holy Spirit we do pray that your name would now be hallowed in this gathered assembly we pray that we would rightly give you all on or and give you all praise we pray that this would be the case as well around the world that in your churches your gathered Saints would be rejoicing in their God they would sing the praises of the Lord Jesus Christ and that they would be rejoicing in the glories of the gospel we do pray God that around the world today you would send your spirit to arouse the souls of those who have gathered to worship that they might worship you in spirit and in truth and that you might be the recipient of all honor and praise we thank you Lord for the gospel of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we know that we have not been saved by deeds of righteousness which we have done but rather we've been saved first and last midst and throughout by a triune God who saves without a helper and so we rejoice in this day and the finished and perfect and saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that he came into this world sinners to save and we rejoice and that blessed truth that in the fullness of the times you sent forth your son born of a woman and born under the law that he might redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons we thank you for his perfect life of obedience unto your law in the stead of all those who believe we rejoice in that perfect death upon Calvary's tree we know that that death was not a death of maybe or an atonement of perhaps but lord god it was on that cross that the Lord Jesus Christ infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man number and we thank you that all those who believe in him have the forgiveness of sins by virtue of that perfect work we do thank you Lord God for that victorious resurrection from the dead on the third day we thank you that our Christ arose in power and in great victory over the grave and death and the devil we do pray that you would cause us as well to rejoice in the Ascension we know that he is now at your right hand where he ever lives to make intercession for his people we pray God that you would impress upon your gathered Saints in this place the glories of Christ the riches and the excellencies of our blessed Savior we do pray God that you would help us as we worship we do pray that you would give to the preacher much aid in the pulpit we thank you that the pastor of our celos can be with us him and his wife nan we just thank you that you've watched over them as they've traveled and we thank you that rich can preach to us this morning we do pray that you would give him much strength in this pulpit as we we all know the ministers of your gospel require not their own strength but the strength that the triune God affords his ministers and we do pray that you had bless him richly in this pulpit help him to open up his Bible and to proclaim richly the things of Jesus Christ our Lord and the truth of God we do pray God that the Ministry of the gospel in this place and the worship of God in this place would be done unto the prince of your most high name we do pray that you would edify your gathered Saints and that you would save sinners we would pray God for dawn put Koski we thank you that the surgery went well we thank you that he is recovering now we do pray that you'd continue to help him as he recovers we just pray that you wouldn't it together the various wounds of the physical body and just cause him to know health and to know gains in strength we do pray for the quick cost ski family at large as well with their respective health issues we do just pray that you'd strengthen those Lord and just cause them to to have health just do heal Lord God from on high and in the midst of their physical suffering and might they in the inner man rejoice in their God we do pray for John Proctor and for Don neufeld and for many other Lord many others Lord God stricken with a disease with illness with injury we do pray that you would bless each and every one and cause them to know gains and strength do tend to their bodies Lord and again with all of these brothers and sisters that you would tend to the inner man you would cause them in their spirits to rejoice in the midst of affliction that they might be wholly resigned unto the will of their great God that they might know that the judge of all the earth does right we do pray God that you would strengthen mothers in our midst who are with child all the pregnant lady's Lord we do pray that you'd help them you attend to the babies in their wombs that you would watch over them you would strengthen mother and child we do pray God that in due time these young ones would be brought forth without problem and we do pray Lord God that at a young age each of these precious ones would own our Savior and rejoice in our God we do pray that you would Lord God be with those in the persecuted Church as we pray each and every lord's day and hopefully throughout the week Lord that you would be with our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer persecution for the cause of Christ we do pray that you would help them in those nations where there is such anger and opposition to the things of the gospel even unto physical harm and even unto death we do pray that you'd be with our brothers and sisters this very hour you would strengthen them in the midst of tyranny and opposition and persecution that you would cause them as it were to look away from the madness of those who oppose them and to look with eyes of faith upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and find courage and comfort in our King of Kings we do pray God that you would deal swiftly with those who persecute them we do pray that you would save many who are presently your enemies that those who are opposed those who follow after the madness of false religion who persecute your people we do pray that you would come upon the wings of victorious grace and cause them to turn from their madness and to turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ and we do pray God though as again there will be many who stay in opposition who remain obstinate Lord we do pray that you would take them out of the way that you would deal with them temporarily now and cause them to stumble like drunken men that they may no longer bring harm upon the people of Christ we do pray finally Lord for those who rule over us we pray for kings and all in authority we do pray that you would call them to rule in righteousness equity and justice that you would turn them from the madness of sanctioning such vile sins and sanctioning wickedness and we do pray Lord God again that they would rule they would take their role as those who rule over the people of the earth and that they would rule with proper justice and righteousness we do pray God again that you would now be with us as we seek to continue in worship as we sing as we pray as we engage in that precious act of worship the preaching of your word may we all be attentive may we all be focused might you help that nothing would hinder the listening the hearing the reading and Lord God again give pastor Barcelos much aid in the pulpit and made everything that is done this morning be done Lord God on to the praise of your Most High name we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen let's stand and sing our next him is going to be him number 324 that's him number 324 let's stand and sing that together Oh please be seated in turn in your Bibles for our New Testament scripture reading to the book of Matthew Matthew chapter five as we read consecutively through the New Testament we're now at Matthew 5 will read from verse 12 verse 20 Matthew 5 verse 12 verse 20 once again the word of the living and true God and seeing the multitudes he went up on a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came to him then he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you you are the salt of the earth but if the salt loses its flavor how shall it be seasoned it is then good it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets I did not come to destroy but to fulfill for assuredly I say to you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one two will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven for I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven amen well just two very brief observations when we come to Matthew 5 and the giving of these Beatitudes we don't come to a passage of scripture that gives us prescription on how we might enter Heaven this is not things that sinners must do in order to merit everlasting life but rather Christ comes and he preaches to his disciples that came to him and he proclaims he gives these words to them on what disciples ought to look like and if we read this what we ought to come away with perhaps even greater so is the reality that there is only one who did do these things perfectly and that is the Lord Jesus Christ our blessed Savior who was all of these things without error perfectly perpetually and blessedly we come to this yes as a pattern is how Christians ought to follow blessed are they when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake all of these things the Lord Jesus Christ exemplified in his life and we are to no doubt do likewise never like our master in perfection but always in a manner whereby work informed unto his image but we come here and hopefully we are laid low for a moment and cause and brought for cause to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ who is perfectly our righteousness who is perfectly the blessed one in whom we have all the benefits of our salvation notice as well this is strengthened by the reality of verse 16 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven the good works of course are not an and are not a means whereby we merit everlasting life that would render the finished and perfect work of Christ as empty and worthless as vanity it's Christ who saves us but yet here we have the purpose of good works they are to glorify god they're to adorn the gospel those who have been saved by grace through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone come to a passage like this and we find that our good works are such that they are to be rendered in order that God might be glorified the gospel of Christ might be adorned finally we have the reality that the Lord Jesus Christ as it says clearly in verse 17 did not come to put an end to the moral law the moral law does not cease in its abiding validity with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ but rather he came to fulfill that notice do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets I did not come to destroy but to fulfill no doubt Christ knew that in the minds of his audience you see he's shifting now from the disciples to the greater multitude because the greater multitude those in unbelief the religious leaders and others would have been thinking that he is coming to inaugurate perhaps some sort of new thing that he's come to put an end to the law of God that he's come to put an end to the law of Moses rather Christ in what follows in Matthew 5 unfolds the reality that he came to fulfill it he came to show its doctrinal purity and distress and to preach its doctrinal purity and we see him going to the Ten Commandments and upholding them after he speaks these words we have before us in Matthew 5 our Blessed master teaching his disciples teaching the multitude by extension teaching us and might we rest in the perfection of his saving work and in the Blessed reality that our Christ came into this world to live to die to rise again that many might be brought to glory well let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you before your word we rejoice in your revelation to men we pray that you would cause us now to reflect upon your truth we look forward now to the preaching of your word after this next him we do pray that we would rejoice in your revelation to us we would rejoice in the Christ to whom your revelation points that we would find in him our all in all we do pray God that you would be with Jonathan and Elise as they are engaged now we pray that you would keep them that you would watch over their hearts that you would cause them to look to you daily that they would look forward with great joy to when they're brought together in marital union we do pray that you would just continue to bless them richly we thank you as well for Shane entering into membership we do pray that you would bless him you would bless us as a congregation that you would cause us Lord God to bloor fiu in all that we do and that we would be marked by a spirit wrought unity we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen our final him then before the preaching if you'll stand with me is 446 let's stand and sing 446 together you we welcome Richard barcellos pastor richard Barcelos from grace reformed baptist church of Palmdale California it's always good to be with you and had to clear my throat we pray for your church often and we're very thankful for the financial support that this congregation sends to us very needed every year every fall I text pastor Butler say call me he calls me I said I have to send that dreaded letter again to all my closest friends asking for financial assistance in our church plant he says send it just changed the date and send it it'll be okay it's easier to say that than to send it but I really do appreciate the support that your congregation is given and I've been here several many times over the years since the early 90s my wife's never been here she was able to come for the first time so that's the blessing for me and probably more of a blessing for you than just me coming by myself but it is a delight to be here if you have a Bible and you'd like to turn there will be in Galatians chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 Galatians is in the New Testament right after 2nd Corinthians just about the middle of the New Testament it's one of Paul's letters that the Apostle pinned and inevitable or in effect what happens is this becomes one of those defining letters in the New Testament that makes a clear breach between all of the man-made religions on the earth everything but Christianity and Christianity all man-made religions have at least one thing in common and that would be they are man's attempt to get to God man's attempt to get to God we had the privilege of spending a day over in White Rock and there's a bookstore and typical of beach resort towns the bookstore was basically what i thought it was full of self-help books one of the books there was by a look like an Indian author and it sought to expose the true meaning of Jesus teachings in the gospel basically hidden meanings to how to meditate your way into metaphysical union with God okay so they're they're on vacation trying to get all away from everything I found one of man's attempts to get to God a man-made religion meditation will get you in communion with the divine now I don't want to depreciate a biblical doctrine of meditation especially meditating upon the scriptures but we don't get into the favorable presence of God through meditation it takes much more than that that would be a work that we can do something we can do to get in touch with God biblical create Christianity is not made by man it is God's religion revealed to us and unlike all of manmade religions which have at least one thing in common they all provide ways and means for man to work or obey his way under go into God's favor unlike that Christianity on the other hand turns things upside down it announces to us not only that we cannot work our way into God's favor which is the bad news it announces to us that is biblical Christianity not only are we unable to work our way up to God but in fact God has come down to us to bring us back to him that's what makes Christianity way different God has come down to us to bring us back to him there are many texts in the New Testament especially in the New Testament that kind of encapsulate that teaching in just a few words our text is one of those texts listen to the text i hope to preach galatians chapter 4 verse 4 but when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son see that God has come down to us to bring us back to him God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to or in order that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons this text this morning is what I think I can say this safely the pastor's can correct me if I'm wrong this text is an epitome of what this church is all about announcing to both lost and saved announcing to both unbelievers and believers the acts of god through the mediator our Lord Jesus Christ and the the purpose of those acts the reason for them and the goal of them all those things are I'm sure proclaimed every week in various ways from the lecterns and the pulpit of this church when the fullness of the time came God did something time was right for God to act and he acted he sent his son this text actually has within it many of the of the mysteries of the Christian faith and the glorious teachings of this of Christianity for instance our techs has within its scope the sovereignty of God when the fullness of time came and we'll look at that God acted ok God didn't wait for our permissioned act he acts God axon space and time on the earth and he acts efficiently and he acts sovereignly also in this text is the work of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit you've probably heard of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity before well there are rudiments principles of that very doctrine in our passage God sent his son you've celebrated some form of Christmas probably before which is supposed to be about the Incarnation when God the Son became one of us for us and for our salvation that's in this text we have the Ministry of the Holy Spirit taking the redeeming work of Christ what the mediator what the Sun does for us what God does for us in coming to the earth in order to bring us back to him we have the Spirit of Christ taking what God the Son does for us to the hearts of God's people we have the the plan of redemption we have the the accomplishment of redemption and we have the the application the benefits the fruits of the redeeming work of Christ done for us brought to us it's all in this text in one sense I could preach probably a series of sermons on each heading that we could gather from this passage but if you notice this passage there's actually a simple assertion here and the simple assertion and I want you to get this is this God sent forth his son that's the assertion okay this is an important text I don't know who's here for the first time or just might be a at church for the fur in the you know ten times or so might not have heard a lot of sermons don't know much about the Bible here just to satisfy a friend that called you and invited you and now hopefully they'll they won't call you invite you again there might be people like that here I don't know but this is a big text when the fullness of time came God did something God sent forth his son if there were in our Bible little sound clips and all that stuff as you were reading it this would be one of those texts that it would have at the crash of the symbol the drumroll would get louder and louder and louder because this is very important matter of fact this is why we have a Bible to announce to us that God has done something on the earth not just to create but to repair the creation if we had to put our text in a broader context we'd have to start in Genesis 11 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and most of you I'll assume know that in that creation account God pronounced various things good and Adam and Eve created in his image very good but everything is not very good now because in chapter 3 we are we are told that what that which was good and very good has become stained or polluted with the presence of unrighteousness or sin now the question the riddle that comes up in the first three chapters of the Bible is okay the God who created man and male and female and His image he created him after his own likeness and image he created a male and female he created them very good put them in a wonderful context a paradise a garden what's he going to do now that they they messed up is he just going to let it go and start all over again or what's what's going to happen because there's a there's a riddle is a question mark that should come into the the mind of the perceptive reader ray early in the Bible what is God going to do with this messed-up creation especially his image bearers male and female well I believe that Genesis 3 15 all the way to the end of the book of Revelation tells us what God's going to do he's going to send a seat of a woman somebody's going to come am a male royal seed is going to come from a woman who ends up destroying the works of the devil the Son of God appeared for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the devil that's way over here in first John a book called first John toward the end of the Bible but it picks up what God promised way over here at the beginning of the Bible after the the fall into sin he announced that through a woman was going to come a royal seed that would concur that would win that would repair the damage done by sin but in the fullness when the fullness of time came God sent forth that seed of the woman our Lord Jesus Christ as we'll see so there's a simple assertion here and then there's an elaboration on the simple assertion the simple assertion is God sent forth his son the elaboration would be something like when God sent forth his son that is when the fullness of the time came the second of the threefold elaboration would be how or what in what state or manner God sent forth his son to fold born of a woman born under the law and then third would be why God sent forth his son that would be verse 5 to redeem so that's what our verse looks like it states something and then it kind of elaborates on it and a lot of times in especially Paul Paul's big text like this I would call this one of what appalls big text he does that makes an assertion elaborates upon it now for preaching purposes we're going to look at four things the time when God sent forth his son the fact that God sent forth his son the condition in which God sent forth his son and then the purposes for which God sent for the Sun I think you can see these in the text notice first of all the time when God sent forth his son it's called the fullness of the time but when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son now you can look at this in two ways or understand it in two ways one way to view this would be that God kind of looked and saw and conditions were political conditions were such and and he drew a conclusion and then he saw social conditions among people groups were such and he said yeah he drew a conclusion religious conditions were such and he looked down there he drew a conclusion okay the time's right we're going to act that's one way to view it or the other way to view it which i think is better is that God sent his son in the fullness of time because it was the type of time that he created in order to send his son in and to God was in other words God was on time in sandy his son he had SAT things up in such a way that he would send his son in at the time that he had predetermined and the conditions that were made it ripe for the Sun to come were created by God himself and his sovereign provenance over the world's and the governments of the world so we could say this about God God is on time because God is over time and he sent his son on time because he predetermined the time he would send his son there everything was right the thing that was ripe asst the most you know about the first century was not the ancient Roman Empire I think that plays a factor into it but i think the times were right primarily because the old testament was finished the old testament was a book that started with creation recorded fall and then immediately gave the hope of a seed of a woman and then unfolds that slowly but surely and the old testament stops with your you're waiting for a conclusion there's a lot of there's a lot of open-endedness to the old testament what about this one that's going to that's going to rule the nations what about the blessing of abraham to the nations where is he where is he now well he's promised in the Old and so the world awaits before the coming of Messiah the world awaits his coming and God sends him in the time that he determined we could say it put it this way God's redemptive clock struck midnight right in the first century he had revealed in the Old Testament that his son would come he told us through the prophets and through the sacrificial system that he would come the time was full for Christ to come because it was made so by God so we could put it this way God sent forth his son when he wanted to through whom he wanted to in the condition in he wanted to and for the purposes he wanted to he did it at a time he set and under the conditions he created and for the goal he intended so when I said this is a big text this is a big text remember i also said implied in this text is God is sovereign over space and time on the earth God preserves God not only brings that which is into existence God sustains it and God directs it to its intended ultimate intended goal everything does have a purpose but God didn't just it's not the wind up thing and he watches it and goes oh and then when it's you know that the little toy stops walking because he needs to be wound up again then God intervenes it's the whole thing God makes it God sustains it God directs it and because of this this eruption this confusion because of this distortion because of this disintegration that happened by the entrance of sin God takes it upon himself to do something about it he sends his son this is a big this is a big text notice secondly the fact that God sent forth his son some of you read the New Testament especially the New Testament enough to know that you probably heard it from pastor Butler quite often in Paul when he's talking about this the plan of salvation and he says God in Trinitarian language he's talking about God the Father so this is the father sending the Sun he he it says here God sent forth a very unique word with a very mind-boggling concept that the Sun is uniquely related to the Father eternally you say well what's an eternal relationship like I can just tell you what it's like I can't illustrate it well that's not very helpful well I'm a creature I'm not eternal sorry you know your pastor can't Illustrated either he's a finite beam as well this is a very unique word this eternal relationship between father and son and notice also the fact that God sent forth his son he didn't send him to become a son he sent him as son this is the pre incarnate divine sonship of the mediator between God and man he is sent he was not sent to become God's Son he was sent from the heart of God as God's unique son he's the only Son in that sense of the Father the eternally begotten begotten of the Father noticed thirdly the condition in which God sent forth his son here's what our text says when the fullness of time came had come that's the timing of this here's the fact of the sending God sent forth his son here's the condition it's twofold born of a woman remember this son existed as the Divine Son of God but now as in this sending he's becoming what he was not okay so he assumes our nature born of a woman now look at the next thing he assumes our duties to the state or condition in which the Sun is sent is he assumes our nature remember I said Christianity is totally unlike all the religions of the world all the religions in the world try to give you mechanisms and means and ways whereby you can exalt yourself get yourself up to God but Christianity turns things upside down and says things are so bad God had to come down become one of us assume our nature body and soul assume our duties in order that he might bring us back to communion with God this is the gospel this is the good news you can get to glory you can get to heaven you can get to you can cross the Jordan and go into the land of promise those of you that we're at the Sunday School get there what I'm saying here you can do that but not on your own merits you don't just pull up the bootstraps and get better and go to church more often bite the bullet and hope that you know hope I get enough God became one of us in the person of this mediator God sent forth his son assuming our nature body and soul why did you have to do that that's it that's a question of the ages why must God become man well I'll seek to answer that in a second but this being born of a woman refers to his humanity the sun's assumption of human nature body and soul he was born of a woman here and we know from reading the rest of the Bible this is a conquering see to the woman this is a royal see to the woman this is somebody who ends up conquering God's enemies and God's people's enemies and ends up bringing not just God's people believers but ends up bringing the creation itself to glory this is a huge purse this is a huge event here one man says the sun's going out from God God sent forth his son the sun's going out from God on his mission is seen in his becoming man he did not cease to be the son of God when he became man he did not drop his deity which is an impossible thought he remained what he was and added what he had not had namely a human nature derived out of woman a human mother he became the god man this is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is like what he became the god man he never ceased being what he always was and ever shall be and yet he assumed a human knit why in the world would he assume why would he become one of us well as ancient Creed says for us and for our salvation our need is such that we must have this divine mediator that go-between between God and man the creature is so messed up because of sin it takes Almighty God becoming one of us to repair us to restore us to bring us to glory why must the Son of God assume human nature because he came on a rescue mission that human nature in its current state could not and would not repair itself we're so bad off we need the Son of God to become one of us for us and for our salvation he came on a rescue mission he came and assumed our nature that he might do something as a man for sinful men the this the you know Christmas ought to tell you at least this much okay if this is God the Son becoming man then I must be a pretty bad I must be pretty bad off I must be a son I must be such in such a state as a sinner that I can't possibly do anything about it if this incarnation is necessary for the salvation of sinners then I must be a pretty bad center or at least my guilt might must be such that I and my pollution my messed up here's a word my messed up this I'm so messed up I can't fix myself I can go to white rock and get all those books and read them and try that stuff but it's not going to it's not going to repair me it assumes i don't need repair it assumes all i need is meditation that there's nothing wrong between me and heaven but this text and the entirety of the bible from the fall into sin all the way to the end of revelation from Genesis 3 all the way to the inner revelation it assumes we're all messed up and that we need to be repaired older writers used to call the Incarnation God's mechanism through which the reparation of human nature occurs God loved his nature God loved his image in human nature so much that he became one of us in order that he might restore it and bring it and us with him to glory so he assumes our nature he assumes our nature body and soul in order that he might assume our duties okay he just the Sun doesn't assume human nature just to relate now God can relate to us because he became one of us know God related to creatures prior to the Incarnation God was God and we were his creatures if we live prior to the Incarnation prior to the Incarnation he became one of us in order that he might assume our duties that's why the i said this two or three times i'll say it again the old Creed's for us for our salvation the incarnation was for the purpose of the Sun assuming human nature that he might do something in human nature that had not been done before and could not be done otherwise he was born under the law he was born under its precepts because he was a man remember our Lord Jesus Christ is also called the last or second Adam the last atom which implies there was a first Adam and the first Adam according to the Bible was a public person a public person is somebody who represents others he's a representative of others Adam the first represented the entire human race Adam last our Lord Jesus Christ represents the entire human race that believes here is born under the law he was under its precepts he was a man but also he was under its penalty did you know that our Lord was born under the precepts of the law and under the penalty of the law you know why not because he sinned but because he was a public person he was representing others so that he assumed our nature in order that he might fulfill our duties on our duty to the law of God is is twofold number one we owe perfect entire exact obedience 24-7 to law of God all of our life number two if we violate it which we have we owe the law of God the satisfaction of being judged so our text is a drumroll text that says at the point in time that God had fixed the Incarnation occurred the Incarnation occurred the Sun assuming human nature that he might assume human duties and human liabilities as well you know what our liability is to the law of God punishment but we're guilty guilt quite often an our day guilt is when you feel yucky no I feel yucky inside but the guilt that we're talking about here is not just feeling yucky because you know a lot of people deny that they're guilty before God so it's not just feeling yucky it is being liable to punishment see the difference one is subjective well I don't feel that way and the other is a statement of fact it doesn't matter what you feel like what matters is what's real God has a law you violated you are guilty you are liable to punishment he assumed our liabilities he was punished for us on the tree notice last the purposes for which God sent forth his son I say purposes because you can see one you can see two of them here to redeem those who are under the law why did he assume our nature why did he assume our duties our privileges are liabilities our responsibilities to redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as son so we have this Redemption whatever that means and we have this adoption as sons whatever that means that's why I said the purposes for which God sent forth his son to redeem those who were under the law to redeem means to buy to buy back or purchase sometimes the Bible would have us envision men and women being slaves to sin and in the slave market of sin and and gods son becomes a man assumes our nature assumes our duties that he might purchase for himself a people zealous for his own for zealous for good deeds friend for instance it means to rescue means to deliver that the assumption here is that men and women boys and girls are in trouble because if the Son of God has to become man for us and for our salvation in order to redeem that means something's wrong with us something's way wrong and we can't redeem ourselves why does he have to redeem us because we were under the law and unable to meet its demands and justly liable to punishment notice the objects of this redeeming work to redeem those who are under the law he redeems those under the law were responsible to God to render perfect obedience to the law and we are responsible to God to render perfect satisfaction to his justice when his laws broken hear the words of romans 319 now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God in other words God's law condemns all because all have sinned we're all guilty which means justly liable to punishment god's son comes to free those from the guilt and condemnation that their sins have brought upon them and to render them render for them perfect obedience to its precepts he's starting to see why the Incarnation is such a big deal it is the divine means through which our guilt our just liability to punishment is taken care of by another public person a son of God a sinless son of God who represents others the first sinless son of God who represented others was Adam the first but he failed so what we don't need is we don't need to be put back in the garden we need another atom and that's exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ is a sinless son of God who represents others who is punished not because of his own personal sins but because he's a public person he represents others he takes our guilt are just liability to punishment and he satisfies the Justice of God but there's something else he does for us do his whole life was a life unto death obedience we need obedience we can make all the resolves we want but it doesn't clear up the past and we should know ourselves well enough now that resolves are good but resolves with all the ump in the world you might have do not create perfect sinless spotless obedience in the presence of God but notice not only to redeem to buy back to purchase for himself but also says as a result of this Redemption that we might receive the adoption as sons this is a very very interesting word hear this word for to receive the that we might receive the adoption as sons could be translated to receive back something that was messed up which I think that's the concept here we are created in God's image and fallen alienated sons of God and what Christ Jesus does is Christ Jesus restores us back to a sonship with unique privileges adoption involves being brought into a state of liberty in this case our sins are forgiven and we're not under the curse of the law and the state of dignity that is where heirs of promise errors of a great and incredible inheritance so our Lord Jesus Christ restores fallen sinners into a proper relationship with God by virtue of being becoming one of us for us and for our salvation assuming our nature he assumes our duties both our responsibilities and our liabilities exhaust the wrath of God he upholds the law of God he does that not for himself but he doesn't on behalf of others he's rewarded by his father by in virtue of his obedience he's rewarded with glory or his resurrection and he's not stingy the benefits of all that that he did on behalf of others he now has the power to give to others that's why I said at the beginning and I said it in the middle all of man's religions have some way or other or another for us to get there Christianity is the only one that assumes you think too highly of yourselves it's way worse than you realize we're so bad off in our sins we can't do anything to cleanse the past to ensure righteousness in the future let alone to ensure righteousness for a millisecond in the present it's it's worse than we can imagine it's so bad that if if sons are going to go to glory the Son of God must become one of us for us and for our salvation that's exactly what he's done so the exact thing that we need is the exact thing that God has given us a last Adam another atom that comes and doesn't fail like the first Adam who fell short of glory this one doesn't fall short of glory he obeys unto glory and he gives that glory to others well I was not what time do you finish 1215-1230 1240 I'm hungry 1215 or before I I think your pastor probably does this everyone so well after he explains the passage he probably stands back and said let's draw some conclusions or applications or observations from what we've said so far so I wanted to do that very quickly here first of all God is sovereign over space time in history and we should tremble at that God is sovereign over space time in history but when the fullness of the time had come God brings time to its appointed in time is god's servant God moves time along according to His purposes to fulfill his will and all for his glory we could look at the time before this time when God sent forth his son as time that was preparatory for this time matter of fact we should since the fall into sin all that time until the incarnation was time preparing us for the Incarnation you know why we have a Bible we don't have a Bible because God's a creator of heavens and the earth we have a Bible because God is the Redeemer of sinful min and God in His sovereignty sets the world up for the Incarnation through the promises the promise of the skull-crushing seed of the woman in Genesis 3 15 through the promises given to Abraham through Israel's worship and and some of the offices the prophets priests and Kings he sets the world up for this time God is sovereign over space time in history second gods son became what he was not I remember the one of the first times I read that statement which by the way I thought John Murray came up with it because I read John Murray and then when I read it and Bob Inc I thought wow bobbing came up with that and then when you read it in John oh and you go whoa John Owen came up with that and then you start reading older people and you realize this is pretty old he became what he was not why did they keep saying that the great theologians of the Christian Church he became what he is not and they make a big deal about it because great is the mystery of godliness that's the Incarnation passage in first Timothy chapter 3 because this is important God God's Son became when he was not he was always and forever shall be God's eternal son but he was not always the man Christ Jesus this he became for sinners like us he came to live he came to die he came to rise on our behalf and in her glory as our 4runner third God's Son perfectly satisfied the demands of God's law he he became born of a woman born under the law in order that he might get something okay so he perfectly satisfied the demands of God's law and he got something what did he get he got us believers that is isn't that amazing he gets us what does he want us for you know why we're creatures fallen the Lord loves all the works of his hands and he has a peculiar love for his people in in him 439 we seeing this God's Son perfectly satisfied the demands of God's law he satisfies its precepts what it requires up of us he satisfied its penalties what it requires of us in light of our not keeping its requirements and listen to four thirty nine verses 1 and 2 Jesus thy blood and righteousness my beauty are my glorious dress midst flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head thy blood and righteousness is death and his life bold shall I stand in thy great day for who ought to my charge shall lay fully absolved did you hear that fully absorbed through these I am through what how can I be fully absolved in the presence in the special presence of Almighty God fully absorbed through these through what well Jesus thy blood and righteousness if it could be any other way why in the world would there be a thing called incarnation since it can't be then we know this is this is amazing fully absorbed through these i am from sin and fear from guilt and shame God's Son perfectly satisfied the demands of God's law so everybody believes in the son shall see life why because the life they shall see is all is a gift given to sinners by virtue of the sons obedience on our behalf see how important it is to believe the gospel so forth God son died to redeem of people for himself this means total rescue this means comprehensive deliverance this means eternal emancipation not only from sins power are we delivered but our son god son died to redeem a people for himself who will ultimately delivered from sins presence you know a lot of people say well I'm a visual learner give me an illustration I can't illustrate living apart from sins presence for you because believe me I never have but I will but I won't because of my personal oomph but I will based on the Rudd and righteousness of Christ and everyone that hears my voice can based on the blood and righteousness of Christ but you can't based on your own efforts when the Bible speaks of redemption it speaks ultimately of being emancipated from the slavery of sin sins power and sins polluting presence and when it talks about this Redemption ultimately it's referring to renovated bodies and souls in a renovated new heavens and new earth blameless with Jude 24 says blameless with great joy I was giving the Sunday School lecture and said I know if you're a believer you know what joy is that that quiet happiness of soul that things are right with you and God through Christ and your content in that even though you know the waves crash against you we know a joy is and we might have expressed experience a little joy by singing the truths of God and hearing other people seeing them and how the Spirit of God takes the truth song and ministers it to our soul you might have experienced that joy here but what is great joy this is great joy without fault without blemish we know what joy with fault and blemishes but we don't know what joy without fault and without blemish is that's for the future that's the that's what God son has in store for those who come to him and believe upon him he has a great incredible inheritance to just to bestow on all believers in this life Paul tells us elsewhere and elsewhere in the Bible we get a down payment we get a taste we get a foretaste of glory as it were the Spirit of Christ brings us the glories of the age to come in little slices in this life but a down payment is just a small part of what of the whole Christ has the whole to give to all his people someday those redeemed by Christ will know no sin no sorrow and only no pure and unadulterated bliss unbroken communion with God in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells only righteousness god's son has an incredible inheritance to bestow on God's children in one sense we can say I has not seen neither has ear heard all that the Lord has in store for those who love him so if you're a believer thank God if you aren't too believer become one believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and you'll get a wonderful inheritance and you'll get grace sustaining you through all of life's trials now so you can bring glory to God and hopefully others will see that and be interested in hearing the gospel and then you get the intermediate state where absent from the body and present with the Lord and then you get the glorified state where the Son of God when he comes back again according to the power that he has that he is exerted in the creation of all things and the sustaining of all things divine power he's going to exert that upon your messed up bodies and bring your renovated souls back in your bodies and renew everything and the creation at the same time and we're forever going to be there you get you get a lot when you come to Christ you get everything you need for glory let's pray father we thank you for your word we pray your blessings on that which was spoken that which is an accurate reflection of your intention in the words of Holy Scripture we pray that you would encourage and strengthen your people and you would bring lost people to your son for cleansing and grace and salvation we pray this in Jesus name amen why don't we stand and sing number seven in the Trinity hymnal him number seven I said the Lord our God the God of Israel refill on and soul me oh oh man now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen will please be seated you