Good evening everyone. You can turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3. Our focus will be on Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5.
We're going to read beginning in verse 26 of Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3 beginning in verse 26. And we'll read to chapter 4 verse 9. So once again this is Galatians 3 beginning at verse 26.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free.
There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the 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.
But then indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not God's. But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage? Amen. Well, let's open in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the Scriptures. We thank you for the book of Galatians disclosing the glories of Jesus Christ, disclosing the blessed truth of justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. And we do pray that you would help us again by your Spirit to be illuminated in the Scriptures and in your truth. And we pray that we would leave this place singing the praises of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we pray that you would do that mighty act of salvation in our midst tonight. And you would do that mighty act of free and victorious grace and bringing sinners from the darkness of sin to life and light in Christ Jesus. And that you would, by spirit and word, edify the saints. We pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Introduction: Galatians in Context
Well, maybe just to refresh our minds with regards to the book of Galatians, the grander central truth that Paul brings out with respect to the book is seen probably in Galatians 2.16. There we read, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." So there was a big problem, though, in the Galatian churches, and we see that brought out by the Apostle Paul in many places in the book, but first in Galatians 1.6. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Prior to the section that we read in Galatians 3, at verse 3 we read this, Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
And so we see the cause of the problem, this problem of them turning away from the gospel of grace. We see the cause of this problem in Galatians 1, 7, where we read this. And this is just to bring us to the point or to our focus this evening. But notice the cause of this problem in Galatians 1, 7.
Speaking of this different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. And then in Galatians 6.11, see with what large letters I have written to you, with my own hand, as many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. And the implications then of turning from the gospel of Christ and following after these who would seek to distort and pervert the gospel, the implication then are seen, and it's twofold, the implications for this problem in Galatia. And the implications first concern the saving work of Christ.
Galatians 2.21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. And then the implication for the one professing faith in Christ Jesus, Galatians 5.3, and I testify again, to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor, to keep the whole law. And so when we are in Galatians 3 and Galatians 4, the section that we read, we find it laid out this way. We see the outline of Galatians 3, 26 to 4, 7, or 4, 9 rather, In Galatians 3, 26 to 29, we see the reality and character of Christian sonship.
What is it to be a son of God? Well, it is to have faith in Christ Jesus, the Lord. We see in Galatians 4, 1 to 5, the explanation and origin of Christian sonship. It comes by the perfect work of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see in 6 and 7, the implications and privileges of Christian sonship, and then the folly of abandoning Christian sonship in verses 8 and 9. But finally, then getting to verses 4 and 5, what we have the Apostle Paul doing is we have him setting forth the doctrine of the incarnation and the purpose of the incarnation as that which is to be a corrective against the Galatians and those who were perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we'll look at verses four and five. With that in the back of our minds is that it is a Pauline corrective issued in order to counter the erroneous and heretical doctrines of those perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So let's read verses four and five again, and then we'll get into our meditation this evening. Verses four and five of Galatians 4, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. It's another one of those sections of Scripture where we have encapsulated the Christian message. And there are many of these in our Bibles, John 3, 16, Philippians 2, 5 to 11.
We have many others in the scriptures where we have the message of Christianity encapsulated. And so this encapsulated message delivered by Paul, we'll consider under four headings.
The Timing of the Incarnation
First, the timing of the incarnation. Secondly, the triune glory of the incarnation. Thirdly, the humility of the incarnation. And then fourthly, the purpose of the Incarnation, and the verses laid out, the two verses are laid out very nicely, if you will, by the Holy Spirit through Paul for us to examine Paul's disclosure.
First off, the timing of the Incarnation, notice what we read, but when the fullness of the time had come, but when the fullness of the time had come. And this is to link with or this does link with the simile or the comparison brought out by the Apostle Paul in verse two. Notice with regards to the child, he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. So this fullness of the times in verse four means or it carries the weight of the time appointed by the father. just like in this earthly reality where a child who does not differ at all from a slave for a time, though he is master of all, just like that time expires or comes to an end by the appointment of the Father, so too here, with respect to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, there was a time appointed by the Father.
And we can consider this and look at it from a number of legitimate vantage points. First, this timing of the Incarnation is
Agreed Upon in Eternal Covenant
the time agreed upon between the Father and the Son from all eternity. Let the saint of Christ never tire to rehearse this most certain truth, that before the foundation of the earth, God the Father and God the Son collaborated to save a multitude of sinners by Jesus Christ unto the praise of the grace of the triune God. Before creation, before the triune God set in orbit the galaxies of the universe, before he set out the stars throughout the expanse of creation, they communed, they purposed, they covenanted. to save a multitude of sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a time agreed upon between the Father and the Son from all eternity.
This is what we have before us in the fullness of the times, a time appointed. You see, we do not have in our triune God a God of plan B, a God of plan C, D, E, and F. We don't have a God who set out to do something, this plan failed, And so he had to inaugurate and erect a new plan. That plan failed.
And so he had to do that until something stuck in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't serve such a pagan conception. We don't serve such a pagan deity. But rather the God who before the foundation of the world had a plan A, one singular plan, to bring glory to himself by the salvation of a multitude that no man can number by Jesus Christ, the second of the blessed triune.
And so we have the time agreed upon by the Father and the Son. And the Scriptures bring this doctrine out in many places. And if you will, you can follow with me to a few places in Scripture where we do see this. In Titus 1, remember last Lord's Day when we read Titus 1 in our New Testament Scripture reading, we noted that before Paul even writes to Titus, a true son in our common faith, he brings out some language that speaks to this time agreed upon between the Father and the Son from all eternity.
Notice Titus 1, beginning in verse 1, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgement of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." Now, before we get on to the next verse, notice what we have here, before time began, there was a divine purpose in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the hope of eternal life. And then notice here the language of our text, very close to it at least, verse 3, but has in due time manifested His Word through preaching. When the fullness of the times had come, God sent forth His Son. Notice also in Ephesians 1, Here we have a number of verses, in fact, that speak to this reality.
And then in verse 10, we have the same language as Galatians 4.4. But even before we get to Ephesians 1.10, we have this idea of this time agreed upon between the Father and the Son from all eternity in verse 4. But notice beginning in verse 3, because there begins the doxology. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
We have that certain reality that there was a plan centered around the Lord Jesus Christ before creation that He would come in due time and save all those who were given to Him by His Father. And so we have this time agreed upon between the Father and the Son from all eternity. But notice verse 10, if you're still in Ephesians 1, we have the same language as Galatians 4.4, by the same author. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, we read that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.
So there was to be a completion of days, a wrapping up of a time, and it was a fixed time set by God that a certain number of events and things leading up to the Lord Jesus Christ's first coming would occur, would take place. And then the promised Messiah, the promised Savior of men would come to deliver sinners from their sins. So again, the time agreed upon by the Father and the Son from all eternity. And secondly, we see with regards to the timing of the Incarnation,
Sought Out by the Prophets
the time that was diligently searched out by the prophets. You see, we have an intimate connection between this from-eternity plan and then the after-eternity, if you will, or the after-creation proclamation of the prophets of the Spirit of Christ, delivering the message of a coming Messiah who would suffer and who would be risen to glory. Turn to 1 Peter with me for a moment, because we have, yes, the time agreed upon by the Father and the Son from all eternity, And then we have the time that was diligently sought out by the prophets. And in first Peter one, we have a wonderful set of words that disclose this most certain truth.
You see, the prophets, as you're turning there, the prophets of the Old Covenant were not ignorant with respect to what they were proclaiming. They weren't writing and penning things without knowing that this was the writings concerning a coming Messiah. They had, if you will, Messianic consciousness. As they're writing, they knew that there was the Spirit of Christ within them, communicating the sufferings of this coming Christ and the glories that would follow.
Notice 1 Peter 1, beginning in verse 10, speaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Peter writes, Of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand. the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. So the fullness of the times had come speaks to this reality, the timing that the prophets by the spirit of Christ diligently sought after searching water. What manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
And with respect to timing, we may even have in view what Gil notes is specifically the prophecy of Daniel with regards to the completion of days or the completion of the 70 weeks as prophesied in Daniel chapter 9. Remember what we read there, 70 weeks are determined for your people or for my people. and for the Holy City to bring in everlasting righteousness, to put an end to sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. We have those 70 weeks of years brought to an end by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the fullness of the times had come. And so this is, if we were to wrap this up, it is the time appointed by the Father.
And as always, when we consider a time appointed by the Father, it is always attended with providential perfection in bringing to bear the reality of what was prophesied or what was planned. Listen to the words of Robert Raymond with regards to the language of the fullness of the times. And I believe what he is doing after reading the old Scott John Eady is he's basically paraphrasing John Eady. John Eady, for example, says the fullness of the time was also the fittest time in the world's history.
Raymond exegeting him if you will says when the fullness of the time had come that is to say at God's appointed time when the Jewish Diaspora had spread throughout the Roman Empire and the Old Testament had been translated into Greek Opening the eyes of the Greek world to its theological power and beauty when the Pax Romana extended over most of the known world with great roads and the Greek language linking the Empire of the Caesars and and making travel and commerce possible on a scale formerly impossible. When Greek philosophical thought had atrophied into skepticism, offering no hope in human wisdom to improve the ancient world, when the so-called civilized world, as a result, had sunk so low morally that even pagans were crying out for relief from the rampant immorality all around them. In keeping with the Old Testament promises, prophecies, sacrifices, and other types and ordinances All four signifying Christ to come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, as the Messiah and mediator of the covenant of grace." See, that's a glorious summary of those providential elements that were in place before those who cast their eyes upon a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, laying in a manger, and before those who cast their eyes upon this Christ as He grew in wisdom and prominence in the land. And as he would ultimately carry out his life, his mission and commission that the father gave him to save his people from their sins.
We see all of these glorious providential elements appointment by the father being brought to bear coming together so that Christ, the mediator of the covenant of grace could do his work of perfect redemption.
The Triune Glory of the Incarnation
So we have the timing of the incarnation and if you're not there, You can find your way back to Galatians 4, because now we see the triune glory of the Incarnation. The triune glory of the Incarnation, again rereading the verse, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son. We have in the Christian gospel, we have in the Christian message, the triune God at work in the salvation of sinners. Here we read in verse four, God sent forth his son.
And then later we have God in verse six has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father. You see what we have conspicuously in the scriptures is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, from first to last, midst and throughout, working out the salvation of sinners without a helper. And here in Galatians 4, 4 and 5, we have nothing different. The triune God at work.
The Father sends both Son and Spirit. And we can note here that there is a revelation of God or the revelation of God in His nature and in His being is manifest in the redemptive works of God. God sends forth His Son, a reflection, if you will, of the reality that the relationship between the Father and the Son in this divine and infinite being that is God is such that the Father eternally generates the Son. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father.
And here we have, in time and in history, that being brought to bear with respect to redemption. The Father sends both Son and Spirit. God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. You see, when we scan the religion of Christianity, we see something that no other religion has.
And that is absolutely an amazing thing for the believer to cast his eyes upon and consider. You see, no man could conceive of a deity that is triune. Our confession puts it this way, if I'm able to remember the language properly. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the Son, or Word, and the Holy Ghost.
All of them are equal in substance, power, and eternity, all having the same essence, and yet the essence undivided. You see, we couldn't conceive of this triune God where Father, Son and Holy Spirit share the essence, the essence undivided and are in perfect harmony and condescend to disclose to men a perfect plan of redemption. wrought by the Son, applied by the Spirit, purposed by the Father. It is a glorious thing, the triune glory of the Incarnation. We should note that what we have here in the language, God sent forth His Son, is the pre-existence of the Son before creation and before the incarnation.
You see, there are those that would deny that, that do deny that. The pre-existence of the Son of God prior to the incarnation was just a concept. It was just an ideal or a plan in the mind of God that comes to fruition and is manifested in the flesh. in time and in history. No, we have Jesus Christ or we have the Son of God pre-existing, pre-incarnate before the world was.
It is not just a concept or an idea or a plan in the mind of God, but rather here in the Sonship of Christ we find the pre-existence of the Son and God the Father sending forth the Son in the fullness of the times to come and do that act of redemption. John Gill speaking on the sending of the Son, not out of disrespect to Him, but love to us, God sending forth the Son. nor without His consent or against His will, He readily and heartily agreeing to it. Nor does it imply any local motion or change of place, but only designs the assumption of human nature." Now, pay attention as I reread that and continue. Because our ideas, the things that we believe concerning God and Christ are absolutely so vital.
I'm going to reread this for a moment here, but this language, as you hear it, consider what it means with respect to Christ, His deity, and His humanity. Nor does it imply any local motion or change of place, but only designs the assumption of human nature. Nor does it suppose any superiority and inferiority. For though Christ as man, and in His office capacity as mediator, is inferior to the Father, yet not as to His divine nature or as the Son of God.
But it suggests that He existed before He was sent, and that as a person, and as a distinct person from the Father. Otherwise, He could not, with any propriety, be said to be sent by Him. and also that there was an entire harmony and agreement between them in this matter. The father agreed to send his son and the son agreed to be sent, and that as to his taking upon him the office of mediator and his assumption of human nature in order to obtain eternal redemption. All this was not of himself, but done in concert with his father, from whom as mediator he had his mission and commission.
In the fullness of the times, God sent forth His Son. And in a moment, in a few minutes, we'll look at the purpose of the incarnation, but I know that you all know what the purpose of the incarnation is. Is it not a mighty act of the highest condescension for God to send forth His Son, born of a woman and born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might have the adoption as sons, deity, taking on humanity for the salvation of those who are guilty, wretched, and vile. We have the pre-existence of the Son, and when we read the Son of God, or when we read God sent forth His Son, we know, of course, if it hasn't been obvious already, that this is not the Son with respect to any creation.
God the Father did not create the Son and send him. It is not Son with regards to creation. It's not Son, as we might call Adam, the Son of God. In fact, Adam is called the Son of God in the Scriptures.
This is not, though Christ, the Son of God as Adam was, nor as we are, the saints of Christ. He is not the Son of God with regards to that, but rather he is the Son of God by virtue of the Father begetting Him from all eternity within the blessed eternality of the triune Godhead. The Son of God is sent forth by God the Father to be the Redeemer of man." And just before we move to the humility of the Incarnation And bear with me here, because this is absolutely vital to grasp in our era of doctrinal decline. But under the triune glory of the Incarnation,
Divinity Maintained in the Assumption
we have the unwavering maintenance of divinity with the assumption of human nature. What do we mean by that? Well, we mean that when God the Son came from heaven in the incarnation. He did not, as Gil puts forth, have a change of local motion.
It wasn't a change of location. It wasn't a change of place. He did not leave heaven, you know, with regards to his spatial location and come into earth. but rather he maintained his full deity, filling the heavens and the earth, and he came nevertheless born of a woman, born under the law, being found in a feed trough outside Bethlehem." We have this most certain reality, the unwavering maintenance of divinity with the assumption of human nature. Listen to Cyril. with regards to this.
And this is to, if the language doesn't land every single word, the concepts that I'm reading don't land every single word, let this land, that the incarnation of Jesus Christ is absolutely flabbergasting. It's absolutely amazing. It is absolutely astonishing. Because we do not have some sort of Greco-Roman pagan notion of a condescending deity who leaves physically the, you know, resting upon clouds with his bare feet, you know, laurel leaves or whatever in his hair. and coming down and being found among men, doing the things that men do.
But rather, we have God who fills the heavens and the earth, who condescends, not leaving a place, but assuming human nature, becoming the Redeemer of man. Notice what Cyril says here with regards to this idea. The eternal Word, that is Christ, subjected Himself to birth for us, and came forth man from a woman, without casting off that which He was. Although He assumed flesh and blood, He remained what He was, God in essence and in truth.
For although visible in a child in swaddling clothes, and even in the bosom of His virgin mother, He filled all creation as God, and was a fellow ruler with Him who begat Him. For the Godhead is without quantity and dimension, and cannot have limits." The marvel of the Incarnation. We have a God not who departs heaven, leaves it, and comes to earth, but rather a God who can be said to have left heaven and came to earth, nevertheless all the while upholding all things by the Word of His power, nevertheless filling the heavens and the earth, and yet still taking on human nature, coming, being born of the Virgin Mary, and being born under the Law.
The Humility of the Incarnation
We have thirdly then, moving on, we've seen the timing of the Incarnation, the triune glory of the Incarnation, now we have the humility of the incarnation. And we read the verse again to find this. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. In those two phrases, born of a woman and born under the law, we have the humility of the incarnation.
We'll take these two things separately.
Born of a Woman: Genuine Humanity
Born of a woman, It may very well be the case that the Holy Spirit intends by this language to bring out the fatherless reality of the birth of Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin. He was born of a woman, that would be fine to hold to, and no doubt that is true. But I would hold with John Eady, who says, while the previous clause, God sent forth his son, assumes his pre-existence, this, born of a woman, asserts his genuine humanity.
There's two cardinal truths with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God Most High, he is fully God, and he is fully man. So if this phrase, God sent forth His Son, asserts His pre-existence as God, then this phrase, born of a woman, asserts His true humanity, His genuine humanity. And we would note first that born of a woman is there to communicate Christ's genuine humanity.
He took on the form of a bondservant. This was necessary were the sons of Adam to be redeemed. Since by one man's sin disobedience came to all men, we needed one man's perfect obedience to redeem us from the curse of that original disobedience. God must become man in order to redeem men from their sins.
We see here in Born of a Woman, Christ's genuine humanity. And you might be asking yourself, or you might be saying to yourself, well why does this matter? Well first it matters if we are to profess the true and proper religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the things that you'll find in the creeds of the early church, specific in the Athanasian Creed, is that he says, for one to be part of the Catholic Church, and that just means the universal Church, not the Roman Catholic Church, but for one to be part of the true Church, the Christian Church, they must confess, and then he'll list certain things.
Well, one of the things that he lists is the full deity of Christ, and the full humanity of Christ. You see, Christ did not come and feign humanity. He did not fake humanity. He did not come and manifest himself as a man, but really a specter or a spirit.
But rather, he did come and he was most certainly born of a woman. This language communicates Christ's genuine humanity. And it also, secondly, shows the fulfillment of prophecy. What was the promise?
What was the very first promise of this Savior who would come, but that he would be the hero born of woman who would crush the serpent with his heel? They were to look for, the faithful were to look for, one who was born of a woman. And so Paul rightly, and with great theological acumen, brings forth this language in order to set forth this as the fulfillment of prophecy. Genesis 3.15, the hero born of woman would crush the serpent with his heel, to paraphrase.
We also have the fulfillment of Isaiah 7.14, the virgin shall be with child and his name shall be called Emmanuel. which is translated Matthew provides for us God with us to show the fulfillment of prophecy born of a woman
Born Under the Law: Subject to Its Claims
we have born under the law So this humility of the incarnation is seen first in the fact that Christ is born of a woman and secondly that he's born under the law. If you read the commentators, you'll see some disagreements on if that means made under the law or if that means subject to the law. I think the first is primary and the second is assumed. John Eady says that it more than likely means that he is a Jew by birth. and as such was subject to the law.
Christ, he says, was not only born a man, But he was born a Jew, one of the seed of Abraham. He was a member of the Hebrew Commonwealth by birth, and by the fact of that birth was under the law, so that he was circumcised, presented in the temple by Mary, and baptized by John. And he worshiped in the synagogue, kept the Sabbath, regarded ceremonial distinctions, observed the great feasts, and paid the tax of the half shekel. The apostle does not mean that after becoming man he did, by a distinct and additional voluntary act placed himself under the law, but that by his very birth he became subject to the law whose claims upon him he willingly allowed.
You see, what's going on here in Galatia is that these Galatians are being fooled in order to possibly go back to these beggarly elements of Mosaic ceremonial law. You see, it's very, very intimately close to the problem with the Hebrew Christians that Paul writes to in the book of Hebrews. You see, they were being tempted to go back to The temple in the book of Hebrews, they were being tempted. to go back to the first principles of Christ rather than stick to the hope that was laid before them, the finished and sure work of the Savior. These here in Galatia are being tempted to add to their faith in Christ circumcision and adherence to the Mosaic Articles.
And Paul wants them to know that it is in Christ alone that we have our salvation, our redemption. It is in Christ alone who fulfilled the law for us. that we have our acceptance before the Lord God Almighty. Notice what we have in Galatians 4 and verse 9. But now after you have known God or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage?
You see, these Jewish Christians had come out of that system of yoke and bondage, adherence to the ceremonial law and all of those elements of mosaic religion. Christ had brought an end to that, rendering His perfect work and the sacrifice of Himself as acceptable alone before God, but these were being tempted to go back to such a thing. Notice the similar language in the book of Hebrews. and keep our fingers active, moving around in our Bible to keep us awake until we can get out of here in about 13 minutes time. and get back to our homes, but as we continue on with this act of worship, the preaching of the Word of God, notice Hebrews 6, beginning in verse 1, and the similarity to what we're talking about. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection. not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms of laying on of hands of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment and this we will do if God permits you see the stuff of verses 1 to 3 pertain to the Old Covenant religion.
The articles of Old Covenant religion called the elementary principles of Christ. Back here in Galatians chapter 4, they're called those beggarly elements. Why would you go back to those things when Christ Jesus has rendered the perfect work? Being born of a woman, Being born under the law, he has redeemed those who are under the law.
And so with respect to the humility of the incarnation, Christ is born of a woman. He's born under the law. And isn't that the mighty act of condescending humility that we are to rejoice in with regards to our Lord Jesus Christ? Because as Ryle has noted, Christ could have come, since he was enjoying the praise of angels, since he was enjoying the bliss of his heavenly communion with the Father and with the Spirit.
If he had come down from heaven, Ryle says, with the glory of his angels, his Father and his angels, to earth and set up an earthly kingdom, that still would have been a mighty act of condescension. Why? Because he would have come as a man to earth Bearing human nature nevertheless. Yes.
He's with his the glory of his father and with all of his angels, but if he still Condescends and takes on the form of a bondservant Isn't that still a mighty act of condescension dwelling among men and coming into our lower world of shame? He goes on to say it still would have been a mighty act of condescension if Christ came as a man and dwelt upon the mountains of Jerusalem in a mansion That still would have been a mighty act of condescension, but you see our Savior, our Christ, comes and He is brought into a life of ignominy, born of a woman and born under the law. The maker of men and women, the maker of galaxies, the one that spread out the expanse of the universe, the one who is the only lawgiver, nevertheless comes and He's born of a woman. and he's born under the law. A mighty act of the highest condescension.
Sounds like an oxymoron, the highest condescension, but you get what I mean. The condescension of Christ is true and great condescension.
The Purpose of the Incarnation
Lastly then, we have the purpose of the incarnation. Then the text moves and flows to this very point. The purpose of the incarnation, Galatians 4.4, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, too." You see, there we have this word given as we transition from what He did to what it was for, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. You see, in the pre-incarnate landscape, This is what we have.
We do not have the shadow of a cradle looming upon the pre-incarnate landscape, but the shadow of a cross, the cross of Calvary. You see, in the canyons of the pre-incarnate landscape, we don't hear the portentous echoes of a baby crying. That wasn't the purpose of the incarnation, to marvel over God in a feed trough and stop there. But rather, in the canyons of the pre-incarnate landscape, we have the portentous echoes of Roman nails being hammered into a horizontal cross.
This is what we have as the purpose of the incarnation, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Salvation: The Primary Purpose
First off, largely, The purpose of the incarnation is very simply salvation. The purpose of the incarnation is salvation to redeem those who were under the law. Now, while this has first and primary expression or focus upon Jewish Christians, it nevertheless extends beyond that as well to the Gentiles. It was peculiarly the Jews that were under the law.
Gentiles not being under the law, but nevertheless having been created in the image of God, having the law written upon their hearts. But all of that to come back to this truth, that Christ came in the incarnation in order largely to save men. At the outset of the narrative of His life, this is what we have announced by the angel to Joseph concerning Mary. In Matthew chapter 1, we have the narrative given. and we have the purpose of the incarnation stated.
Verse 21 of Matthew 1. Notice what we read there with regards to Jesus Christ. We read in verse 20, But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." The purpose of the incarnation, Jesus Christ, the Savior of men, saving his people from their sins.
From the lips of the Savior himself, as we move forward in in Redemptive Revelation, in Matthew chapter 20, we find at verse 28, the mission, the commission of the Savior, stated by His own lips, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. And you see, the post-ascension apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, in their letters to the churches, are consistent with the words of their Master when they write things like, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. The purpose of the incarnation is the salvation of sinners. And
Adoption: The Specific Purpose
secondly, and specifically, the vantage point is adoption. Notice again the language of the text, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. You see, it is not the case that every man and woman, boy and girl, born onto God's green earth is a child of God. You see, that's the stuff of spiritual ambiguity and pseudo-Christianity, to say all of the sons of men are children of God and we just need to maximize our potential. whatever it might be.
We have the case that only those who are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the grace of God believe are truly the adopted sons of God. By creation, by virtue of our being in Adam, by virtue of being those who are violators of the covenant of works we are according to Jesus Christ himself of our father the devil and the desires of our father we want to do and so we have this adoption as sons and it comes by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our confessions speaking about this blessed doctrine, all those that are justified, God vouchsafe in and for the sake of His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption. by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have his name put on them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, Father. are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as by a father, and yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation." You see, Christian, when you rehearse your salvation, when you just rehearse and consider your Christianity, There are a number of blessed things to contemplate and to rejoice in our regeneration that God brought us forth. We were born again, not because of anything we did, but solely and alone by the victorious and sovereign grace of God.
He making us alive in Christ Jesus. We have justification. The fact that he declared us righteous by virtue of the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrificial work. We have sanctification, the fact that God, by His grace, grows us daily in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
But never forget adoption. I reckon it is one of those doctrines that perhaps isn't contemplated enough. The doctrine of adoption, the fact that God, by His grace, pulled us from our sonship and slavery to the devil. and put us into the household of the triune God, the household of faith. By His grace and for His glory, taking us from that sonship to Satan and placing us as co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, as His adopted sons.
Contemplate your adoption and the privileges that come by way of it, because in those contemplations is the stuff of amazing grace. And praise and honor to our great triune God.
Application
And as we close, just very briefly, four things to close to consider with regards to the Incarnation. The timing of it, the triune glory of it, the humility of it, the purpose of it. And the first thing is, is that we are to be amazed at the plan of God. We are to be amazed at the plan of God.
If it is the case that Paul can open up a letter open up more than one letter, but open up a letter by saying, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We, as Christians, 2000 years removed, can have that same disposition. You see, because Paul didn't sit there writing with a dry and a cold countenance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ speaks that he was rejoicing in the God of heaven and earth and in the salvation poured out upon unworthy sinners.
We are to be amazed at the plan of God. I fear that we are so easily amazed by trivial things, aren't we? So easily amazed by trivial things. In fact, I think we need new word for amazed.
Flabbergasted. That was used earlier. Maybe we can use that one. When we're amazed at the plan of God.
Astonished. Because we're so easily amazed at things like, you know, water skiing squirrels on YouTube. Just absolutely amazing. We can spend three minutes amazed at water skiing squirrels on YouTube when those three minutes could be used contemplating the glories of the plan of God and the salvation of sinners through Jesus Christ.
Maybe you do that as well and it's not an unlawful thing to watch a water skiing squirrel. Go ahead. But you see, we are to be astonished. We are to be flabbergasted at this truth, that God, in the fullness of His appointed time, sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law.
We are to be amazed at the plan of God. We are to know the Trinity. We are to know the Trinity. If it is the case that the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence upon Him, As our confession says, then we are to know the Trinity.
God sent forth his son and sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. We are to know that in this divine and infinite being there are three subsistences, or persons, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The same in substance, equal in power and in glory, sharing the essence, yet the essence undivided. We know the Trinity, and we understand the God of heaven and earth, and we rejoice.
Not only in the Trinity in His being and nature, and the being and nature of the triune God, but also in his work saving sinners unto the praise of his glorious grace. We are to rejoice in the humility of Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the humility of Jesus Christ. He came in that humble act of condescension and incarnation in order to redeem guilty, vile, and wretched sinners.
Rejoice in the humility of the incarnation. You see, I think sometimes perhaps we might rejoice or contemplate our own humility more than the humility of Christ. Spending time working, we ought to work on our own humility. We ought never to.
It seems to be a counterproductive thing to trumpet our own humility. It's always an interesting thing when someone remarks about their own humility. Your humble servant, Cam Porter. Okay, are we supposed to acknowledge our humility as those who are humble?
But you see, contemplate the humility of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came from such a place to such a place to redeem guilty sinners. The Son of Man descended from so high a place, and it is so often, as Calvin said, our disposition to marvel and to revel in our own pride and in our own things. We are to marvel at and to rejoice in the condescending grace and the humility of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And last, rest in the salvation of Christ. The problem in Galatia, the problem in Galatia is that they were not resting in salvation by Jesus Christ. They were being perverted. They were being deceived.
They were being, the heretics and the errorists were trying to pull them away from the gospel of pure and pristine grace to this other gospel, which was no gospel at all. They were resting, yes, in Christ, but also in their adherence to circumcision and their adherence to the articles of the Mosaic economy. We are not to rest in anything save for salvation by Jesus Christ. And you might say, well, None of us do that.
Why are you exhorting us to rest in the salvation of Christ? Of course we do. But you see, I think very often we can have this disposition whereby we can be those baptized Pharisees that stand before the tax collector, and we can thank God that we're not like that other Christian sitting in the pew, that we don't do that, that we don't go there, that we don't do X, Y, and Z, or that we do A, B, and C. And we can, in effect, be resting upon our own performance as Christians in this lower world.
We rest solely and alone upon the finished and perfect work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman, who was born under the law, who redeemed those under the law, and who has given us the adoption as sons. Jesus Christ, our Savior, rest in Him and you will know the bliss of everlasting life, the forgiveness of sins. If you're here tonight and you don't know the Savior, the preachers come up here, we grip this pulpit, we deliver a sermon, we pray at the end, you leave. Before you leave, if you're here tonight, you don't know the Savior.
You're outside of Christ in unbelief. Consider this Christ who came into this world, sinners to save. You are a sinner. We all are.
Some here saved by grace. Some, if you're outside of Christ, waiting for that day that Pastor Butler preached about this morning, where the Son of Man would come with the glory of His holy angels. rendering judgment upon those who know not Christ and who obey not the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have everlasting life. You will know the redemption that he brought and you will know this blessed reality of being adopted sons of God Most High, enjoying all the privileges of those who are of the household of faith.
Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the scriptures. We thank you for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the incarnation and the truth that it discloses to us. We rejoice in this blessed fact that you did send Christ in the fullness of the times, born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under it.
We thank you that we by your grace have the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ and we do pray that you'd impress upon each and every one here because it is possible with you that is outside of Christ that you would impress upon them your holiness, your justice, your righteousness in judging those who do not know you. We do pray Lord God that you would cause them by your grace and for your glory to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to be found safely in him and not having their own righteousness, which is through the law, but that which comes from you through faith in Christ Jesus. We do pray for each and every one of your saints here now. You would cause us in this upcoming week, by your grace, to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
That we would leave this place singing the praises of our Savior, rejoicing in the truths of the incarnation and the salvation that that led to. And we do pray, Lord God, that you would cause us day after day to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Savior. And it's in His name that we pray. Amen.