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Voddie Baucham - - In the Fullness of Time · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: H h. This is a very meaningful time of the year,
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  Speaker 1: and it's really become more meaningful to me over the
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  Speaker 1: last eight years as we've moved to Lusaka. Then, and yes,
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  Speaker 1: believe it or not, it has been eight years since
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  Speaker 1: we moved to Zambia. When we went, we went for
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  Speaker 1: three to five years, so now we've been there three
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  Speaker 1: plus five and I have no idea when or if
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  Speaker 1: the Lord will will move us. But it's very interesting
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  Speaker 1: being in a part of the world that's far removed
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  Speaker 1: from the experience of Christmas with which we are familiar.
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  Speaker 1: You know, so much of our understanding of Christmas. For example,
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  Speaker 1: it's about winter time, right, it's about being cold. We
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  Speaker 1: have songs like I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, and
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  Speaker 1: Zambians kind of go, what what what is that? Where
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  Speaker 1: there's this stuff called snow that we have, what is that?
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  Speaker 1: And it's interesting when you sort of ship that away.
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  Speaker 1: Also being in an environment where we're not constantly bombarded
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  Speaker 1: with the material and marketing side of the holiday. I'm
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  Speaker 1: always shocked when I come to the US anytime after
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  Speaker 1: a Halloween Amen, because I mean, we're starting earlier and
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  Speaker 1: earlier and earlier. Right now, as soon as Halloween is over,
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  Speaker 1: we start getting all the Christmas stuff out. It's and
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  Speaker 1: it's very interesting. It's also interesting because as Christmas has
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  Speaker 1: become more commercial, it's become far less Christian. I remember
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  Speaker 1: being astonished, I think was one when I became aware
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  Speaker 1: of it. Guinness Book of World Records for the most
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  Speaker 1: expensive Christmas tree ever stood over forty two feet tall
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  Speaker 1: and was valued at a eleven million dollars, decorated with
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  Speaker 1: diamonds and pearls of Rolex watches and so on and
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  Speaker 1: so forth. And it was in a hotel in the
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  Speaker 1: United Arab immorants just merint it on that for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: in a country where you would be jailed at best
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  Speaker 1: for preaching christ publicly, in a country where you could
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  Speaker 1: lose your life if you were a Muslim who converted
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  Speaker 1: openly and publicly to Christianity, they.
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  Speaker 2: Had a forty two foot eleven million dollars Christmas tree
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  Speaker 2: prominently displayed in one of their fanciest hotels.
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  Speaker 1: Why why Well, because we've become very accustomed to the
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  Speaker 1: story of Christmas, but not at all to the theology
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  Speaker 1: of Christmas. The story of Christmas can fly anywhere. Let
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  Speaker 1: me tell you a story about this little family. Let
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  Speaker 1: me tell you a story about this young woman who
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  Speaker 1: was pregnant, and let me tell you a story about
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  Speaker 1: this young couple taking a journey. Let me tell you
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  Speaker 1: a story about the baby being born and placed in
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  Speaker 1: a manger and placed in a stable, and let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you a story about I mean, that story will
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  Speaker 1: fly anywhere, so much so that symbols that you and
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  Speaker 1: I think of as being associated with that story are
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  Speaker 1: perfectly fine with people who would chill literally over the
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  Speaker 1: theology of Christmas. Which is why that's what we need
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  Speaker 1: to fight to maintain, not just the story of Christmas,
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  Speaker 1: but the theology of Christmas. So if you have your
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  Speaker 1: Bibles with you, join me in a passage of scripture
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  Speaker 1: that we often don't associate with Christmas, but you'll see
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  Speaker 1: why we should. It's in Galatians chapter four. Galatians four,
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse four. But when the fullness of time
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  Speaker 1: had come, God set forth his son, born of a woman,
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  Speaker 1: born under the law, to redeem those who were under
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  Speaker 1: the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
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  Speaker 1: And because your sons, God has sent the spirit of
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  Speaker 1: his Son into our hearts, crying Abbah father, So you
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  Speaker 1: are no longer a slave, but a son, and if
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  Speaker 1: a son, then an heir through God. Amen allelujah. Where
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  Speaker 1: He's the Lord. That is good news, and that is
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  Speaker 1: the theology of Christmas. Not just a story of a
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  Speaker 1: struggling family in a harrowing time, not just the story
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  Speaker 1: of the birth of a baby, not just the story
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  Speaker 1: of a baby who would grow up to be an
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  Speaker 1: influential man whose name would be known throughout the world.
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  Speaker 1: But the theology behind the story makes it clear why
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  Speaker 1: this birth is unlike any other birth and more significant
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  Speaker 1: than any other birth, Why this birth is the most
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  Speaker 1: significant birth and the history of mankind, why this birth
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  Speaker 1: is the one that's split time and half. Think about that.
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  Speaker 1: We now talk about BC and AD or if you're sophisticated, BC,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, you know BCE is is before the
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  Speaker 1: common era. Again the tree and the story without the theology.
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  Speaker 1: But what is the theology beginning in verse four, But
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  Speaker 1: when the fullness of time had come, when the when
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  Speaker 1: the right time had come, when the perfect time had come.
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  Speaker 1: That there's a wordplay here because he talks about his
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  Speaker 1: son being born of a woman, and when does a
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  Speaker 1: woman give birth? Now, those of us who are parents,
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  Speaker 1: those of us who've experienced this have had the experience
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  Speaker 1: where you go in and the doctor lets you know
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  Speaker 1: that that you are pregnant, that you're with child, and
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  Speaker 1: that's wonderful, and then they give you a date. It's
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  Speaker 1: a it's a due date, and and and the first
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  Speaker 1: time that somebody gives you a due date, you you
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  Speaker 1: you might naively walk out of the doctor's office thinking, Wow,
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  Speaker 1: this baby is going to be here on X day.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe h but probably not mhm. But the baby will
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  Speaker 1: come in the fullness of time. We can we can estimate,
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  Speaker 1: we we we can we can hope, we can prepare,
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  Speaker 1: But babies come when they come, and Christ came in
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  Speaker 1: the fullness of time. Think about it, when the announcement
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  Speaker 1: is made after the Fall, that there will be enmity
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  Speaker 1: between the seed of the serpent and the seed of
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  Speaker 1: the woman, and that the serpent would bruise his heel,
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  Speaker 1: but but that this seed of the woman would would
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  Speaker 1: crush his head. There is a promise made, the promise
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  Speaker 1: that this deliverer would come. But Adam and Eve never
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  Speaker 1: saw that promised deliverer. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob believed
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  Speaker 1: and hoped but they never saw this Deliverer come. We
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  Speaker 1: go into Egypt and Moses comes, and God delivers his
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  Speaker 1: people out of Egypt, out of bondage. He delivers his
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  Speaker 1: law harmed in tablets to his people. They get to
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  Speaker 1: see the coming of the Law of God. They get
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  Speaker 1: to see Mount Sinaid, but they don't get to see
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah. David comes, the nation is established and experiences
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  Speaker 1: it's golden era with David and his son Solomon, but
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  Speaker 1: they don't get to see the coming of Messiah. The
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  Speaker 1: Great Temple is built, but they don't get to see
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  Speaker 1: the coming of the Messiah. The prophets come and they proclaim,
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  Speaker 1: but they don't get to see the coming of the Messiah.
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  Speaker 1: Why because it was not the fullness of time. It's
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  Speaker 1: an old saying. He may not come when you want it,
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  Speaker 1: but he's always right on time. That's important news, beloved,
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  Speaker 1: because that's not just true of the coming of our Deliverer,
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  Speaker 1: it's also true of the coming of our deliverance. Is
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  Speaker 1: anybody praying for a wayward child, Is anybody wrestling our
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  Speaker 1: day disappointment? Is anybody trying desperately to hold on to
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  Speaker 1: hope and beginning to think that maybe, just maybe God
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  Speaker 1: is not paying attention. Listen, in the fullness of time,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, for Adam and Eve, and for Abraham
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  Speaker 1: and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David and Solomon,
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  Speaker 1: and for all of the prophets. What that meant was
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  Speaker 1: fullness of time will come after you're gone, but it
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  Speaker 1: will come. There's another point here, or principle here, when
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  Speaker 1: the fullness of time had come that word time, Christ
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  Speaker 1: came in time, He came into time. The incarnation is
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  Speaker 1: not just myth, it is fact, It is history. And
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  Speaker 1: in the fullness of time God sent forth his son.
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  Speaker 1: And here's where we start to have a problem. The
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  Speaker 1: story of a baby and a manger can bring comfort
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  Speaker 1: to all, but the story of the Son of God
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  Speaker 1: being wrapped in flesh is an entirely different thing. You
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  Speaker 1: don't build eleven million dollar trees in Abu Dhabi hotels
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  Speaker 1: son of God. You only do that if you are ignoring,
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  Speaker 1: denying the reality that in the fullness of time God
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  Speaker 1: sent forth not just a baby, God sent forth, not
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  Speaker 1: just a man, but God sent forth his Son, which
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  Speaker 1: means God sent forth God. I love the fact that
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  Speaker 1: we have the entire Trinity in this passage. Listen to
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  Speaker 1: it again. But when the fullness of time had come God,
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  Speaker 1: there's the Father sent forth his son. So there's God
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  Speaker 1: the Father and God the Son born of a woman,
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  Speaker 1: born under the law to raadeem those who are under
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  Speaker 1: the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
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  Speaker 1: And because you are sons, God has sent forth is
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  Speaker 1: the s Sriit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about some theology of Christmas. We have the Father,
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  Speaker 1: the Son, and the Spirit here in this text. The
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  Speaker 1: incarnation is about the reality of our triune God. It
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  Speaker 1: is about the breaking into time and to history of
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  Speaker 1: our triune God. It is about the incarnation of the
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  Speaker 1: second person of the Trinity. It is about God the
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  Speaker 1: Son wrapping himself, clothing himself in flesh. It is about
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  Speaker 1: his humiliation before his exaltation. And his humiliation is not
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  Speaker 1: just the cross. His humiliation is stepping out of heaven
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  Speaker 1: and stepping into this world. That's the theology of Christmas.
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  Speaker 1: God sent forth his son, and then God sent forth
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  Speaker 1: his son born of a woman. The first and second
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  Speaker 1: century Gnostics were driven crazy by this. I mean it
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  Speaker 1: would have been fine. They could have believed that that
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  Speaker 1: that God would come and that God would manifest himself.
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  Speaker 1: But the idea that God would be born, the idea
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  Speaker 1: that God would clothe himself and humanity, the idea that
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  Speaker 1: God would come not to stand on a mountain in
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  Speaker 1: all of his glory, but that he would come as
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  Speaker 1: an embryo. What a beautiful reality that Christ wraps himself
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  Speaker 1: and clothes himself in humanity, but that He wraps himself
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  Speaker 1: and clothes himself all of humanity. This is why we
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  Speaker 1: believe in the sanctity of every human life from the
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  Speaker 1: moment of conception. Because God himself says, if I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to descend my son, and my son is going to
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  Speaker 1: be a man, that means my son is going to
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  Speaker 1: start in the moomb of a woman, because that's where
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  Speaker 1: humanity begins. Beautiful theology of Christmas, this high pastatic union
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  Speaker 1: where Christ is fully God, God sends forth his son.
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  Speaker 1: He's fully God and he's fully man born of a woman.
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  Speaker 1: Why is this so important? Born under the law? Christ
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  Speaker 1: is born under the law. He wasn't just born to
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  Speaker 1: be born. He was born under the law to redeem
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  Speaker 1: those who were under the law. Why. Well, because we
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  Speaker 1: have a couple of problems. Our redemption required not only
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  Speaker 1: that Christ died for our sin, but that he live
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  Speaker 1: a perfect righteous life and keep the law on our behalf.
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  Speaker 1: It is his active and his passive obedience. In his
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  Speaker 1: active obedience as one born under the law, Christ keeps
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  Speaker 1: the law perfectly so that he might impute that perfect
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  Speaker 1: righteousness to us, the righteousness that we do not have,
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  Speaker 1: the alien righteousness that is Christ's righteousness that becomes ours
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  Speaker 1: by faith. And then, in his passive obedience, his perfect one,
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  Speaker 1: has our sins placed on him, so that he might
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  Speaker 1: pay the penalty that we owe for not keeping the
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  Speaker 1: law that he kept. And his active and his passive
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  Speaker 1: obedience is what allows for that double imputation. My sin
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  Speaker 1: imputed to Christ and nailed to the tree, and his
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  Speaker 1: righteousness imputed to me, so that I stand before God
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  Speaker 1: redeemed to redeem those who were under the law. That's
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  Speaker 1: the theology of Christmas, not just the story of a baby.
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  Speaker 1: So that we might receive adoption as sons. God sent
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  Speaker 1: forth his son not just to redeem his people from
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  Speaker 1: their sins, but so that his son might make us
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  Speaker 1: sons and daughters. And listen, it would have been enough
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  Speaker 1: to be forgiven slaves, and yet God in his mercy
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  Speaker 1: makes us redeemed sons and daughters, adopted children of the King.
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  Speaker 1: But wait, there's more. And because you are sons, God
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  Speaker 1: has sent the spirit of his Son into your hearts.
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  Speaker 1: Crying Abbah, Father, Not only are we redeemed and adopted,
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  Speaker 1: we are in dwell. We have union and communion with
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  Speaker 1: the Triune God, so that we might proclaim with the
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  Speaker 1: apostle that he is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, verse seven, so you are no longer a slave,
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  Speaker 1: but a son, and if a son, then an heir
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  Speaker 1: through God. Wait, we're redeemed, we're adopted, we're in dwelf,
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  Speaker 1: and we're heirs. You can have your eleven million dollar
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  Speaker 1: forty two foot tree. Just give me, Jesus, because that
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  Speaker 1: eleven million dollar forty two foot tree hals in comparison
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  Speaker 1: to what we have inherited and to what we hope for.
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  Speaker 1: Because God sent forth his son, born of a woman,
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  Speaker 1: born under the law, to redeem those who are under
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  Speaker 1: the law. So beloved, I do hope that in this
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  Speaker 1: festive season you enjoy all of your traditions and all
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  Speaker 1: of your fellowship, and all of everything that this season
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  Speaker 1: can offer. But by all means, do not miss the
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  Speaker 1: theology of Christmas. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to
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  Speaker 1: redeem you from your sin, so that this season might
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  Speaker 1: mean so much more. I haven't seen that tree, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, I've only seen pictures of it, but its
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  Speaker 1: glory pales in comparison to that which will be revealed
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  Speaker 1: in us. Let's break. Our gracious God and our Father,
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  Speaker 1: we thank you, and we praise you for your goodness
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  Speaker 1: and your kindness toward us. That you demonstrated in the incarnation,
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  Speaker 1: that you sent your son to redeem us, that you
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  Speaker 1: sent him to live the righteous life that we could
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  Speaker 1: not live. You sent him to endure the penalty that
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  Speaker 1: we owed but could not pay. And you did this
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  Speaker 1: so that we might not only be redeemed but adopted,
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  Speaker 1: And not only redeemed and adopted, but in Dwelt and heirs,
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  Speaker 1: grant by your grace that we might live as though
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  Speaker 1: this is true, that we might live because this is true,
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  Speaker 1: that we might live to proclaim that this is true.
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  Speaker 1: We pray this, and we ask it and the name
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  Speaker 1: of our Lord, Savior, Master and soon coming King Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: who is the Christ w