Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Why Didn’t Christ Come Sooner?

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Why Didn’t Christ Come Sooner? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, I love the Book of Galatians and find myself
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  Speaker 1: very glad to be returning to the book. In our
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading together, we reached Galatians four on Wednesday, a
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  Speaker 1: chapter that is just loaded with things to think about
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  Speaker 1: and talk about. I mean, you've got that phrase abba
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  Speaker 1: Father right in Galatians four to six. What does it
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  Speaker 1: mean to cry Abba Father? We looked at that in
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  Speaker 1: the past in APGA seventeen forty three. And then there's
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  Speaker 1: Galatians for four, which is our focus today on it.
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  Speaker 1: We have two related questions, one from Bryce who simply
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  Speaker 1: asks this, why did God wait so long in human
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  Speaker 1: history to send Jesus. It's a good question, slightly elaborated
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  Speaker 1: by Craig based on what he sees in our reading.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up to Pastor John, thank you for your dedication
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  Speaker 1: to ministry. Craig Rights, your books and this podcast have
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  Speaker 1: been a huge encouragement to me. Recently, my brother in
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  Speaker 1: law posed a question to me that I had no
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  Speaker 1: good answer to, and I'm still thinking about it after
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  Speaker 1: the fall of Adam and even to sin, why did
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  Speaker 1: it take so long for Jesus to come to earth
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  Speaker 1: like thousands of years later? I can't help but think
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus could have come sooner and brought the saving
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  Speaker 1: message of the Gospel to a lot more people than
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  Speaker 1: he did. Can you explain to us the fullness of
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  Speaker 1: time in Galatians four four and what God was waiting for?
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  Speaker 2: I'm really you to tackle this question, because last December,
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  Speaker 2: way back then, during Advent, I was asked to preach
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  Speaker 2: at Bestley Him and the topic that Paster Kenny gave
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  Speaker 2: me was the superior priesthood of Jesus over all the
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  Speaker 2: priests of the Old Testament. And in my preparation I
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  Speaker 2: was provoked by this very question. Why didn't God send Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: the better prophet, the better priest, the better king two
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  Speaker 2: thousand years earlier? I mean, the world had fallen right
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  Speaker 2: with Adam. It was in such terrible corruptions, so bad
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  Speaker 2: that he'd wiped out the whole world except for eight
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  Speaker 2: people because of how pervasive sin was and how deep
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  Speaker 2: the corruption was. And after the flood it didn't get
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  Speaker 2: any better, which confirmed humanity is helpless. It's in a
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  Speaker 2: desperate condition. So the question is, okay, this is a
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  Speaker 2: good time to send the Son of God to die
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  Speaker 2: on the cross? Right? No? And instead what God does
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  Speaker 2: is tues Abraham and he starts a two thousand year
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  Speaker 2: history of Israel with her prophets and her priests and
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  Speaker 2: her kings, which is by and large a colossal failure
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  Speaker 2: to bring about an obedient God exalting people. So Bryce
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  Speaker 2: is asking that very question which I asked, and Craig
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  Speaker 2: puts a point on it, which is what makes me
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  Speaker 2: glad to answer, because I want to go toward this
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  Speaker 2: text big time. Craig says, what a Regualations four four?
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  Speaker 2: When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth
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  Speaker 2: his son, born of woman, born under the law, to
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  Speaker 2: redeem those who were under the law. So what's the
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  Speaker 2: answer to why Jesus didn't come earlier? And the answer
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  Speaker 2: is because the time wasn't full whatever that means, which
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  Speaker 2: pushes the question forward just a little bit, namely, well,
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  Speaker 2: what is the fullness of time? Why did there need
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  Speaker 2: to be a fullness of time? What made it full? Now?
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  Speaker 2: The first thing to do, I think, is to make
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  Speaker 2: really clear. God governs times and seasons. God governs history.
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  Speaker 2: He sets the times. They start when he says, start,
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  Speaker 2: they end when he says and acts. Chapter one, verse seven,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus says it is not for you to know times
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  Speaker 2: or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: So that's the basic truth we need to keep in
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  Speaker 2: front of us. God is not making do with human actions.
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  Speaker 2: He's governing human actions. He is governing the times and
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  Speaker 2: seasons start to finish. They are fixed by his sovereign decree.
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  Speaker 2: So then, what is the season or time that needs
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  Speaker 2: to be full for Christ to come? In the context
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  Speaker 2: of Galatians, the answer is the season or the time
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  Speaker 2: of the Mosaic Law, the law of Moses. Paul had
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  Speaker 2: just said in Galatians three twenty four the Law was
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  Speaker 2: Israel's guardian until Christ came. Then he says, now that
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  Speaker 2: faith has come, namely, faith in Christ has come, we
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  Speaker 2: are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: you are all sons of God through faith. Then a
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  Speaker 2: few verses later, here in Galatians four two, he says
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  Speaker 2: he in Israel is under guardians and managers until the
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  Speaker 2: date set by the Father. And then he says in
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  Speaker 2: verse four, but when the fullness of time had come,
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  Speaker 2: that is when the date set by the Father had arrived,
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  Speaker 2: God sent forth his son, born of women, born under
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  Speaker 2: the law to redeem those who were under the law.
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  Speaker 2: So the fullness of time is the fullness of time
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  Speaker 2: under the law until the date set by the father.
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  Speaker 2: And what's that well, Galatians three seventeen, a few verses earlier,
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  Speaker 2: Paul says, and this has to do with the promise
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  Speaker 2: made to Abraham, the law, the Mosaic law, which came
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  Speaker 2: in four hundred and thirty years afterward, that is, after
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  Speaker 2: Abraham does not nullify or annul the covenant previously ratified
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  Speaker 2: by God so as to make the promise void, which,
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  Speaker 2: of course then raises the question for Paul and his readers,
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  Speaker 2: which he asks in verse nineteen, Well, why then the law?
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  Speaker 2: Why was the law added? If he doesn't nullify the
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  Speaker 2: promise and people are saved by believing promises even under
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  Speaker 2: the law, why did you even add the law? Paul
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  Speaker 2: asks that question because it's this law, this long law
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  Speaker 2: period that has to be full, and he answers, because
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  Speaker 2: of transgressions. The law was added because of transgressions, which
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  Speaker 2: I think means, in view of Romans five twenty, that.
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  Speaker 3: The law was added in such a way that there
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  Speaker 3: were particular commandments that now could be broken more clearly
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  Speaker 3: and Thus disobedience becomes transgression of commandments, because Romans five
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  Speaker 3: to twenty says, the law came in.
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  Speaker 2: To increase the trespass, to increase the trespass, and at
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  Speaker 2: the same time the law is functioning Galatian says, as
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  Speaker 2: a kind of guardian until Christ comes, which is how
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  Speaker 2: long fourteen hundred years give or take. So from Moses
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  Speaker 2: to Jesus fourteen hundred years, from Abraham to the giving
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  Speaker 2: of the Law about four centuries, which brings us to
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  Speaker 2: roughly eighteen hundred two thousand years. Why now back? Why
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  Speaker 2: did he need that? Back? In Genesis fifteen sixteen, God
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  Speaker 2: says to Abraham that Israel will go into bondage in
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  Speaker 2: Egypt and come back in the Promised Land in the
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  Speaker 2: fourth generation, hundreds of years in bondage. Why the delay?
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  Speaker 2: Here's his answer, This is Genesis fifteen sixteen. For the
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  Speaker 2: iniquity of the Emmorites is not yet full. Got to
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  Speaker 2: fill up the centuries with Ammonite sin in order for
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  Speaker 2: there to be justice in the conquest of Canaan when
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  Speaker 2: God brings judgment on the Amorites. So there's a kind
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  Speaker 2: of fullness of time, and the meaning is a fullness
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  Speaker 2: of sinfulness. Now compare that to the fullness of time
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  Speaker 2: in which the law was given and was the standard
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  Speaker 2: for Israel doing its work to increase transgressions and prepare
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  Speaker 2: for Christs. So what was the law doing for fourteen
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  Speaker 2: hundred years? What was the point of fourteen hundred years
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  Speaker 2: of government of Israel by the law. And here's what
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  Speaker 2: Paul says in answer to that question in Romans three nineteen.
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  Speaker 2: We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to
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  Speaker 2: those who are under the law, so that every mouth,
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  Speaker 2: not just Jewish mouths, every mouth might be stopped, and
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  Speaker 2: the whole world may be held accountable to God. So
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  Speaker 2: the law is given to make the whole world accountable
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  Speaker 2: to God. And then here comes the explanation verse twenty.
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  Speaker 2: For by works of the law, no human being will
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  Speaker 2: be justified in the sight of God, since through the
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  Speaker 2: law comes the knowledge of sin. So the law was
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  Speaker 2: proving not only to Israel, but also to the whole
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  Speaker 2: world that it is impossible for anyone to get right
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  Speaker 2: with God through lawkeeping. Israel became a centuries long lesson
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  Speaker 2: book for the nations, for us to show that efforts
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  Speaker 2: to get right with God by lawkeeping cannot succeed, and
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  Speaker 2: when the fullness of the sins of Israel through law
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  Speaker 2: breaking and this kind of legalistic law keeping or full
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  Speaker 2: Christ came into the world to show how salvation will
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  Speaker 2: really come to pass through faith in Him. Now, in
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  Speaker 2: our arrogance, we might presume to say to God, you
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  Speaker 2: didn't need fourteen hundred years to make that point. Sorry, God,
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  Speaker 2: that's really unwise to talk like that. We better put
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  Speaker 2: our hands on our mouths. We don't have the wisdom
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  Speaker 2: of God, and we had best just silence ourselves and
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  Speaker 2: learn from how He did it, rather than making suggestions
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  Speaker 2: to him how he should have done it. Now, that
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  Speaker 2: was Paul's answer to why there has been such a
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  Speaker 2: long delay and what kind of time needed to be
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  Speaker 2: full and how it was full. That's not the only
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  Speaker 2: answer in the New Testament for why we have this history.
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  Speaker 2: The Book of Hebrews, and this is where I spent
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  Speaker 2: most of my time in my sermon last year. The
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  Speaker 2: Book of Hebrews says more lots more. Namely, during all
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  Speaker 2: that time of the law and mister of Israel, God
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  Speaker 2: was providing categories for understanding who the incarnate Son of
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  Speaker 2: God is. God intended for us to know his incarnate son,
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  Speaker 2: the divine Son of God, in categories provided by fourteen
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  Speaker 2: hundred years of Israel under the law. Categories of prophecy,
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  Speaker 2: categories of priesthood, categories of kings, categories of Messiah, categories
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  Speaker 2: of law, wisdom, wonderful counselor Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince
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  Speaker 2: of Peace, and many many more. Think of it. If
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  Speaker 2: the Son of God had been incarnate in the days
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  Speaker 2: of Abraham, none of these categories would have been available
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  Speaker 2: for understanding the Son of God. So the fullness of
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  Speaker 2: time came the Jewish Lesson Book for the Nations was complete.
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  Speaker 2: For two thousand years. We have been blessed to understand
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  Speaker 2: the Son of God because of those categories and that
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  Speaker 2: Lesson book, and justification by faith over against justification by lawkeeping.
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  Speaker 2: We have been blessed to know the truth of the
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  Speaker 2: Gospel in view of the reality of the crucified Messiah,
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  Speaker 2: and no other way. It's plain because we have the
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  Speaker 2: Lesson Book for the Nations.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that is fascinating. Even how you set up the
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  Speaker 1: question at the beginning, why did God send a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of prophets and a bunch of priests and a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of kings when he could have just sent Jesus, the
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  Speaker 1: better prophet, the better priests, the better king, because all
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  Speaker 1: those prophets and priests and kings were setting up the
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  Speaker 1: backdrop necessary for us to see the futility of our
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  Speaker 1: own lawkeeping for justification and to finally behold the full
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  Speaker 1: glory of Jesus Christ, the perfect law keeper. These are
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  Speaker 1: just fascinating connections here in Galatians and in Hebrews. Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: thank you. I'm going to be thinking about this all
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  Speaker 1: day long, and thanks for joining us today. If you
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  Speaker 1: have a question to ask Pastor John, find a link
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  Speaker 1: to email us and find our complete episode archive at
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  Speaker 1: askpastor John dot com. Every episode with audio and full
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: transcripts available for you. Well, so much of what the
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  Speaker 1: world says about sex is distorted into lies, and so
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  Speaker 1: it falls to Christians to open up the Bible and
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  Speaker 1: to show the truth that sex is good. Sex is
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  Speaker 1: a gift, a gift for Christians and for marriage between
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  Speaker 1: one man and one woman. These are answers we all need,
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  Speaker 1: because inevitably we are going to be the ones who
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  Speaker 1: need to share this truth with others. Like the mother
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  Speaker 1: of an adult daughter, I'm Tony Rank, we'll see you
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  Speaker 1: on Thursday for that