The Purpose of the Son (Gal 4:4-7)

Introduction

Merry Christmas everyone, we are so blessed to have you join us this morning for this celebration of celebrations. The day we’ve been waiting for, and planning for, is now here, and the combination of relief, excitement, and exhaustion fills us all. But let’s pause for a few minutes and try and put all our plans aside, and shut out the world around us for this brief time, and let’s focus on the core, the central and ultimate purpose for Christmas.

We may have been planning for many months, but God has been planning since eternity past. In the counsel of the God-head, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a covenant was formed, one of redemption whereby the glory of God would be seen in all its magnificence by redeeming a people, who were not yet created, and, who when created, would rebel against their creator. And yet, God’s attributes of love, mercy, and grace, along with his holiness, justice and righteousness would be on full display through this covenant of redemption. This covenant would of necessity involve a sacrifice, one who would satisfy the just demands of God’s holiness against rebellion or sin, yet provide grace for the rebels. This sacrifice would actually redeem, or, buy the freedom for, these rebels who would have received God’s, wrath filled, just judgment.

So, God began to implement this plan, and the Bible is the revelation of God’s plan of redemption, and we have had the privilege to trace this implementation in our advent series entitled, In the Fullness of Time, where we saw it first mentioned in Genesis 3:15, where the seed (the one who would redeem his people) of the woman, would crush the serpent’s (Satan’s) head. The we found it again in Genesis 12:1-3, where God made a covent with Abraham, that this same seed would bless all the nations of the world. We continued to trace this plan and saw how God prophesied in detail through the prophet Isaiah that this seed would be both God and Man, and his kingdom would be an eternal one. Then last night on Christmas Eve, we saw that this seed had finally come, born in obscurity and miraculously to the virgin Mary, and though the God-Man Jesus, the Messiah was not recognized by the world he came to save, he was heralded by humble shepherds and a host of angels.

This morning as we close our series, we want to once again make clear The Purpose of the Son, the promised seed, in God’s eternal covenant of redemption, as we look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Text: Galatians 4:4-7

Galatians 4:4–7 ESV

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Main Idea: Since Jesus, the Son, was predetermined to redeem his people from eternity past, we, as those redeemed people can rest assured that we have received all that God has decreed.

Background: The Galatian Churches were made up of a group of churches that Paul had established in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). This congregation was made up of both converted Jews and Gentiles.

These churches had come under seige by false teachers called Judaizers who were confusing the people by saying they had to keep the Mosaic law and all the accompanied ceremonies along with trusting Christ in order to be truly saved.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians offers a stinging rebuttal declaring that the Mosaic Law was given to show our slavery to sin, not to release us from that slavery. In fact, the law was like a school master or a governor to hold us in check until someone would come to buy our freedom. The someone was none other then, the Redeemer! We see first of all that this,

I. Redemption Happened in Time (4)

But when the fullness of time had come - This is where we got the title for our series, and is full of amazing, God superintending history. Of which we’ve just touched the surface of in our messages. So what does this phrase mean?

fullness [pleroma - denotes fullness, that of which a thing is full] of time [chronos - denotes a space of time]- the eternal God, who sees a thousand years as one day, used His creation of time to implement redemption. These two Greek words together are seen more as a gathering of all essential elements to fulfill God’s purpose as opposed to the clock just running down and the alarm clock ringing. What were some of these elements:

the spread of the Greek language throughout the civilized world

the presence of Jewish synagogues in many places, enabling Christians missionaries to reach both Jews and Gentiles (proselytes) simultaneously

the network of Roman roads, and the enforcement of Roman peace (Pax Romana).

In other words, when all of these elements of redemption were in place, God sent forth his Son. We spoke about how he was sent, the God-Man was...

born of woman - which should be of no surprise to anyone since everyone here this morning was born of a woman. But what makes this so amazing is that this woman was a virgin as we talked about last night, and that the one born was God, the Son, who took on the flesh of humanity. But even more amazing is that the God-Man Jesus was...

born under the law - how incredible is this phrase since Jesus was both God and Man. As God, he set forth the law and all its holy demands. As Man, he would not live above that law but would willingly submit to and place himself under its demands, not only as One obligated to fulfill it, but also as One identified with sinners who are under the curse of the law. Which was necessary in order for the reality that...

II. Redemption Created Sons (5-6)

to [conjunction] redeem those who were under the law [purposive subordinate clause](5) - so another words the purpose of sending forth his son was to redeem or buy back a people from the slave market of sin and God’s judgment. This is why he placed himself under the law, to identify with those under the curse of sin; this sin, missing the mark of God’s holiness, was brought into focus by the law. But this redemption was more then just a release from slavery, it was...

so that we might receive adoption as sons [purposive subordinate clause] (5) - this covenant of redemption in which the God-head determined before the creation of the earth was designed to not only free us from God’s wrath, but to make us God’s sons! To be a son of God as a human being can only happen by legal adoption. We are not deity like Jesus is, so God legally adopted us with all the privileges of sonship by Christ’s redemption.

So if we look at the grammatical flow, it reads something like this…God sent forth his son, for the purpose of, redeeming those who were under the law, for the purpose of, our adoption as sons.

BTW, to be a son of God has nothing to do with gender, but has everything to do with position and honor. Therefore, both men and women can be sons of God!

1 Peter 3:7 ESV

7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

(6) And because [conjunction - in view of the fact that] you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” - this is not just a legal transaction but a truly personal one where we as weak, feeble, underserving human beings, through this redemption, have the same right and opportunity to call God the Father, Abba or daddy, as does his Son Jesus!

Mark 14:36 ESV

36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

So for how long do we have this sonship? We see lastly that this...

III. Redemption is Eternal (7)

Notice the wording and tense of the verb, So you are [pre, act, ind - to have the quality of being] no longer a slave, but a son

Since this is the case, if a son, then an heir through [preposition of agency] God - since the eternal God is the agent of our redemption, we know that we have presently, eternal freedom as sons, and have an eternal inheritance, and because it is all of God and none of us, there is nothing we can do to lose it! Paul declares this same truth to the Roman Christian when he says,

Romans 8:15–17 ESV

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Paul goes on to say in this same chapter of Romans...

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So What?

Our redemption was never an afterthought or a contingency reaction to a fumbled plan, but in the fulness of time, God carried it out precisely as he planned.

There is no greater reality in time and space or in all eternity then that we should be the eternal sons of God.

A truth that should drive us to worship, obedience, and joyful living no matter whether our circumstances are favorable or we suffer great pain.

Have you this morning received the greatest of all Christmas gifts, the eternal gift of sonship through the redeeming sacrifice of the incarnate Christ?

if not, you can before you leave here today, repent of your sins, and trust in Jesus Christ, the God-Man who sacrificed his life in our place on the cross to redeem us from the slave market of sin. When you call upon the name of the Lord, you can be assured, you will be saved.