"The Fulness of Time"

The New International Version Chapter 4

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Introduction: The Advent season is an invitation for us to step back from our daily lives and to see the big picture of God’s great salvation.

God has given us reason to hope but our hope is not dependent on a feeling but hope is in the person of Jesus.

The Act of Hoping

When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption into God’s family.

Hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness.

Christ is our hope and because our hope is in Christ the Bible teaches us that we are bound to proclaim that hope to the world. As we enter this season of Advent it is note worthy for us to re-kindle the meaning of our hope in Christ. God sent His Son into the world at the perfect or right time. When Rome had built roads and Highways suitable for travel in and out of Jerusalem the text says it was the right time. “When the time had fully come! The world was in need of a Savior, so God said this is the right time. Israel was anticipating and waiting for deliverance from hostile opposition and abuse. Christmas hope is about a Savior being born into a sinful world to redeem us from sin. For many the hope Christ’s coming is vague, remote, and somewhat problematical, with little bearing on daily Christian living and prayer. The aspects of hoping and believing that He will come in all of His glory has been regulated to speculations about the actual date of His return. Contrary to scripture because the Bible says “no man knows the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come. So it is not our job to speculate and try to figure out the actual day or time, but we are told as the hymnologist says “my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but Wholly lean on Jesu name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. God will fulfill His promise and our hope must rest assured in that fact.

The Reason for Hope

Christmas is about us being delivered from the bondage of sin. It is good and noble to celebrate our Saviors birth because of the implications it has on humanity. Man needed to be brought back to God and the only way to do that was through the coming of God’s only Son into the world. The law failed to provide for us the salvation from sin that we so desperately needed. So God’s plan that He had established before the foundation of the world had to be activated. Well Reverend, we have the historical record of creation and the fall of man in the garden telling us what happened and you are telling us that before it happened God knew that it was going to happen. Yes! So were on stage, play acting out the Sovereign God’s ultimate will and plan! You are telling us, that God knows just how things are going to turn out! Yes He does and He tell the story throughout the pages of the Bible so that you and I can have reason to hope. We are His children and we are heirs to the kingdom. “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That is the reason for yours and my hope. We belong to Him and He sent Jesus to rescue us and redeem us back unto Himself.

The Object of Hope

Christ is the objective of our hope. Our hope is to see and be with He and the Father in eternity. This is why God provide the Way back home. Man is depraved, he was lost, he is still subject to sin. So God being the loving Father that He is, activates grace and mercy and extends it towards humanity in the personage of His Son Jesus Christ and says to us “look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There is no hope without Christ. Christ is our Hope and our only way back to the Father.

Closure: We are by products of the fulness of time. We have been redeemed. We are the children of God. Christmas is much more than a festival, lights, presents, celebrations, and memories. It is about the gift of Hope and our Hope is in Christ Jesus.