A Root From Dry Ground
A Sermon on Galatians 4:4-6
Scripture
4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth …
Sermon Description
When we think of Christmas, we usually tend to associate it with Scripture passages from the books of Luke or Matthew, but are there other passages in the Bible that shed more light on what happened that day when Jesus Christ became a man born in Bethlehem? Preached just a few days before Christmas, this sermon by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones draws truths from Galatians 4:4-6 that are crucial to our understanding of the celebration of Christmas. First, all three members of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit— are involved in our salvation. Second, the focal point of all of this is the coming of Jesus into the world, the reason behind the celebration of Christmas. Paul says that Jesus was “sent forth”— a phrase that has caused many questions throughout the centuries among New Testament scholars, but Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides answers to help us understand what this means. Third, what does Paul’s statement of “the fullness of time” mean? Is it in an evolutionary sense that the present is better than the past? No! Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphatically demonstrates that it means God is in control of time and that God has predetermined all of the major events having to do with our salvation. How does this apply to us as we think of Christ’s coming? Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds us that ultimately, because of God’s sovereignty, our worst time is his best time, and we can rest in that.
Sermon Breakdown
- The blessed Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - are concerned with our salvation. This is a staggering truth.
- The Son was sent from the Father's side in eternity to take His place among us. He came from the Father's presence to dwell with us.
- The Son was sent with a divine commission and authority to accomplish the work the Father gave Him to do.
- The Son became truly human, made of a woman and made under the law. He had a real human nature and body.
- God controls time. The fullness of time refers to God's time, not man's evolutionary concept of time.
- God predetermined the exact time of the great events of our salvation, including Christ's first and second comings. Only God knows the day and hour.
- God's wisdom is seen in the precise time of Christ's first coming. He gave man opportunity to try and save himself to show man's inadequacy. He came at a time to show salvation is by God alone.
- God's time is unlike our time. It is based on conditions, not calendars. His time is when conditions are right, not measured by years.
- Our worst times are God's best times. Christ came in Israel's worst time. God acts when man is hopeless and despairing, not self-satisfied. We should hope in God.
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Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.