When The Time Had Fully Come Series

INTRO.- ILL.- A time management expert at a conference was to give a speech about her success in business and how time management plays a huge part of business success. She engaged the crowd and they seemed to love her. She was giving tips and sharing success stories. Suddenly, she realized she had been talking for two hours! She stopped to apologize to the wary group and explained that she had left her watch at home. A voice came from the audience, “There is a calendar next to you."

Two hours. I don’t have the time to speak for two hours! I don’t want to speak for two hours and you don’t want to listen to me for two hours. It’s not that it wouldn’t be good for both of us, but we feel like we don’t have the time. However, if we lived in certain parts of Africa, we’d have the time because time is all they have!

Time management is something most people need. We are not the best at using our time wisely. Of course, what you consider to be wise and what I consider to be wise may be two different ideas.

ILL.- Dost thou love life?

Then do not squander time,

For that’s the stuff life is made of.

—Benjamin Franklin

ILL.- Yesterday is a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is the only cash you have—spend it wisely.

ILL.- The great 19th-century naturalist and Harvard professor Louis Agassiz was once approached by the emissary of a learned society and invited to address its members. Agassiz declined the invitation, saying that lectures of this kind took up too much time that should be devoted to research and writing.

The man persisted, saying that the society was prepared to pay handsomely for the lecture. "That’s no inducement to me," Agassiz replied, "I can’t afford to waste my time making money." Nor can we. We can’t afford to waste our time, precious time on planet earth.

The master of the universe gives the best advice when it comes to use of our time on earth.

Ephesians 5:15-18 "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."

Romans 13:11-14 "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

James 4:13-17 "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins."

Our God and Father knows the best time for everything. Our text reads: "When the time had fully come."

PROP.- When the time of God had fully come, what happened?

1- When the time had come God sent His Son

2- When the time had come God sent His Spirit

I. WHEN THE TIME HAD COME GOD SENT HIS SON

4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

When was this time? It may be that man was in a hopeless situation of being lost.

ILL.- The heirs of A. T. Stewart, one of the wealthiest Americans in the last century, wanted to bring a suit against Judge Hilton for his way of handling the estate. They went to William M. Evarts, one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day who later served in the Senate and as secretary of state, and asked him to manage their case.

“Well, I will take a contingent fee.” “And what is a contingent fee?” asked one of the heirs.

“My dear sir,” Evarts replied, “I will tell you what a contingent fee to a lawyer means. If I don’t win your suit, I get nothing. If I do win it, you get nothing."