Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Introduction:
• Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
• You don’t have to look just in the Gospels to find the importance of the birth of the Savior. All of the Old Testament looks forward and all the New Testament from the book of Acts on looks back to His First Coming.
• Luke 2:14 says that the angels proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.” In a period where there was no peace and there was no good will, a baby in a manger brought peace and good will.
• When Jesus came to this earth, the Jews were looking for Him to deliver from the oppression of the Roman government. Jesus came to deliver from oppression; not from the Roman government, but from the law.
• Paul writes, here in Galatians to a group of people who had bought in to the lie that the Law must still be kept. Paul reminded them that they had been freed from the law.
• Not only had they been freed from the law, but they had been adopted into the family of God. He’s freed us all and brought us into the Family of God.
I. The Anticipation of the Servant (vs. 1-3)
A. His Immaturity
Here, Paul uses the analogy of a child who has been promised an inheritance, but is not yet of age, to help us understand what it was like for the Israelites living under the law.
When a Roman father had a son who was his heir, the father would predetermine a time when the son was ready to accept that inheritance.
The word for child (Gr. nepios) is a legal term that speaks of one who is not yet of age. Paul says that this child “differeth nothing” from a slave. There is no freedom to be had.
Paul’s example reminds us that God had predetermined a time when He would send His Son. All eyes were on Bethlehem waiting for His arrival.
Romans 8:3 teaches “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
B. His Inability
How does this pertain to us as Gentiles? Notice that in verse three Paul says even believing Gentiles were at one time in bondage under the elements of the world.
What are the elements of the world? Paul teaches us in several of his letters that those who don’t know Jesus are under the sway of the Devil.
2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Paul teaches us that there was a time when we were in bondage, but God had predetermined a time when the Glorious Light of the Gospel would shine into our hearts and show us our lost condition.
It’s a reminder to us that God is the initiator of salvation, not man; and when He so chooses to shine the Light into the heart of man it does not matter how lost you are or how wretched your soul is, the Light of Life can change you.
The problem with the Law was not that it was unjust, but the problem was that there was no permanant remedy. The Law tells us what is wrong in us, but it doesn’t tell us how to be right with God.
II. The Assignment of the Savior (vs. 4-5a)
A. His Appointment
Verse four reminds us that where there is a spiritual problem, God always provides a spiritual answer. The answer to this dilemma was found in the Baby Jesus Christ.
The word “fullness” (Gr. pleroma) indicates that the time of waiting was over. God had predetermined the appropriate time to send the Savior and that time was now.
Hebrews 10:7 says “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”
Just as Paul used the illustration of the son coming of age and the father “here it is, it’s all yours,” God sent His Son into the world so that there might be hope, and He says to all who would believe “here it is, it’s all yours.”
He had to come in three (3) specific ways:
1. As the Son of God.
Paul tells us that “God sent forth His Son.” Jesus did not come as an ambassador of God or a representative of heaven, but He came clothed in the deity of God.
It gives us the understanding that when Jesus came God Himself stepped out of heaven.
2. As the Son of Man.
Paul also tells us that Jesus was “born of woman.” Jesus not only had to come as God, but also had to live as man.
Job said that a man born of a woman few in days but full of trouble. Jesus fit that bill. He lived the life that every man, woman, boy, and girl live. Yet, He lived it in sinless perfection.
3. As a Servant of the Law.
Jesus came to bring an end to the penalty of the law, but He did so by fulfilling every letter of it.
Matthew 5:17 instructs us that He did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill the Law.
He fulfilled it even down to making the final sacrifice necessary for sin at Calvary.
B. His Activity
In verse five, Paul tells us exactly why Jesus came to the earth as a sacrifice for sin and that reason is that He might redeem them that are under the law.
The word for redeem (Gr. exagorazo) means to buy out of the slave market or to set free by paying a price. There were over 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire, and they could be purchased anywhere. A man would buy a slave to either have the slave for himself or to set the slave free.
He bought us out of the slave market, and when He purchased us He said “I’ve not purchased you to be a slave, but I’ve purchased to be a son.”
Christ became sin so we wouldn’t have to live under the power of sin. Christ became the curse so we wouldn’t have to live under the curse. Christ fulfilled the Law so that we wouldn’t live under the penalty of the Law.
Who, but God, could have orchestrated a plan where a baby born in a barnyard, surrounded by the muck and the mire of dirty farm animals would be the Savior of the world and the hope of all men?
It is a reminder to us that He came for a specific work. He did not come as the Mighty King but as a lowly lamb. The Suffering Servant had come.
III. The Adoption of the Sons (vs. 5b-7)
A. He Gave Us His Spirit
Paul tells us in verse six that because we are the sons of God that He has sent the Spirit of His Son, the Holy Spirit, into our hearts. This Spirit takes up permanent residence in our hearts.
The Spirit is the indicator that God dwells within you. Romans 8:16 teaches, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
When the adoption papers are faxed to the Throne Room of Heaven, God does not sign with an ink pen but He signs by the sending of His Holy Spirit into our hearts. That’s the proof that we know Him.
Not only does that Spirit save us, but it keeps us and works in us daily, conforming us into the image of Christ.
That Spirit causes us to cry out “Abba, Father!” It’s not a term of infancy, but intimacy. It shows the closeness that God has with those who are His children. No slave could ever call his master “Abba, Father.”
Jesus used the word “Abba” to describe His relationship with God the Father. The religious leaders were offended by this claim. They said “that’s too personal.” Jesus invites us to have the same relationship with God our Father.
B. He Gave Us His Supply
In the beginning of the passage, Paul referred to those who live under the law as living in bondage like little children who are heirs but are too young to access their father’s wealth.
In the end of this passage, Paul refers to those who have the Spirit of God as adult sons have been granted access to all that the Father possesses.
