“What a Difference a Day Makes”
Galatians 4:1-7 12/22/24 a.m.
A man in Phoenix called his son in New York on Christmas Eve and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough – I cannot take it any more!” The startled son replies, “Pop what are you talking about, you and mom are so in love”
The father replies we simply cannot stand the sight of each other any longer. We are sick of each other and I do not want to talk about it any longer; you call your sister in Chicago and tell her the bad news.
Frantic, the son calls his sister in Chicago, and tells her of their parents impending divorce – she is shocked and immediately calls her parents – Her dad answers the phone, but before he can say hello, she blurts out; THERE IS NO WAY YOU & MOM ARE GETTING A DIVORCE! I will take care of this. She tells her father not to do a thing she will be in Phoenix tomorrow and her brother from Chicago will be there as well.
The old man hangs up the phone and turns to his wife and says “THE KIDS ARE COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS AND PAYING THEIR OWN WAY!
SOME PEOPLE WILL DO ANYTHING TO GET OTHERS TO PARTICIPATE IN CHRISTMAS!!!
We’ve been working our way through the Book of James on Wednesdays and we finished up Chapter 4 last Wednesday night. And part of that study we covered Verse 14,
“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
What a difference one day can make. Throughout the history of the world, just one day changed everything. I guarantee you if I was to give you a date you could tell me what happened that day. Here we go ...
November 5, 2024 The Presidential Election. I believe it changed the direction of our country.
September 11, 2001 Islamic Terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. 2996 dead.
April 19, 1995 The Oklahoma City bombing. 168 dead.
January 28, 1986 The Space Shuttle Challenger blew up. 7
June 2, 1966 I was BORN!!!
November 22, 1963. President was assassinated.
July 4, 1776 The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress. It was ratified on August 2, 1776.
All of these are very important days except for that June 2, 1966. It might not be quite as important as the rest. But going on back into history there was ONE DAY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING. Let’s read about it in Galatians 4. We’ll read Verses 1-7.
“Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Verse 4 is kind of the KEY VERSE that we read there.
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law”
This morning I’d like to take a look at what things were like BEFORE the FULNESS of TIME and what things are like AFTER the FULNESS of TIME. But before we do let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother _____, would you lead us?
The phrase "in the fullness of time" means something will eventually happen after a long time or a series of events. It can also mean when the time is JUST RIGHT. Both of these definitions are true when it comes to this Verse.
After a long series of events and when it was just the right time Jesus came. And oh what a difference He made in this world. Nothing will ever be the same again. Oh how things have changed. It was like NIGHT and DAY.
Now we don’t know exactly when that day was and we’re not even for sure what year it was. Some believe Jesus could have been born as early as 6 B.C. and others believe Dionysius Exiguus (DIONY SIUS EXI GU US) got it right when he set the date as 1 A.D. Either way, Jesus was born sometime in that 7 year period and it was at the RIGHT TIME and the RIGHT PLACE. No matter the date, EVERYTHING CHANGED when Jesus came.
I read this the other day and I thought it is so true. When Jesus came He was WITH US. When He died for us on the Cross of Calvary He was FOR US. And when He arose again and went back to Heaven He sent the Holy Spirit to be IN US. And today, 2000 years later Jesus is still WITH US, FOR US and IN US. I am thankful for Him today and so let’s get in to what that day CHANGED when the TIME was right and Jesus came.
I. Well, first of all, before Jesus came, the Human Race was living as SERVANTS and not CHILDREN of the Living God.
Look at Verse 1, “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.”
You know both the Jews and the Greeks had what you might call a COMING of AGE CEREMONY. It was the time when a BOY stopped being a CHILD and was considered a MAN. And when he became a man he had LEGAL RIGHTS as an HEIR. The Jews still have their BAR MITZ BAH
Now the Roman’s had COMING of AGE CEREMONIES also but there was no specific age. It would happen when the father thought the boy was ready. Now Paul was a Roman Citizen and ALL of these people were under Roman Rule at this time and so I think this is what Paul is referring to.
Up until this COMING of AGE happened, that Roman boy was treated just like a servant. He had NO FREEDOM to do what he wanted. And this is NOT just talking about YOUNG BOYS but BIG BOYS who we might consider adults today. And here they were having to go to school, get bossed around, do what they were told to do. But eventually, just at the RIGHT TIME, something amazing would happen. The FATHER would proclaim that the BOY was a man. And he would then go from being treated as a servant, to being treated like an HEIR. At this time the child was formally adopted by the father as his acknowledged son and heir. He would then be given the TOGA VIRILIS instead of the TOGA PRATEXTA which he had been wearing since he was a child.
And that’s what the Apostle Paul compared mankind to here in Galatians. Someone who was destined to INHERIT but had not yet made it to that point. Mankind was LOST. Bound by SIN with NO WAY to be rid of it. Taught and Ruled over by a SCHOOLMASTER. The LAW. And that’s the way it had been for thousands of years. But then, at the RIGHT TIME everything changed. God sent forth His Son.
Made of a woman. The Virgin Mary.
And He was made UNDER the Law. In other words, Jesus was born into a Jewish family that LIVED under the Law and He, being God in the flesh, was the only One to ever KEEP the ENTIRE LAW.
So what does all of this mean for you and I today. Why is the DAY that Jesus came to the Earth of so much importance?
Listen, I want you to get this. The DAY has come for you and I to NO LONGER be JUST SERVANTS. No longer are we to be under the LAW. Under a SCHOOLMASTER. Of NO IMPORTANCE. We are NO LONGER destined to be SLAVES. We have been called to be God’s Children. His HEIRS. The CEREMONY, the BIRTH of JESUS, took place over 2000 years ago and today we can be FREE from the Chains of SIN. We are called to be the Children of God. Now THAT’S GOOD NEWS.
ILLUS: John Newton, the man who wrote the most popular and famous hymn in America, Amazing Grace, knew how to remember this. He was an only child whose mother died when he was only seven years old. He became a sailor and went out to sea at eleven years old. As he grew up, he became the captain of a slave ship and had an active hand in the horrible degradation and inhumanity of the slave trade. But when he was twenty-three, on March 10, 1748, when his ship was in imminent danger of sinking off the coast of Newfoundland, he cried to God for mercy, and he found it. He never forgot how amazing it was that God had received him, as bad as he was.
And to keep it fresh in his memory, he fastened across the wall over the fireplace mantel of his study the words of Deuteronomy 15:15 “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.”
Here we are, three days from Christmas. Let’s keep in mind where we would be today without Jesus coming to REDEEM us from the RAVAGES of SIN. With all of the HUSTLE and BUSTLE, all of the GIFTS and GOOD FOOD, all of the TRAVELING and VISITING, let’s remember, not just on Christmas, but EVERYDAY, that Jesus came, lived and died for you and I.
II. And so now, as Children of God, what did these folks there in Galatia gain? We know that at the RIGHT TIME Jesus came. So now what? Look at Verses 6 and 7.
“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
And so now we see that these folks had the Spirit of God living within them. Leading and guiding them. Helping them live a life that was pleasing to Him.
Now the Churches of Galatia were mainly Gentiles but there were some Jews. The Gentiles probably had an easier time accepting this SPIRIT that dwelled within them.
Worshipping the True and Living God, Communing with Him one on one was something new to them but they hadn’t even been taught any different. Many of these Gentiles had probably been involved in the worship of false idols but those false idols were DEAD. And so now they were serving a REAL GOD whose SPIRIT dwelled within them.
But the Jews. They were still SERVING the same God as they had before but things were different. The MESSIAH had come. JESUS had COME!!! No longer did they have to OBEY the Levetical Law. No longer were they required to offer SACRIFICES. No longer did they have to go through the PRIEST to communicate with God. Now the Spirit of God dwelled within them. And Jesus had come and He had KEPT the VERY LAW that they couldn’t KEEP. He died on the CROSS of CALVARY as the FINAL SACRIFICE for their SINS and NOW He was their INTERCESSOR. Wow, things had changed. They now had a LOVING FATHER that they could talk to anytime they needed Him. I bet the difference was like NIGHT and DAY. When the TIME was right Jesus came. And NO LONGER were they servants but the Children of God. No longer was God someone who was off in the sky. His SPIRIT DWELLED within them.
A. ILLUS: One of my nieces, Lydia, and her husband Will, recently finalized the adoption of two little children. One of them was a little premature baby that they got straight from the hospital when he was finally able to go home.
The other was a little girl who has had a pretty hard life. I guess she’s around three or four now. When they first got her Will couldn’t put her down. Every time he started to she would scream. You see, she had been abandoned and passed around all of her life. She had no security. And so one of the first pictures they have of this little girl, is of Will laying in a chair with her on his chest. All night long he stayed there in that chair with this little girl sleeping on his chest. He had to call into work because she wouldn’t let go of him. Two years have passed and we had the privilege of getting to go to the ADOPTION of both of these children. They’re both thriving now because they have a MAMA and DADDY who loves them. A MAMA and DADDY who will never abandon them.
When I saw that picture it made me think of the LOVING GOD that we have. That’s one thing that we gain when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Hebrews 13:5 tells us that we gain a LOVING FATHER who will never leave us nor forsake us.
B. What else do we GET when we put all of our FAITH and TRUST in Him? Well, HIS SPIRIT dwells within us. His SPIRIT that will lead us and guide. His Spirit that COMMUNES with our Spirit. Romans 8:14-16
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”
C. And lastly, we GAIN a NEW HOME. Look at the last part of Verse 7.
“and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
I was thinking about these folks there in Galatia. Up until this point in their lives they had very little hope. Most of the Gentiles were either idolaters or nothing. Some of the Jews were Sadducees. They didn’t believe in the AFTERLIFE. Some may have believed in a Heaven but they had little hope of making it. But then the Apostle Paul came along and showed them Jesus and that made all of the difference. He showed them how that they can have eternal life in Heaven.
I thought about the first day Paul showed up there in Galatia. I bet it was one of those days. Days that those folks just wouldn’t forget for the rest of their lives.
It was their July4, 1776. It was their Independence Day
ILLUS: You know, it’s been almost 50 years since I accepted Jesus as my Savior but I still remember that night that Jesus came into my life. I was so excited because I KNEW something was different. I had been raised in church all of my life but something was different. It was at the Old Prairie Grove Campground up by Oolagah. I don’t remember what the preacher preached on but I remember the CONVICTING POWER of the Holy Spirit drawing me to God. And after that day, I’ll never be the same.
Can I ask you something? Do you remember the day when you really accepted Jesus as your Savior?
Can you PINPOINT the MOMENT that Jesus really changed your life?
Listen, to be an HEIR of GOD you have to be His child. To INHERIT HEAVEN as your HOME, YOU HAVE TO BE HIS CHILD. John 14:1-6, Jesus is speaking to His disciples but 2000 years later He’s still speaking to us.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Thomas asked the most important question ever asked. “How can we know the way?” And Jesus answered, “I am the Way” Jesus is the WAY!!!
Think about this for a minute. There are certain dates in your mind that are important to you. Your husband or wife’s birthday, your kid’s birthdays, your wedding anniversary (That’s a BIGGEE, don’t forget it). You need to know all of these.
Today, December 22, 2024, could be another one of those important days that you won’t forget. The day you became an HEIR of God.
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Let’s Pray
