Timing is Everything!
Galatians 3:26-4:7
Dr. Clay Hallmark
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas
I love the Christmas season, don’t you? I get excited just seeing how excited my kids are this time of the year. I love preaching at Christmas time. There are just so many things to preach at Christmas: Shepherds, WiseMen, Mary & Joseph, The Inn, The Angels, or the prophectic passages of the OT. Choosing what to preach at Christmas is like having to choose between Banana pudding and chocolate cake. It is all good!
Galatians 3:26-4:7 may seem like an unusual passage of scripture for Christmas. In Galatians 3 and 4, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Galatia to remind them of the purpose for their Christian faith. The key to this passage will be found in 4:4-5 because in those 2 verses Paul is quick to point out to the Galatian Christians that it is because of that 1st Christmas that we can be saved and become Children of God. This morning Paul helps the Galatians and us see how we can have a personal relationship with the creator of all the universe!
I think we can learn some lessons about how God works in our world and in our lives. Notice the following 3 lessons about the Lord. . .
I. THE LORD WAS RIGHT ON TIME (4:4 a)
Now let me ask you a question . . . How many of you like to be on time? I do too! If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is to be late. At our house we have a running joke because my wife is always 15 minutes late to everything. We say at our house there is Central Standard Time and “my wife” Standard Time.
Here Paul shows us how the Lord was right on time! What did Paul mean when he said, “When the time had fully come” or as the KJV says, “When the fullness of time was come”? Paul meant, “When the time was perfectly right, God sent His one and only Son.”
As American people, we are (by nature) a very impatient people. Because we live in a society of instant news, weather, and current events, we want things right when we want them. We bring this attitude to the things of God. We want our prayers answers right now. We want God to work on our behalf right now. When difficulties persist or we do not see God moving, we become impatient because God’s timing is not our timing!
Paul reminds us how Christmas teaches us that God is never too soon or never too late. The Lord is always right on time!
ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. Joseph sold into slavery by brothers, imprisoned, but at just the right time, God made him prime minister of Egypt and he saved his people from famine.
2. Moses had gone from being the grandson of the Pharoah to the land of Midian tending his father-n-law’s sheep. When the time was right God called him to lead his people. It was during that time when he had no real direction or purpose in life that God showed up right on time and called him.
3. RED SEA experience- Moses did not panic, rather he trusted in God who ware right on time.
4. The 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace. God showed up right on time.
The Lord’s timing is still perfect today! Notice 3 truths:
A) The Lord was right on Time at His First Coming
How long it must have seemed to the people waiting for a coming Messiah. In the garden of Eden, a deliverer was promised.
The prophecies of the great prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah all talked about the coming Messiah. Yet, when we come to Matthew 1 and the N.T., the people had heard nothing from God for over 400 years! For 4 centuries there had been not prophets, preachers, or proclamation. I’m sure the people began to think God had forgotten His promise to them.
Then, when the people had almost lost hope. When they were least expecting God to move, there was action! The angel came to Mary, The angel came to Joseph, a host of angels came to the shepherds, and God placed a star in the heavens to lead the Wise Men to Jesus.
Think about it for a moment . . . the whole event (taxing, crowded inn, the birth, the stable, the shepherds, the angels) all was apart of God perfect plan and perfect timing! The Lord was right on time at His first coming. Paul also says,
B) The Lord will be right on Time at His Final Coming (4:4 b)->
Our Lord promised us that He will come again to receive us unto Himself. Jesus said in John 14:3, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again ...” Over in Acts 1:11, we can read that Jesus ascended back into heaven. The Lord sent 2 angels who appeared to the disciples who said these words, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”
Here is the bottom line: Jesus is coming again! I do not know how, I do not know when, but I do know this . . . He is coming again and when He does, He will be right on time and we had better be ready!
C) The Lord is always right on time with His Faithful Compassion->
One of the things Paul was helping the Galatians understand is something we must understand: You are not here by accident. God has you here in this world and in this place for a purpose. He has a plan for your life today. Regardless of who you are, where you are, or what you may be facing, God has a plan for you.
One of the great lessons I have learned in my life is this: The difficulties and challenges we face each day are really opportunities for us to believe and exercise our faith in God! No matter what you are facing, Christmas is a reminder to you not to give up or lose hope. God is at work on your behalf as you place your faith and trust in Him. His timing may not be your timing, but His timing is perfect. Why? The Lord was right on time!
II. THE LORD WAS RIGHT ON TARGET (4:4 b)
Now don’t miss this part of the message because this is vital to our lives. Paul reminds, “God sent His Son. . .”. This is key because it is important for you to know that Jesus came right on time, but it is even more important for you to know that Jesus came to the right target. You are the Lord’s target! Paul’s Words remind of us of Jesus’ words in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son. . .”
LISTEN, I am excited to know that on that first Christmas, Jesus came! I am even more excited to know that on that first Christmas, Jesus came for me and Jesus came for you. We were His target. We were the focus and the reason for Christ coming into the Word. Jesus came for you.
The question you may ask is one I have asked numerous times, “Why am I the target of the Lord’s coming? Why did Jesus come for me?” I’ve asked myself that question many times. I am certainly not good enough and will never be good enough for Jesus to come into the world for me. Still, Jesus came. He did not come because I deserved His coming or because you deserved His coming. Jesus came simply because “God so loved the world . . . you and me.” Love for you is all the reason God needed to send His one and only Son to come into this world and be born in such humility.
This Christmas, you are still God’s target or God’s focus. The Lord desires to have a personal relationship with you. If you are in sin and have never allowed Him to forgive your sin and if you have never made Jesus your Lord, you are robbing yourself of God’s greatest gift this Christmas season because you do not have the Lord’s salvation!
Christian, the Lord desires time in your relationship with Him. He desires your prayers and your praise. He desires your service, surrender, stewardship, and sacrifice.
We learn some Christmas lessons about how God works in our world and lives. What we have learned so far is that the Lord was right on time / Right on target . . .
III. THE LORD IS READY TO TRANSFORM (4:4-7)
The word “transform” is an important word because it means to make completely different or to make new out of the old. That first Christmas was a time for transformation. That event transformed the lives of Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, and all who came to Jesus. History has been transform because of that great Christmas event.
What is amazing to me is that history and all these people were transformed because Christ came, but there are those in this sanctuary today who have not been transformed. In verse 7, Paul talks about the transformation that can take place in our lives because of Jesus. We can be transformed from a SLAVE TO SIN into a SON OF THE SAVIOR! We can be transformed from a person Headed to Hell in sin into a person headed to Heaven with salvation. This is a transformation only Jesus can do. We can become Sons and Daughters of God because Jesus who was born in a stable and laid in a manger was nailed to a cross for our sin.
As Jesus hung on Calvary’s cross for our sin, God’s Word tells us that He could have called on those same angels who announced His birth to the shepherds to come and deliver Him from the suffering and shame of the cross, but He didn’t. Rather than being delivered, Jesus chose to die on the cross so that He could deliver us!
You do not have to be a slave to sin any longer. Today you can be saved! You can be changed! Your life can be transformed, your attitude, family, marriage, priorities. If you will come to Jesus, He will take you where you are, transform you, and make you into the person He wants you to be.
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION YOU WILL EVERY MAKE! The shepherds on the hillside heard the good news of Great Joy and the Bible says immediately they went to the place where Jesus was. There they found Jesus and their lives were filled with Joy and their were transformed. They had a life-changing experience with Jesus for one reason: When the call came and the opportunity to go to Jesus came to them, they did not hesitate, delay, or make an excuse.
Don’t miss Jesus this Christmas sitting on the hillside of complacency or by remaining in darkness! The time is right now. The Lord is always right on time, you are His target, and today you can be transformed!
