The Incarnation and Why It Matters: When? (Galatians 4:4-5)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.560 --> 00:00:05.679 If you would please to remain standing and let's hear God's Word from Glacians, 2 00:00:07.150 --> 00:00:16.750 glacians chapter four, glacians for verse four and Verse Five. But when the 3 00:00:16.829 --> 00:00:23.019 fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a 4 00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.859 woman under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so 5 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:34.179 that we might receive adoption as sons. You may be seated for the next 6 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:38.490 few sermons. From now until the end of the month, I'm going to 7 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:44.969 be preaching a small topical series called the incarnation and why it matters. And 8 00:00:45.130 --> 00:00:50.240 then I'm dividing that into a few parts. This morning considering when. So 9 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.840 sort of when, the when of the incarnation and why that matters, and 10 00:00:55.039 --> 00:01:02.719 then tonight the where, then why, and then how. But today the 11 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:07.349 the, the when, and I want to draw your attention particularly to the 12 00:01:07.430 --> 00:01:12.629 very first phrase in Verse Four. But when the fullness of time had come, 13 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:19.099 when the fullness of time had come, when the fullness of time had 14 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:26.340 come, God did something. He sent forth his son, born of a 15 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:30.299 woman, born under the law. This is what he did, and he 16 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:36.329 did it for a purpose, to redeem those who are under the law, 17 00:01:37.290 --> 00:01:42.609 so that we might receive adoption as sons. Each one of these clauses, 18 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:48.239 each one of these phrases in this these two verses, deserves a lot of 19 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:53.640 attention and thoughtfulness. We need to make sure that we understand them. I'm 20 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:59.480 in many of them are immediately obvious. A God sent forth his son, 21 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:05.829 whom we know to be Jesus Christ, the son of God eternal and God 22 00:02:05.870 --> 00:02:08.870 himself. And this son of God, the second person of the Trinity, 23 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:14.870 was born of a woman, we know her name, Mary of Virgin, 24 00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:20.699 who conceived by the Holy Spirit and brought forth the son of God. He 25 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:23.020 was not just born of a woman and born as a man. That's what 26 00:02:23.139 --> 00:02:29.379 we mean by incarnation, that God took on flesh, but he was born 27 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:34.849 under a certain legal status. He was born under the law. This means 28 00:02:34.930 --> 00:02:38.729 that, just like each and every one of you, Jesus Christ was accountable. 29 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:45.439 He sort of switched sides of the Covenant. As God, he rightfully 30 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.680 makes the Covenant, he proclaims the laws, he says this you will do, 31 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.120 but as man he goes on the other side of that, and that 32 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:59.949 he's obligated to obey, even as we are. He was born under the 33 00:02:59.990 --> 00:03:07.110 law. The purpose is mentioned in verse five to Redeem those who were under 34 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:13.539 the law, that's us, to come in and to pay the debt that 35 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:19.300 we owed, so that we might not be cursed and children of Wrath, 36 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:25.139 but instead be adopted as sons. God sent his son into the world, 37 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:30.289 in other words, to take us out of one family and make us a 38 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:34.610 part of another, to take us out of the family of the devil. 39 00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:39.889 We're called children of Wrath, children of the evil one, in our sinful 40 00:03:39.930 --> 00:03:45.319 nature, and that's because this is who we follow before God saves us. 41 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:51.400 This is to whom we often give our llegiance and and and walk in his 42 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:57.909 ways. But when God sends his son, he brings us out of that 43 00:03:58.110 --> 00:04:02.349 old family, a sinful family, a family that's full of wretchedness and curse 44 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:06.789 and disobedience, and he makes us a part of the family of God, 45 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:14.419 not merely created by him, but recreated by him, given new life and 46 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:20.060 eternal life and to receive the rightful promises that come to those who are adopted 47 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:27.329 in inheritance that Jesus learns for us that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. 48 00:04:28.730 --> 00:04:33.250 God gives to us the privileges of being his child, the right to call 49 00:04:33.449 --> 00:04:36.850 on him, the right to know him, the right to ask him for 50 00:04:38.089 --> 00:04:43.759 things and find help for find help from him. God protects us, provides 51 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.879 for us, takes care of us, and all of this through the work 52 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:54.149 of Jesus. But all of this work that he did, the way in 53 00:04:54.230 --> 00:04:57.670 which he was born, the the law under which he was born, the 54 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:02.110 work that he was striving for, happened at a particular time. That's how 55 00:05:02.149 --> 00:05:09.019 this starts. There's a when to the incarnation, Paul says, when the 56 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:15.819 fullness of time had come. There's two ways we can answer the question about 57 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:23.050 when Jesus was born. The first way is according to dating. Most likely 58 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:29.290 de Jesus was born around for BC or three BC. That might sound a 59 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:32.370 little odd given our dating system, but you'll have to go read some dictionary 60 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:38.079 articles or something like that to know why that is. But he was born 61 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.759 at a particular time. That's the most important thing to say. Jesus is 62 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:50.110 not a imagine unitive character in the story of our culture through which we understand 63 00:05:50.269 --> 00:05:57.389 things. He's a real person. He had a particular nose, a particular 64 00:05:57.470 --> 00:06:01.709 shape to his shoulders, a particular gate to his walk. He was born 65 00:06:02.149 --> 00:06:10.060 in a particular way and in a particular time. Christianity is a historical religion. 66 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:15.660 It depends very much on these facts of history, and so that means 67 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:20.569 that Jesus isn't just an idea that we aspire to, a morality that we 68 00:06:21.529 --> 00:06:29.610 hope for or strive in, but he's a person and he was born. 69 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:36.839 That means he has a birthday. When that when he was born, we 70 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.120 know, even if we're not insure of the exact date, we know several 71 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:46.720 things about that time. We know that Herod was King, we know that 72 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.069 Rome was in power, we know that the Lord had sent his anointed one, 73 00:06:51.189 --> 00:06:57.910 Jesus, into the world under a particular set of circumstances. When you 74 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:01.620 were born, you were born under a particular set of circumstances. Maybe you 75 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:05.860 know the hospital where you were born, maybe you know the city in which 76 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:11.060 you were born or who was president at that time. All that, at 77 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:16.410 the same and UN is true for Jesus as well. Why is that important? 78 00:07:17.689 --> 00:07:23.209 Well, in addition to marking the point that Christianity is a historical religion, 79 00:07:23.290 --> 00:07:28.730 it's a it's a faith based in facts, it's also important because it 80 00:07:28.850 --> 00:07:32.959 reminds us that everything that God was doing was falling out according to his will. 81 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:40.600 and His providence. Jesus was born at the exact time that he was 82 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.589 and there were a lot of other things happening at that exact time so that 83 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:49.990 God would do his will. In other words, when Jesus was born, 84 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:58.310 Mary was there and Joseph and Herod and John and Elizabeth and the disciples. 85 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:05.180 There were people who were contracting diseases that Jesus would later heal. There was 86 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:09.060 suffering that was going on right at the moment that he was born that he 87 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:15.769 would later, in his ministry, come into contact with. There were witnesses 88 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:20.290 that Jesus didn't yet know that he would meet later on. You can, 89 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:26.610 as you think about each and each and every person and individual and animal and 90 00:08:26.129 --> 00:08:31.919 storm and all that happens in the gospels, and remember that those were all 91 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.279 happening in a particular time and in a particular way. It's a great encouragement. 92 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:43.070 Jesus didn't come into the world randomly. He came when he came because 93 00:08:43.110 --> 00:08:48.590 God sent him so that he could encounter the people that he would encounter so 94 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:52.509 that he could do the work that he would do. All of this according 95 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:58.740 to God's Great Providence. We know this not just because this is how God 96 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:05.379 always works and how God does all things, but also because, also because 97 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:13.009 there were prophecies concerning Jesus's birth, there were things in the past that preticted 98 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:18.649 his birth in the future. This means that God is in control of these 99 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:26.200 things and as a wonderful reminder to us, when we think about God and 100 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:31.480 his work in the world, the way he's weaving together this tapestry of grace 101 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.039 out of all of these individual moments, these people and places and times, 102 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:46.350 it helps us to remember that God is in control. Things were not great 103 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:50.230 when Jesus was born. Ever since Adam fell and sin came into the world, 104 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:58.259 things have never been just swimmingly and wonderful and perfect. Glory was lost. 105 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:03.860 But despite that, God continues to work in the world, and that 106 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:07.490 means that every year, every month, every day, every hour, every 107 00:10:07.529 --> 00:10:13.169 second of our lives is important to God. It's being used by God and 108 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:20.049 being woven together perfectly according to his will. There were many people who are 109 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:24.519 waiting for the Messiah to come, waiting for the birth of this child. 110 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:30.159 Indeed, God had promised to some that they would be able to see this 111 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:35.549 happened before their lives had ended. We find ourselves in our lives here and 112 00:10:35.669 --> 00:10:41.669 now waiting for things as well, and in the reminder of the particularness of 113 00:10:41.990 --> 00:10:46.230 the of the when of Jesus's birth, it reminds us that we can be 114 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:54.779 that we are safe in the various wends of God's will. We don't know 115 00:10:54.980 --> 00:11:00.259 them, but we can wait on him. Maybe you are waiting for something, 116 00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:05.690 a job to change, a friend to have, a child to grow, 117 00:11:05.730 --> 00:11:09.370 a debt to be paid, a disease to be healed, a relationship 118 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:16.409 to be restored. We find ourselves frustrated in the waiting, difficulty in the 119 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:20.600 patience. But when we think about God and his work in the world, 120 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:26.759 particularly as it's all concentrating in the work of the Sun, who comes to 121 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:31.480 save us, to restore us to Elis, to bring all things together, 122 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:37.429 you can know that God is in control and that it's a good thing that 123 00:11:37.590 --> 00:11:43.269 is. Sovereignty extends to the Wends of history and the various wends of our 124 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:50.779 individual lives, and that is a great blessing. So that's one way that 125 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:58.059 we can answer when Jesus was born on a particular day in history. But 126 00:11:58.179 --> 00:12:01.730 there's another way that we can answer it and that's this phrase that Paul uses 127 00:12:01.809 --> 00:12:09.370 here in Galatians, for in the fullness of time. What a wonderful phrase. 128 00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:13.409 Sort of hard to wrap your mind around it a little bit. What 129 00:12:13.490 --> 00:12:22.039 does that mean? The fullness of time? I think this phrase pushes against 130 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:24.679 or I wouldn't set let me change that. It doesn't push against, but 131 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:31.549 it adds another layer of understanding to the way we think about time. Sometimes 132 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:35.470 we think about time is like a tape measure you and with you you mark 133 00:12:35.629 --> 00:12:41.669 various points along that line. We call them timelines. Even right there's this 134 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:46.500 and then there's in this and then this. Viewed negatively, some people describe 135 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:52.659 this as well. One Damn thing after another, one cursed thing, one 136 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:58.139 terrible thing, one just after another. Boom boom, boom, boom boom. 137 00:12:58.649 --> 00:13:01.529 Is Very linear progression of things, and you might think of those as 138 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:05.289 bad, as in that example, or as good, as faded or as 139 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:11.570 not, as just this sort of continuous stream. Well, we know from 140 00:13:11.610 --> 00:13:16.600 the birth of Jesus that it it's not one damn thing after another, but 141 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:22.759 that God inserts into the world these moments of grace, of blessing, of 142 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:28.429 revelation, in which he takes the damned things of this world and makes them 143 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:35.309 blessed in which he takes the broken things and makes them together, he takes 144 00:13:35.350 --> 00:13:43.379 the cursed things and makes them whole. God is in control of these things. 145 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:48.580 But it's not just linear. The fullness of time suggests another metaphor. 146 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:54.980 Maybe you might think of that. I just forgot what they're called, those 147 00:13:54.379 --> 00:14:01.049 sand things that you turn upside down our glass, thank you. Think of 148 00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:07.570 an hour glass and our glass isn't. Isn't a linear kind of thing. 149 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:11.639 It has a fullness to it right it? I guess it runs the other 150 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.519 way, but it has a sense of being complete or not complete, of 151 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:22.000 filling up. The time is filling up. Time is not measured so much 152 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:28.870 in a linear way, but in terms of volume. This means that Jesus 153 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:35.309 came, that there's a completion two things. It's not just a line extending 154 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:37.620 forever and ever, but there's a there are time is to be measured in 155 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:45.500 a sense of of beginnings and ends and even completion. Jesus came for the 156 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:50.860 end, the completion of things, the fulfillment of promises. The incarnation then 157 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:56.129 has to be understood not just as a another dot on the timeline then, 158 00:14:56.529 --> 00:15:01.129 but as a big dot. Maybe, if you're making a timeline or in 159 00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:07.639 the fullness of things, as things were coming to an end, Jesus came. 160 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:13.360 Minutes, seconds, days, these are measured not just in particular points 161 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:18.960 but in terms of what's going on in the world. There's a kind of 162 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:26.029 importance in these things, and the importance of them is measured by Jesus. 163 00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:33.350 Jesus is not just a fact of history, he is the fact of history. 164 00:15:33.710 --> 00:15:37.580 When Jesus comes and when Jesus was born, he came at this moment. 165 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:43.899 It was the fullness of time because, because he was coming, this 166 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:50.409 is what God had planned. This is how things where centralized. Time is 167 00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:56.570 organized, organized not just by the sun rotating around the earth, it's organized 168 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:03.129 theologically as well by the Sun. So son, the son of God, 169 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:11.840 gives meaning to our time. When the fullness of time came, then God 170 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:18.750 sent forth his son. This reminds us that God is not just in control 171 00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:22.950 over all these things, but he's in control of them in a particular way. 172 00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:27.830 He has a goal in mind, a destiny, a purpose, and 173 00:16:27.990 --> 00:16:37.539 it's all found in Jesus. This means that our time has a certain character 174 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:41.740 to it. If God has sent his son into the world, who has 175 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:45.100 been born of a woman and under the law, to redeem those who are 176 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:51.289 under the law, and we know from other parts of scripture that that period 177 00:16:51.370 --> 00:16:56.250 of redemption will one day come to an end and the sun will come again 178 00:16:56.330 --> 00:17:02.879 at the completion, in the consummation of this work to judge the world. 179 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:08.000 Then that means, brothers and sisters and listeners, that there is a kind 180 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:15.349 of urgency to this time. When the our glass is running out of sand 181 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:18.549 and you're playing a game, what do you do? You say hurry up, 182 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:22.269 hurry up, give your answer. Or if you're working on a project 183 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:26.069 and you turn your our glass over, you know you've got thirty minutes to 184 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:30.900 complete it. You there's an urgency to that as you see the sands of 185 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:38.539 time slipping away. There's an urgency that Paul tells us and is assumed here 186 00:17:38.660 --> 00:17:45.329 and is explicitly stated another passages, the fullness as time has come. We 187 00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:49.849 can't wait anymore. There's no more waiting for the Messiah, for he has 188 00:17:49.930 --> 00:17:56.130 come. Jesus offers to each and every one of you grace here and now, 189 00:17:57.569 --> 00:18:03.079 in this time, in this moment. Some people presume on this and 190 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.559 say we live all the time in the world. They think it's just one 191 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:11.990 point after another, going on forever and ever in either direction. Who knows? 192 00:18:12.029 --> 00:18:17.509 It doesn't matter. But in the fullness of time Jesus came. That 193 00:18:17.750 --> 00:18:22.349 tells us that we can't think about things like that. This moment happened at 194 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:26.980 history and it happened at the end. It happened and at the completing time 195 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:36.460 we are on the threshold of entering into something we cannot wait, and Jesus 196 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:41.299 reminds us of this various times throughout his ministry. He describes a kind of 197 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:48.690 urgency, a preparedness that's required. And people of the world, not only 198 00:18:48.769 --> 00:18:52.210 is there an urgency to trusting in him, believing in him, coming to 199 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:57.079 faith in him so that we can become the children of God, but also 200 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:03.079 means that there should be a priority to this. And something happens in your 201 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.519 life, or something is going to happen in your life at a particular time 202 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:14.109 and it's of its momentous, do you ignore it? You say, well, 203 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:17.230 don't need to worry about it? Does it not take any kind of 204 00:19:17.390 --> 00:19:22.029 priority? Of course it does. If you are a good husband and you 205 00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:26.660 know your anniversary is coming up, this is a momentous thing and you prepare 206 00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:30.900 for this, you get ready for this. If you know that you are 207 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:37.740 your job is coming to an end and you need another one, you prepare 208 00:19:37.859 --> 00:19:41.450 for this. You get ready for it. And if we know that, 209 00:19:41.970 --> 00:19:45.049 not just at a moment in time, but in the fullness of time, 210 00:19:45.089 --> 00:19:49.809 Jesus has come, are you not going to give some priority to that? 211 00:19:49.849 --> 00:19:53.799 Are you not going to say, well, this is something I need to 212 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:03.119 pay attention to. It must be faith in Jesus, in the one who's 213 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.230 come. Trusting on him and believing on him has urgency and priority because of 214 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:15.910 the when of the incarnation, the fullness of time. I want to mention 215 00:20:15.990 --> 00:20:22.940 one last thing as we close. The fact that Jesus came in the fullness 216 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:27.539 of time affects this urgency I mentioned. There's a priority to the way we 217 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:33.299 live, but there's also something else. It also means that we can live 218 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:44.769 in the world in a way that's restful. When God created the world, 219 00:20:45.769 --> 00:20:52.039 he created the world in six days and then he rested, that rest showing 220 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.880 the consummation of his work, the sort of fullness of days and of his 221 00:20:56.039 --> 00:21:02.400 work had been done, and then he entered in to that rest. There's 222 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:07.670 a parallel there with what Jesus has done. Jesus has come to bring us 223 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:14.069 into that rest. He's completed the work of creation, not just in the 224 00:21:14.150 --> 00:21:22.700 world but on the Cross, on the cross Jesus died for all those whom 225 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:27.819 the father had given them given him. He brought us into a communion with 226 00:21:29.019 --> 00:21:33.730 him. He finished this work, he rose from the dead, he sat 227 00:21:33.809 --> 00:21:38.170 down at the father's right hand so that he could rule and reign over his 228 00:21:38.849 --> 00:21:48.759 kingdom. Now this rest is not yet final, it's not yet consummated. 229 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.759 There are remains a sabbath rest for the people of God, their remains arrest 230 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.640 and which we will enter and finally see all things in subjection to him. 231 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:06.470 But even now, knowing that Jesus has come, knowing that King Jesus has 232 00:22:06.549 --> 00:22:10.430 come in the fullness of time, that he did the work that he came 233 00:22:10.630 --> 00:22:14.430 to do, that he now sits at the father's right hand ruling over us, 234 00:22:15.630 --> 00:22:19.740 it means that we can rest. It means that our lives are no 235 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:26.460 longer need to be characterized by toiling and striving after the things of this world, 236 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:30.609 but we can rest in the grace of God. It means that we 237 00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:36.210 no longer have to strive after righteousness that will somehow please him or appease him, 238 00:22:37.170 --> 00:22:41.650 but it means that we can trust in Jesus, knowing that he has 239 00:22:41.690 --> 00:22:49.000 accomplished things for us. Might think of it this way. If you are 240 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:56.880 someone, let's say you are in need of being adopted, and a family 241 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:03.190 promises to bring you into a home someday, and let's say you're in this 242 00:23:03.309 --> 00:23:07.190 orphanage in you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting for that time when, 243 00:23:07.549 --> 00:23:12.019 some day, someone will come and take you out and bring you home. 244 00:23:15.059 --> 00:23:21.579 This has happened for us. Jesus has come, he's taken us out, 245 00:23:22.259 --> 00:23:27.130 he's brought us home, and so we can rest. We can rest knowing 246 00:23:27.210 --> 00:23:32.769 that God is our father and he's taking care of us and he's watching over 247 00:23:32.890 --> 00:23:36.930 us. We can rest knowing that we belong to his household, that he 248 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:41.289 is guiding US and leading us. We can rest knowing that we're no longer 249 00:23:41.329 --> 00:23:47.319 apart from him, but that we belong to him as sons and daughters of 250 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:55.869 God. When you think about the when of the incarnation, think about God's 251 00:23:56.109 --> 00:24:00.349 work in history, not only that it happens and falls out according to his 252 00:24:00.509 --> 00:24:06.990 perfect plan, but is that his perfect plan involves this great act of grace 253 00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:11.059 in the coming of Jesus Christ, and knowing that it's in the fullness of 254 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:17.700 time, let your lives be lived out in response to that, in faith 255 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:22.779 and rust and trust in Jesus. Let us pray