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

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.360 Let's hear God's Word from Galatians chapter four, Galatians four, versus four and 2 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:23.059 five. For those of you who have been with us, you know that 3 00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:28.219 I'm preaching a series through December called the incarnation and why it matters. And 4 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:34.579 then I'm throwing another question words to focus our topics. Who, what, 5 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:39.049 when, where, why and how. We looked at this verse last time 6 00:00:39.170 --> 00:00:43.490 when we considered the first phrase about when the fullness of time had come, 7 00:00:43.609 --> 00:00:49.890 answering the when question of the incarnation and why. That's important to us today. 8 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:55.479 This this morning, we consider the why, the why of the incarnation 9 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:59.880 and if you're with us this afternoon I will have a mini a service and 10 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:06.109 will consider the WHO of the incarnation, but for now the why and Galatians 11 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:11.670 for versus four and five. Let's here God's word. But when the fullness 12 00:01:11.709 --> 00:01:18.069 of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, 13 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:23.140 born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so 14 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:34.730 that we might receive eve adoption as suns. You may be seated. One 15 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:38.849 of my favorite words is Christmas time. I just love the way it's all 16 00:01:40.049 --> 00:01:45.129 one word and and and I will have the way that it has these connotations 17 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.079 all sort of wrapped up in it. It's a word that expresses least I 18 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.159 think. I think it expresses a lot. At the same time, it 19 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:57.760 has its its limits, and I want to consider some of those things today. 20 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:04.390 One of the things to mention about Christmas time is that it's a popular 21 00:02:04.469 --> 00:02:09.750 time to think about miracles. It's one of those things that Christmas time connotes. 22 00:02:12.389 --> 00:02:15.819 Of course, there's the big M miracles, the kind that involve the 23 00:02:16.020 --> 00:02:23.099 Virgin conception of a child, harrowing escapes as the result of angelic warnings, 24 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:30.210 big M miracles. There, of course, the big M pretend miracles that 25 00:02:30.569 --> 00:02:36.930 involve Santa, and then there are the small m miracles, the ones that 26 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:43.370 we think about and hope for around Christmas time, the hallmark movie moments and, 27 00:02:44.009 --> 00:02:46.680 you know, it's easy to say that somewhat jaded Lee, but really 28 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:50.639 they're not so bad. In fact, I think it's all right to hope 29 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:55.159 for them. It seems to me that when everyone is reflecting on the past 30 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:01.509 and hoping of the future, while surrounded, why with beautiful lights and Christmas 31 00:03:01.550 --> 00:03:09.069 decorations and cookies and singing and good food, sometimes it brings out the best 32 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:15.580 in people. Sometimes Christmas time reminds us of what's important, what's worth fighting 33 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:23.780 for, what's worth living for, and sometimes these small m miracles result. 34 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:31.409 Relationships are rekindled, forgiveness is granted, things that we had hoped for, 35 00:03:31.770 --> 00:03:39.490 perhaps all year, are sometimes experienced, especially around Christmas time. At the 36 00:03:39.569 --> 00:03:45.599 same time, we know that they don't always happen, and when they don't, 37 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:51.319 we are reminded of the darkness the Christmas time is unable to overcome. 38 00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:57.509 In fact, for some of you, perhaps you have experienced more Christmas tragedies 39 00:03:58.310 --> 00:04:02.349 than Christmas miracles. I know for a fact that for some of you, 40 00:04:02.550 --> 00:04:14.020 the holidays have more dread than hope. Why be such a downer? Why 41 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:19.980 take away the lights and those kinds of things? Well, I want to 42 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:26.370 point this out, not just for the sake of honesty, but to remove 43 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:30.250 the thing that covers up our happiness so that I can give you the thing 44 00:04:30.410 --> 00:04:36.170 that really cures it. It's like taking away a bandaid so that we can 45 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:41.759 look at a wound, not so that we can just Gawk at it or 46 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:47.600 feel the pain together, but to heal it. This is what Christianity is 47 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:53.829 about. It's about being honest, it's about saying the truth about the way 48 00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:59.430 things are, and Christmas time is both those things. It's wonderful and happy 49 00:04:59.629 --> 00:05:05.029 and full of sugar and Candy and lights and Nice things, sometimes even nicer 50 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:12.620 things, like forgiveness and love and and peace. But it has its limits, 51 00:05:12.740 --> 00:05:19.379 too, real limits, things it cannot overcome, things that only the 52 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:29.490 big and miracle of Jesus Christ can truly solve. This is why I want 53 00:05:29.490 --> 00:05:33.129 us to think about when we think about the father's purpose in sending the son 54 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:42.480 into the world, we consider why God became human, why he took on 55 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.639 humanity and what that means for us. When we read Galatians for and many, 56 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:50.629 many other passages in the Bible, when the fullness of time had come, 57 00:05:50.870 --> 00:05:56.589 God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the 58 00:05:56.629 --> 00:06:00.149 law. For this. Why? For this reason in verse five, to 59 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:06.019 Redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. 60 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:15.019 There's a lot of big theological concepts in verse five, and that doesn't 61 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:18.850 mean they're wrong. It just means that there's a lot going on in this 62 00:06:19.009 --> 00:06:24.050 verse, a lot that's explained in Matthew, mark, Luke and John and 63 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:28.970 the other letters of the new testaments. Indeed even throughout all of the Old 64 00:06:29.089 --> 00:06:33.639 Testament, when it says that Christ came to redeem those under the laws, 65 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:39.560 talking about us, all of us who are born under the law, but 66 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:46.269 particularly under the curse of the law, because we are born under Adam, 67 00:06:47.029 --> 00:06:53.550 born because, as a result of Adam and eve in their fallenness, in 68 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:58.629 their fallen nature and under their sin, we're all in this predict pre predicament. 69 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:04.060 We all are under this darkness that we feel, these Christmas tragedies and 70 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:10.620 really year long tragedies that we feel. There is something that we need to 71 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:15.139 be brought out, up, out, brought out from under so that we 72 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:21.850 can become something else. The opposite phrase of adoption as sons is rejection, 73 00:07:21.889 --> 00:07:28.529 as children of Wrath, as those born under the law who are unable to 74 00:07:28.610 --> 00:07:33.839 fulfill the law and live our lives as in disobedience to the Lord. We 75 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:40.920 are those that are rightly rejected by him, judged by him. But when 76 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:44.829 he comes to save us, when he takes on our humanity, when he 77 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:49.189 becomes a brother to us, he does so so that we can be brought 78 00:07:49.350 --> 00:07:55.629 in and made part of a larger family, so that we can be adopted 79 00:07:55.870 --> 00:08:00.620 and not rejected and, as he goes on to say, one implication of 80 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:03.420 this in verse six, because you are sons. God has sent the spirit 81 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:07.259 of son, spirit of his son, into our hearts, crying Abba father. 82 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:11.860 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a 83 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:18.089 son, then an heir through God. There's other ways the scripture puts a 84 00:08:18.050 --> 00:08:24.649 in Colossians, for example, Paul writes that God has rescued us, or 85 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:28.839 deliver heard us out of the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom 86 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:35.159 of his beloved son. These are white nights that comes into the world and 87 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:43.629 rescues us. This is the big M miracle of Jesus. It's what really 88 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:48.389 saves us. You might think about it this way. When you think about 89 00:08:48.389 --> 00:08:54.750 the why of Jesus, it's hard to understand the significance of his coming unless 90 00:08:54.750 --> 00:09:00.500 you recognize what he came to save, the kind of world that he came 91 00:09:00.580 --> 00:09:05.860 into. So, for example, in the gospel of John, John says 92 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:11.490 that the light shines in the darkness. Speaking of Jesus, the light shines 93 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:15.809 in the darkness. That's what he does. He says a few verses later, 94 00:09:15.850 --> 00:09:20.009 the true light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 95 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:24.159 But to understand that light again, I say you have to understand something 96 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:28.000 about the darkness, and honestly, that's not that hard. I don't think 97 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:37.200 which one of you doesn't have disappointments or regrets? Who among us has nothing 98 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.950 to feel embarrassed about humbled by? Who among us has never been hurt or 99 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:52.190 sad or lonely? This world is not an easy place to live in. 100 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:56.860 We might remember a Christmas truce, for example, during a war, but 101 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:03.980 how can we forget the bloodshed on either side of that event? We might 102 00:10:03.019 --> 00:10:07.610 see our neighbors Christmas lights, but they can't drown out the yelling and the 103 00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:13.769 screaming at night. And it wasn't even long after Jesus himself was born that 104 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:22.399 Herod murdered all the male children two years and under throughout that region. At 105 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:31.200 that Christmas time there was terror and weeping in tragedy. This is the darkness 106 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:35.990 that the light came into. But John goes on to say that the light 107 00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:43.669 shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. That's a big 108 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:50.700 M miracle. It's dark, it's really dark. It's a result of our 109 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:54.299 sins, a result of our disobedience a result of God's wrath and judgment. 110 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:03.929 But the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. 111 00:11:05.450 --> 00:11:11.769 Without the light, the result of sin and the curse it envelops us, 112 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:18.330 the darkness and Vell Lops us, it in dwells us. But when the 113 00:11:18.370 --> 00:11:24.159 light comes into the world, this light is called Emmanuel, God with us, 114 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:31.080 he shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. When 115 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:33.190 we think about this, it means that we have a hope beyond just a 116 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:41.350 certain time of year. Time can't save us, even when it falls around 117 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:46.950 December, even when it's a time attached to a significant event in the world. 118 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:54.100 Christmas time can't save you, but Christ can, and that is our 119 00:11:54.179 --> 00:11:58.980 joy, that's our peace, our hope, because the light shines in the 120 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:05.409 darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. To impress this point on you, 121 00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:15.009 perhaps you could consider reading verses in the opposite way. Consider what would 122 00:12:15.009 --> 00:12:18.639 have happened if the light came into the world and the darkness overcame it. 123 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:26.320 Consider what would happen if the big M miracle of Jesus and is coming into 124 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:31.950 the world to save sinners, was actually not a big and miracle, but 125 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:39.269 just a happy family finding a new Sun. Then we'd read that verse, 126 00:12:39.350 --> 00:12:43.820 like Galatians for and we'd read. But when God sent forth his son, 127 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:50.580 born of a woman, born under the law, nothing happened. No one 128 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:56.620 was redeemed, no one was rescued, no one was adopted. Let me 129 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:01.769 read something more in full again, just to impress on you not just the 130 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:07.610 darkness but the light. What would have happened if Jesus had not come? 131 00:13:07.409 --> 00:13:15.039 Listen to Ephesians chapter two, versus one through eight, and you were dead 132 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:20.279 in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of 133 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:24.200 this world, following the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit 134 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:28.710 that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we 135 00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:33.309 all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of 136 00:13:33.389 --> 00:13:37.590 our body and the mind, and were by nature children of Wrath, like 137 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:46.740 the rest of mankind. That is our state. Jesus came in to change 138 00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:50.940 all of that, to shine in the darkness and not be overcome, and 139 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:56.529 that's what he does. Listen to verse four through eight. Now this dark 140 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:07.210 scenario changes with the light first for but God, being rich in mercy because 141 00:14:07.289 --> 00:14:09.879 of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead 142 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:16.320 in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you 143 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.440 have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him 144 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.429 in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he 145 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:31.669 might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 146 00:14:33.389 --> 00:14:37.830 None of that would have happened if Jesus hadn't come. What if we 147 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:41.740 said that God, not being rich in the mercy because he hated us, 148 00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:46.659 left us in our dead in our trespasses and sins, never made us alive 149 00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:52.340 together with Christ, judged us in our sins, didn't raise us with him, 150 00:14:52.419 --> 00:14:56.490 didn't seed us in the heavenly places in the coming ages, instead of 151 00:14:56.610 --> 00:15:00.970 showing us the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness, poured out on US 152 00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:09.679 each his eternal wrath for our sins. That's the other story and that's not 153 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:13.799 what happened. The light shine in the darkness and the darkness did not come 154 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:18.080 and overcome it. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, 155 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.429 who was born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem 156 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:28.750 us and to give us these things so that we wouldn't be nay children, 157 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:33.190 who were by nature children of Wrath, so that we'd be the adopted children 158 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:41.379 of God. Why is the incarnation important? Do I need to say it 159 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:48.299 again? Isn't it obvious? Do you want to remain in darkness? Do 160 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:52.570 you want to be enslaved your passions? Do you want to be remaining forever 161 00:15:52.690 --> 00:15:58.649 under the curse of the law and suffer in the coming ages for all eternity, 162 00:15:58.769 --> 00:16:06.480 the wrath of God for your sins? No, we don't, and 163 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:14.600 so we trust Jesus, we believe Jesus, we follow Jesus. The incarnation 164 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:19.590 matters because this is how God saved us, because God was on a rescue 165 00:16:19.669 --> 00:16:26.590 mission to take us out from the dominion of darkness and bring us into the 166 00:16:26.789 --> 00:16:32.509 Kingdom of his beloved son, that we might live and reign with him forever. 167 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:37.100 He is our white knight swooping in, rescuing us, giving us eternal 168 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:44.220 life, healing forgiveness, and not little M homemark ones, which are plenty 169 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:52.409 nice, but eternal ones, everlasting ones, where every sorrow ever tear all 170 00:16:52.129 --> 00:17:00.570 gone. God wanted, through Jesus is incarnation and his coming death on the 171 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:04.200 cross, so that all of our sins could be forgiven through his work. 172 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:10.559 He wanted to bring us not just a period of time of love and joy, 173 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:18.710 but the very spirit of love and joy that now bonds us all together 174 00:17:18.150 --> 00:17:23.390 in such a way that will never die. So, as I say, 175 00:17:23.390 --> 00:17:30.059 there's nothing wrong with small m miracles. These aren't just hallmark moments, their 176 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:33.619 moments of God's common grace. We should be thankful for them, we should 177 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:40.019 seek them, we should want them and desire them. But his calmon grace, 178 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:45.490 these wonderful little things that happen in this world, from a reconciled relationship 179 00:17:47.130 --> 00:17:52.089 to a really delicious piece of food, they should point us towards the greater 180 00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:56.650 grace that he offers, the saving grace that he offers, the eternal grace 181 00:17:56.809 --> 00:18:06.000 that he offers in Jesus, because in Him we have redemption, freedom forgiveness. 182 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:14.509 Put Your faith in him. Put Your faith in him. Let's pray