This is the manuscript of the fourth and final sermon in the series "Come Let Us Adore Him".
Today's sermon title is "The Perfect Time ".
Scripture Reading:
Galatians 4:1-7 NIV What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Text:
Galatians 4:4 NIV But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Introduction
As Paul reflected from a theological viewpoint on the birth of Christ, he said that until Christ came, we were like children in a wealthy home.
Galatians 4:1-2 NIV What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.
The child was the heir, but until he received his inheritance, he was no different than a slave. He was actually under slave tutors who taught him. He was obedient to his father just as a slave would be obedient to his father, but unlike a slave he had hope. He had a promise.
The promise for people of Old Testament times was the promise that the Messiah would come. The Old Testament contains over 300 prophecies about a future Messiah, a savior anointed by God to deliver His people from oppression.
Here are just a few.
Isaiah 7:14 NIV Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 9:6 NIV For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Micah 5:2 NIV “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Here's what happened hundreds of years later after these prophecies were made.
Luke 2:8-11 NIV And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
So as Paul looks back on that event and he wrote.
Galatians 4:4 NIV But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
God's Son, Jesus, was born in order to change our relationship with God The Father.
Galatians 4:5-7 NIV (He came) to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
The word Abba is translated as “Father,” but it really means “my Father”, or Daddy.
It's interesting that the evangelistic messages of the apostles recorded in Acts, which were written after Jesus's resurrection and the early years of the church do not mention the birth of Jesus. Instead, they focus on his death and resurrection.
It wasn't until years later, under the Spirit of God, that Matthew, and Luke recorded the whole story of salvation.
They wrote about the miraculous birth of Jesus. They told of one born of a virgin, born beyond the comprehension of human understanding. They told of God stepping into humanity to say to all people everywhere, “I am your Christ.”
They told of an angel choir, a shining star, a lowly manger, and shepherds who were at the bottom of the social order of that time, being the first to praise the King of Kings.
They told of wise men, educated men, who had come to praise him.
I. The fullness of the times.
A. Here is the historical significance of Jesus' birth.
The religion of the Greeks and Romans which was really mythology and full of idolatry along with Judaism with all its sacrifices never really satisfied the hearts of the people. Then suddenly, when the people were in despair, when people were searching for reality, at that perfect moment, God sent his Son.
Galatians 4:4 NIV But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
B. There was historic significance but more importantly is the spiritual significance.
Paul was saying that Christ came in the flesh to be God with us.
Matthew 1:20-23 NIV But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Paul said that Jesus was born to redeem mankind he was saying that Christ had entered the world by God’s miracle to deal with mankind’s greatest spiritual need...the forgiveness of sins.
II. The spirit of the time.
If Christmas is only a time for decoration and festivity, its significance is lost.
1. Jesus came to be the Christ.
The word Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for "Messiah" or "anointed one."
Christ is a title and was the title given to Jesus. He was Jesus the Christ-Jesus the Messiah. Jesus, the common Greek version of the Hebrew name Jeshua, means "The Lord (Yahweh) saves" or "The Lord "Yahweh) is my help. That means that Jesus, the Messiah, the anointed one is the Lord who is our help saves us.
2. The Bible says,
Romans 3:10-12 NIV As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
That describes mankind. We were not searching for God; in fact we retreated from him constantly. We were hopeless, but Jesus came to bring hope.
Paul said.
Romans 5:8 NIV But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Because no sacrifice, nothing at all could pay the price of our guilt, the Son, Jesus, Christ came to pay the price for us.
B. Jesus came be the Christ, He came to be our Savior, He came to bring love not despair.
People often speak of the spirit of Christmas as though it is something to be caught. We often here someone say, “I went shopping and I caught the Christmas spirit.” Well when I went shopping, people were in such a rush. They stood in line waiting to pay. And my guess is that most of us spent more money than we meant to spend. If that’s the Christmas spirit, I'm not sure I want to catch that.
I think what most people really mean when they say they want to catch the spirit of Christmas is that they want the warm feeling of love.
They want to feel love for others, that kind of warmth that says, “I want to give of myself to someone else.”
The real spirit of Christmas starts when we accept the best gift of all, the gift who was born in a manger, the Son of God. When we accept Jesus Christ, we accept the gift of salvation, the gift of forgiveness.
John 3:16-18 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
But that is not all. We also receive the precious gift of the Holy Spirit, who comes to live in us and guide our steps.
Luke 11:13 NIV If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
John 16:12-15 NIV “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Acts 2:38-39 NIV Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Those are God’s gift to us, so what is our gift to God.
God wants us to give ourselves to him. We have to be willing to abandon self and let God use us in any way he chooses.
Matthew 16:24-27 NIV Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Our service to God may simply be done by showing that the Holy Spirit is alive within us. If Christ is born in our hearts, God is our Father and the Holy Spirit is alive within us. Because of this, we will serve God by serving our brothers and sisters.
Matthew 20:25-28 NIV Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Conclusion
There are a lot of good things about Christmas. I think deep down inside, what we’re really longing for is not Christmas but Christ. I think the anticipation we have for Christmas is a longing for God Himself. And that’s the message of Christmas: Immanuel, God is with us.
If you really want the Spirit of Christ to live in you, and with that the spirit of Christmas, you must be his servant; and you are his servant by giving yourself in service to others.
Look again at
Galatians 4:4-6 NIV But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
If Christ is just a nativity scene he's not alive to you. If the star of Christmas is only an ornament at the top of your your tree, it has nothing to say. But if Christ lives in your heart, he has everything to say, because from your heart the living Christ causes you to cry out, "Abba Father", “My Father!”
Let’s Pray,
Father, we thank you that we can come to You, in the knowledge that we are not only loved, but that there is no one anywhere who has or will love us more. We come with a sense of gratitude that overflows in thankfulness and joy. We thank you that we can come as we are, that we can come without fear, that we can come without any need to persuade you to love us. We thank you that we can come with no need to prove our worth because we know that we can come knowing that we are already accepted.
Thank you in Jesus name Amen
The real significance of Christmas, the real significance of the birth of Christ cannot be fully known until Christ lives in your heart.
If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, here's what you do it's in
Romans 10:9-10 NIV If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Then it says in
Romans 10:13 NIV for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
say this simple prayer:
Father God, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You for Your Son Jesus Christ. I believe that He died and rose just for me. Father God, in the name of Jesus, I repent of my sin and I turn to You. I receive and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Benediction
We have started an act of praise and adoration that will never end; we have grown closer to the God who will never leave us; we have opened our hearts to the Spirit who will hold us forever. Go now in the joy of Christ, the power of the Spirit, and the love of God. “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
Sermon Audio
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