His Greatest Gift
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Summary: God sent His Greatest Gift to mankind at the precise time, He always does every thing at the right time.
GAL: 4:4-7
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Did you know that there are many people through out our land that don’t know the true origins of Christmas? What I mean by that is many folks don’t realize that the birth of Christ is really what its about. And even those of us that do know the true meaning of Christmas tend to forget it amidst all of the shopping, and gift giving, and family get togethers with all the good eating etc. let me say that we don’t really know for certain what day the Lord was born, but we do know for certain that He was born, so we recognize Dec. 25 as a time to remember His birth.
So today I want to talk a little on what Christmas is.
Our title for today is " His Greatest Gift "
Scripture is taken from Galatians 4:4-7
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Just like folks today, the Galatians also needed a reminder about the significance and meaning of Christmas.
Now the word Christmas is not in the bible anywhere, but The Galatians were turning from the Gospel of the grace of God to the bondage of the law.
Paul wrote to the Galatians to remind them of the significance of what Christ had done for them when he came to the earth.
What is Christmas really all about?
I. ITS ABOUT THE ADVENT OF THE SAVIOR
In these verses we see some very important things about Jesus Christ and his coming to earth.
a) First we see his Divine Origin---there was an event that took place before the birth of Christ in the manger, even before the conception of Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
It was the sending forth of Christ from God the Father.
We’re told in Gal.4:4 "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son". Christ had always existed with the Father. It was Jesus the Christ that was born.
John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."
When was the beginning?
Billions of years back of creation. He already was; He comes out of eternity to meet us. He did not begin. Think about this for a moment, these are the Words that are written … “In the beginning was the Word”— now pay close attention --- He was already there when the beginning began.
As a man Jesus prayed to the Father, in John 17:5
And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
Christ had always existed in perfect loving fellowship with God the Father. One day at the precise time, God sent him forth. It was Gods plan even before there was a world.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
Jesus made a conscious choice to be sent.
Philippians 2: 5-8 says
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
In love for humanity the Father sent His Son, and it was in love for the Father and humanity Jesus willingly went.
Jesus willingly and obediently and lovingly left a place of glory and sinless ness,
a place with ceaseless worship and perfection,
a place with unbroken fellowship with the Father. From the bosom of the Father, to the womb of the Virgin Mary.
Imagine all the fullness of the Godhead was dwelling inside this young virgin.
This is his divine origin. And then His full humanity---"made of a woman"
The statement "God sent forth His Son" could be said of no other man in the history of the world.
However the next statement,"made of a woman" is true of all men. While Jesus was fully divine in origin, he was likewise fully human. He entered the world just as you and I entered this cruel world. He was born of a woman. He was a man. He was Mary’s son. He hungered, and thirsted, and ate, and drank, and worked, and played, and laughed, and wept, and hurt, and bled, and prayed, and lived, and died as a man.
Jesus’ most frequent title for himself was "Son of Man". He used it to stress his full humanity. After all, it was the seed of the woman, a man that would crush the head of the serpent, the devil. Genesis 3: 15
Then also we see from this verse:
that although he was God’s son he subjected himself to God’s law. In fact, when he began to teach he made clear that he had not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
He said in Matthew 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
And that he did perfectly. He fulfilled it, not only outwardly, but perfectly obeying God’s law from the heart. This couldn’t be said of no other man who has ever lived.
Christmas is about the advent of the Savior.
He lowered himself, he condescended, He came down in order that we could go up when the rapture takes place.
Then there is this ...
II. THE ACCEPTANCE OF SINNERS
Verse 5 begins with the word "to". To do what? Paul tells us why Christmas came, why he was born, why he lived under the law.
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
He came to redeem them that were under the law---To redeem means to set free, to purchase ones freedom. Who are "them that were under the law"?
Well, first this speaks of the Jewish people.
1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
What are the oracles of God?
Rom.9:4 tells us this:
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
Christ came to set his own people free from the enslavement of the law. The law was given directly to them. However, all men are subject to and accountable to the law of God. Paul said of the gentiles, (Romans 2:14-15)
14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
ALTHOUGH THE GENTILES Were NEVER UNDER THE Mosaic Law, they are under Gods morale law, which is the 10 commandments. Psalms 147:19.
All men are subject to God’s Moral law Jew and Gentile alike.
God’s moral law alone cannot make us righteous. Knowing the rules, and trying to keep the rules in our own power has always resulted in failure. We need something more than a written moral code. We need a change of heart.
Adam and Eve broke one law, one command, and they brought death not only to themselves but to all mankind.
Let me say that Gods law has not been done away with, Gods law is just as solid as it ever has been, the great difference is that our wonderful Lord &Savior is the only Person Who has ever completely been able to keep and fulfill Gods holy law. Therefore since we that are saved are in Christ Jesus and He’s in us we also keep Gods law through Him.
We read in Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sins, it shall die.
Then we read in Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins
Jesus came to set us free from the law and its curse of death and hell. How did he do it? Look at
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13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
He freed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Moses said in his law, "cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." He descended as low as becoming a curse.
This takes us to ....
Isaiah 53:4
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He removed our curse by taking our curse as he suffered, and bled, and died on the cross.
God’s curse has been once and for all removed, for all those that believe.
Why did he remove our curse?
Our text verse says in Gal.4:5--, that we {everybody} might receive the adoption of sons.
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
That we might receive the adoption of sons---He set us free from the curse so that he could place us in his family, so that you and I could become adopted sons & daughters of God, bearing all rights and privileges as natural sons and daughters.
1 John 3:1 reads
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
From slavery to sonship.
The bible says in Ephesians 2:3 --
and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Our sin is an offense to God, It is repulsive to Him. He made possible through his death for us to be accepted as his adopted sons.
So Christmas is about the Acceptance of Sinners.
Lastly it’s about, THE ASSURANCE OF THE SPIRIT
God sent forth Jesus to redeem us. In a summation of Galatians 4: -- God inhabited human flesh.
All of that took place outside of us. Our redemption, our adoption, these are things we can know about and believe, but they all take place outside of us. We had absolutely nothing to do with it.
BUT GOD … But God makes it real to us. He sends forth again. Once again the divine takes up residence in the human.
In Galatians4:6 we find these words … God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
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6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
God lives in our innermost being.
It’s a personal Christmas. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ making us alive, making us know that we are children of God for the Holy Spirit within us cries out "Abba Father".
A term used by a loving and trusting child to his or her daddy.
What was His greatest Gift? HIS SON
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