The Father Sends

Christmas Offering

WELCOME

Good morning family. hear the Word of the Lord from Isaiah 9:6-7...

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

At Christmas we often celebrate the birth of a baby in a manger, God the Son coming to this world to rescue us. And we should.

But let’s also celebrate the Father who sent His Son. It was His zeal, His passion, His commitment, His covenant love that performed this.

We’re going to learn more about that love in the text for today’s sermon in Galatians 4:4-7. Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 4 quick announcements:

1) A word about PBC. We are Servants.

Every Christian has been given gifts to serve the body

One way to serve is by getting involved in our Fellowship Groups...

2) Fellowship Groups

Begin the second week of January

Sign up at poquosonbaptist.org or at the blue flag

If you’ve signed up, encourage someone near you to join your group too

(the power of a personal invitation)

3) PBC Kids Christmas Program

Tonight at 5:30 PM in the chapel, refreshments to follow

4) Christmas in Boutopia

December 19 from 3-6 PM.

Now look in your Bibles at Galatians 4:4 as Gloria Insley comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Galatians 4:4-7)

Prayer of Praise (Christ Our Joy), Gloria Insley

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

His Mercy Is More

Prayer of Confession (Derick Dickens), Lack of self-control

I Stand In Awe

NEW CITY CATECHISM #50

PASTORAL PRAYER (Mike Lindell)

SERMON

It's the most wonderful time of the year. But not for everybody. [1]

Consider Lindsay, for example. His father, a distant and severe man, worked him especially hard during the holidays. Lindsay was given extra chores at the family ranch, and his old man whipped him if he didn’t work hard enough. Lindsay lived in fear of these beatings, which sometimes drew blood. But there were also verbal floggings, name-calling, insults, and belittling put-downs. His father seemed especially harsh at Christmas.

The memories stayed with him all his life, tormenting him like demons every December. One friend said, “Lindsay was never able to find happiness. He became a hard-drinking hell-raiser who went from woman to woman and couldn’t find peace or success.”

Lindsey once said, “I hate Christmas because of Pop, and I always will. It brings back the pain and fear I suffered as a child. And if I ever do myself in, it will be at Christmastime.”

Some people dream of white Christmases, but it seemed like Lindsay’s were always dark. So in December 1989, Lindsay couldn’t take it anymore. He angrily watched “White Christmas” on television one last time, then ended his life.

You see, Lindsay’s father was Bing Crosby himself, the man who sung that famous song “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”

But for Lindsay Crosby, the Christmas season was a reminder of the pain he endured at the hands of his father.

I wonder if there is anyone who can relate with Lindsay.

Your dad probably didn’t have Bing Crosby’s fame and fortune, but like Bing your dad was (or is) both fallen and frail.

In your dad’s fallenness, he may have been...

Abusive

Absent

Distant—like my dad’s dad who never told his son he loved him until just before he died.

In your dad’s frailty, he may have...

Lost his ability to do what he used to do—like my dad whose life was upended by a stroke a few years ago

Lost his memory—like my mom’s dad who suffered a decade with Alzheimer's before he passed away

Lost his life

All of us have some sort of pain in our relationships with our dads, because even the best fathers are frail and fallen.

Except for One Father.

Christmas really can be the most wonderful time of the year...

not because the kids are jingle-belling or there’s parties for hosting or there’s much mistletoing...

...but because you understand the love of the Father.

Turn to Galatians 4

Last week we looked at this text briefly as a springboard to take a birds-eye view of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity

This morning we’re going to zoom in and begin a study on each of the three persons of the Trinity in this text and in the Christmas story.

You cannot rightly tell the Christmas story without the love of the Father who sends.

Galatians 4:4-7—“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Three simple truths about the Father’s love:

1) The Father PLANNED to Send the Son

On November 10, 1984, the University of Maryland football team was trailing the Miami Hurricanes 31-0 at halftime. Maryland’s head coach decided to bench the starting QB with a backup QB named Frank Reich. The new QB completed 12 of 15 passes for 260 yards, threw three TDs, ran for another, and led Maryland to a shocking comeback victory, winning the game 42-40.

I think many people think that’s something like what happens in the story of the Bible.

God the Father is like the starting QB who gets things going in the Old Testament. But for whatever reason He falls behind really quickly.

He creates a perfect garden paradise, but Adam and Eve sin.

He floods the earth to start over, but that doesn’t work either.

He calls a nation to reflect His glory, but they mess up repeatedly.

He governs them by a long list of laws, but none of it works.

So God the Son comes along in the second half—the New Testament—as the backup QB and He wins the game!

Of course, nobody would say it just like that, but you’ve probably heard people say that God the Father is the God of the Old Testament and Jesus is the God of the New Testament

Here’s the problem: The coming of the Son isn’t a change in the Father’s plan. It’s the fulfillment of the Father’s plan.

It was always the Father’s plan to send the Son to rescue His people.

Galatians 4:4—“But when the fullness of time had come...”

Connected to the word “fulfilled” we’ve seen repeatedly in Matthew’s gospel

The sending of the Son was a planned and purposeful act of God the Father

And it’s been God’s plan from the beginning of time...

Ephesians 1:3-10—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

This is why when we look back to the OT from this side of the cross, we see glimpses of this plan all over the OT. From Genesis to Malachi, the OT is pointing us to Jesus!

In Genesis, the Father promises to send the Seed of a woman to crush the head of the snake. In the fullness of time the Father sent His Son, born of a woman, to crush Satan by dying on a cross.

In Exodus, a Passover lamb dies instead of the firstborn sons of God’s people. In the fullness of time, the Father will send His own Son to die as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

In Leviticus the scapegoat is sent outside the camp so that God’s people could be forgiven. But every year they would have to do it again. Until the fullness of time when the Father sent His Son to suffer outside the camp on a cross so that God’s people can be forgiven.

In Numbers, God’s people must look at a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole in order to be saved. In the fullness of time, the Father sent His Son to be lifted up on a cross, so that whoever looks on Him with faith will be saved.

In Deuteronomy, God promises that in time, another Prophet will come to speak the truth to God’s people. Like Moses, only better. In the fullness of time, the Father sent His Son to be that Prophet, the very Word of God.

We could go on and on. Every single book of the Old Testament points to Jesus in some way. Why? Because the Father always planned to send the Son.

CHRISTIAN: If the Father has been planning to show you His love for you by sending His Son, do you really think you can jeopardize His plan? Do you really think you can out-sin the Father’s mercy? Do you think you can outrun His pursuing love? Do you think you can fall out of His mighty hands?

You cannot rightly tell the Christmas story without the love of the Father who sends.

But the Father’s sending wasn’t plan B. The Father always planned to send the Son.

2) The Father HAD to Send the Son

Not saying the Father was obligated to send Jesus

He would still be holy and good if He chose to leave us to die in our sins

God does not OWE us salvation!

BUT if we’re going to be saved, He had to send His Son

There is no other way anyone can be saved!

Acts 4:11-12 — This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

This is what Jesus said about Himself...

John 14:6 — Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

But why? Why did the Father have to send the Son in order to save us?

Two Reasons:

A. Because We are Scandalously Sinful

The Father sent His Son (4:5) “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”

REDEEM—referred to the release of a slave by paying a price.

These slaves were often imprisoned due to some unpaid debt, not due to the color of their skin

Imagine you lived in the Middle Ages, when debtors who couldn’t pay their debts were often thrown into debtor’s prison. Since you’re in prison, you cannot work to pay off your debt. And even if you could slowly pay off something, the amount you owe continues to increase because of interest. There’s nothing you can do to rescue yourself. This is something like the condition of everyone who is outside of Christ.

If you’re under the law you’re responsible to obey it fully. To the letter. Every single command. But you don’t.

Eli’s sermon two weeks ago

James 2:10—“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

So you’ve accrued a massive sin debt. There’s nothing you can do to rescue yourself. Someone from outside needs to rescue you. And that’s exactly what Jesus has come to do!

Your neighbor, your wife, your husband, your kids, your parents can’t rescue you because they need rescued too!

Only the sinless Son of God will do!!!

If you and I are going to be saved, the Father had to send the Son because we are scandalously sinful.

Why doesn’t the Father just redeem us? I mean He’s God, why does He have to send His Son? Can’t He do whatever He wants?

B. Because God is Supremely Holy

Over the past year there’s been several high-profile murder trials in the U.S. that drew national attention. Regardless of your opinions on the outcomes, you cannot deny that the outcomes mattered.

If people believe a defendant is undeniably guilty, and a judge or jury lets him go free, they get upset.

Even more so if we’re the ones grieving some offense against us. We want a judge/jury that gives the guilty the justice they deserve.

Except when we’re the one on trial and God is the judge.

We want a God like us. We want a God who’s like a lazy janitor, willing to sweep our sins under the rug and just forget about them.

He CANNOT do this and be holy!

Galatians 6:7—“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

If you sow seeds of sin, you will reap the judgment of a holy God.

You and I are scandalously sinful and God is supremely holy.

How then can anyone be saved?

Someone has to be punished for our sin.

Galatians 4:6-7 says we aren’t slaves any more. We’re sons and daughters. But notice how we’re invited into God’s family.

We are not His children by nature. We are His children by adoption.

What are we by nature?

Ephesians 2:1-3—“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Because God the Father is holy, He MUST punish sin.

Because God the Father loves us, He sent His Son to be punished in our place.

One of the greatest insult to the Father’s love is thinking that you can somehow work for this gift from the Father.

Jason was a proud man. Not proud in the way you're thinking. He wasn't arrogant or braggadocios. But he had standards. And even though he was one of the poorest men in my neighborhood, he wasn't about to receive a handout from anybody. But Jason couldn't provide for his family. He was an ex-felon and couldn't find a job.

I took Jason out to breakfast one morning and gave him a Bible with some money tucked in its pages. When Jason found the money later he knew he couldn't receive a gift like that. He had to work for it. So a sick, poor, middle-aged man with a broken hand came by my house while I was at work and cut my grass to work for his money. Jason didn't receive gifts. He worked for everything he had.

Jason sat at my dinner table one afternoon and I shared the gospel with him. Jason believed there was a God. He believed in Jesus. He believed that Christ had really lived and died on the cross for Him. He believed He rose from the dead. He believed the Bible was true. But Jason believed that somehow, someway he had to work to earn God's love. He couldn't bring himself to receive God's grace as a gift.

So I told Jason to imagine his father gave him a brand new Mustang convertible. Cherry red, leather seats, $50,000 car. "Imagine, Jason, your dad has given you this incredible gift just because he loves you. Because he wants you to experience the thrill of driving like never before."

Now, if his father gave this incredible gift to him, there's two ways Jason could dishonor his dad. He could dishonor him by refusing the gift. But you could also dishonor him by trying to work for the gift. The only way to honor his Father is by receiving the gift with humble thankfulness.

If there was any way to work for your salvation why would God have sent His Son?

Receive this gift. Don’t try to work for it. Receive it by grace alone through faith alone.

You cannot rightly tell the Christmas story without the love of the Father who sends.

If anyone can be saved, the Father had to send the Son. But finally...

3) The Father Was GLAD to Send the Son

Sometimes God the Father is depicted as mean and grumpy, while Jesus is the gentle and kind. As if Jesus had to twist the Father’s arm to save us.

Not at all!

The Father was glad to send the Son!!!

Two Reasons:

A. Because He Loves You!

John 3:16—“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

1 John 4:10—“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The Father sent His Son (4:5) “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”

The Father wanted to adopt you!!!

This time last year, we were finalizing plans to go to Colombia and meet our son Ezekiel

We loved him when he didn’t even know who we were. We went out of our way to make him ours.

How much more our Heavenly Father?!?!

REPENT AND BELIEVE

The Father was also glad to send the Son...

B. Because He Loves His Son!

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Religious satire; a master demon named Screwtape instructs a rookie demon on how to better tempt his assigned human

At one point in the book Screwtape contrasts the demons and the Father

“We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over.” [3]

Full and flows over...

Because God is Trinity, He wasn’t lonely before creation. He didn’t need friends.

So too in our salvation. He didn’t save us because He was lonely or needed us.

The Father’s love for the Son, overflows by the Spirit

Michael Reeves—“the Father is essentially outgoing. It is unsurprising that such a God should create. And that we should then be created in the image of God and destined to be conformed into the likeness of Christ the Image is simply the continuation of that outgoing movement of love. The God who loves to have an outgoing Image of himself in his Son loves to have many images of his love (who are themselves outgoing).” [4]

God so loves His Son He wants the glory of the Son to be seen and shared! How can the Father sending His Son to die be evidence of His love for the Son?

John 13:31-32—“When He had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once.”

The Son gets glory in the cross!

Not MORE glory, but His glory is seen and savored by more people

Reading Jonah and Zoe The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe—jumping up and down

The kids were interested in Aslan before his death on the stone table, but when he died they were spellbound. And then when he arose, they were overjoyed!

The Father wants you to cheer and celebrate over His Son!!!

You cannot rightly tell the Christmas story without the love of the Father who sends.

And this should lead you to rejoice because God was GLAD to send His Son!

Nicene Creed

Talked a bit about this council last week and it’s work to refute the errors of a heretic named Arius

Arius was teaching that Jesus was created by God the Father, so a council of pastors was called to the city of Nicea in 325 A.D. to consider the matter

One of the things that eventually came out of that council was the Nicene Creed, a doctrinal statement that defended the Bible’s teaching about the Trinity

We’re going to conclude today’s sermon by reading just a portion of this creed together...

We believe in one God,       the Father almighty,       maker of heaven and earth,       of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,       the only Son of God,       begotten from the Father before all ages. . . .

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Celebration of Baptism

BENEDICTION (2 John 3), Mike Lindell