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What God Wanted for Christmas (Galatians 4:4-7)
5 Plays13 days ago
The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to pen the words of Galatians around 48/49 AD just after he had completed an eighteen month mission trip. He heard that then new disciples that he had made in Galatia were facing false teaching in the new churches across the region. The Judaizers were insisting that salvation was through good works, but Paul knew the truth that we are saved not by our good works but rather by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Chapters 3-4 are more doctrinal in tone and content as Paul reinforces the biblical doctrines that support salvation in Christ alone. One of those key support pillars is the doctrine of adoption in Christ. As we study Galatians 4:4-7 we will learn the importance of Christ’s incarnation and perfect sacrifice upon the cross. These four verses explain clearly, “What God Wanted for Christmas”. He wanted us as sons and daughters through Christ. What an honor!
Patient until Our Adoption, 4:4
“But when the fullness of time had come…”
Prerequisites for Our Adoption, 4:4
“…God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,”
Payment for Our Adoption, 4:5
“to redeem those who were under the law…”
Preference for Our Adoption, 4:5
“…so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Privileges with Our Adoption, 4:6-7
“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.”
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Growing in Grace
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org.
Pastor Morrison Introduces Christmas Message
00:00:32
Speaker
And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
My name is Pastor Victor Morrison. I'm the pastor at First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas, and I'm glad you're listening today.
What Does God Want for Christmas?
00:00:50
Speaker
I want to talk about Christmas. You know, if you have children or grandchildren, then probably the most popular question these days is, what do you want for Christmas? If you ask a child that or a student that, I guarantee you, you'll get an answer.
00:01:06
Speaker
But sometimes I'm not sure that we've ever asked the question, what did God want for Christmas? What did He want? And so I think Galatians 4, verses 4 through 7 gives us the answer.
Transformation and Justification in Galatians
00:01:20
Speaker
If you wanted it in a nutshell,
00:01:22
Speaker
It's so that we might receive adoption as sons. There's a lot of things that he had to do so that we could enter his family. And I believe that the Apostle Paul wants it to be clear in the letter to the Galatians how people enter into the family of God. And so that's why he wrote chapters one and two where Paul reflects upon his own personal experience and says, look, the gospel has changed my life.
00:01:50
Speaker
So it's all about transformation. But when you go into chapters three and four, we're going to be in chapter four, ah you see something different. It's like he's instructing, he's teaching with doctrinal explanation.
Doctrines of Salvation and Adoption
00:02:05
Speaker
And what he's teaching about is justification, justification by faith, justification that involves God's grace, where we're placing our complete trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. But then if you were to go beyond where we will be today and go into chapters five and six, you would see He wants to exhort them in the practical application. In other words, how can one grow
00:02:33
Speaker
How can one mature? So we're going to give that the label maturation. But there are many doctrines that are in the Bible that sort of are supporting the doctrine of salvation. For example, justification, regeneration, conversion,
00:02:52
Speaker
our union with God through Christ, sanctification, but also adoption, adoption. And that's where this passage comes in handy, because it brings up that whole question, what did God want? Well, He wanted to adopt us into His family. Ephesians 1.5 says, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.
Perfect Timing of Christ's Birth
00:03:21
Speaker
You see, Christmas, according to this passage, was so that we might receive adoption as sons. So let me read the passage and then sort of look at it from different angles. So to be sort of like a diamond, we're gonna turn and look at how it shimmers with different light as we look at the different cuts and facets of it. But it says in Galatians chapter four, verse four, but when the fullness of time had come,
00:03:50
Speaker
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 than an air through God. Wonderful passage of scripture right down the middle of what Christmas is all about. I believe that what God wanted for Christmas, He wanted people to enter into His family through His provision of His Son.
00:04:35
Speaker
So let's look at some of the dynamics that are involved in that. The first thing with our adoption would be the patience. Patience until our adoption. You know, most times it requires a substantial weight whenever someone is going to adopt a child. My wife and I adopted two girls and they are now 24 and 27. But I remember that whenever we adopted them,
00:05:04
Speaker
It was not accidental. No, it was intentional. we We entered into a process and it required several decisions. It required screening and all kinds of things that we're going to talk about as we go through this passage together. But in but in the long run,
00:05:25
Speaker
it It was 11 years, 11 years ah plus three years, if you count when we adopted our a youngest daughter. But although God wanted us from the beginning, he waited for just the right time to send his
Prerequisites for Divine Adoption
00:05:42
Speaker
son. There's a reference to that in our passage today, Galatians 4, 4. It says, but when the fullness of time had come. So this is all about timing.
00:05:54
Speaker
So why were we born after Christ came? You know, you you and I, we could have been born during Noah's day. We could have been born during Abraham's day, or let's say during Moses' day. But had we been born before Jesus came, before the cross, before the resurrection, lots would be different in our lives. But still, we would have to respond to God by faith.
00:06:23
Speaker
but Just think about the difference that's been made because we are born we were born after Christ came. And so I'm so thankful for that. But whenever God was deciding on when was the right time, I think he looked at it from different angles. One was the right time prophetically.
00:06:46
Speaker
Do you realize that there was a prophecy about Jesus coming that is all the way back to the very first book of the Bible in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15? But that wasn't the only one. He gave prophecies through David in some of the Psalms. He gave prophecy about Christ and how he would die on the cross and how he'd be born through Isaiah the prophet.
00:07:13
Speaker
Micah the prophet talked about where he would be born. Zachariah the prophet also said so many things about Christ. And so I just think, wow, there had to be the right time prophetically, but there also had to be the right time religiously. Isn't it interesting that the prevalence of synagogues at the time that Jesus was born and just afterwards, it's like all these Jews were spread out in different places, and they were sharing the Old Testament. And so I thought, you know, they were being like ah the preparation for the gospel message to travel across them. Some have said, well, there was also this cultural timing
00:07:58
Speaker
that, you know, once the world was coming together around the Greek language, then there was this common way of communicating through all the trade and so forth as people were moving around the world. And speaking of movement, some say, well, politically,
00:08:15
Speaker
When the Roman Empire was in charge, then they had the Pax Romana, which was all about making it safe and building streets and roadways so that one region would not be left out and they could all get together. So I thought, well, you know, all of those things contributed to the gospel spreading once Paul and others took the gospel to different regions. And then there, of course, is the a right town geographically.
00:08:45
Speaker
When Micah said that the when the Messiah comes, he's going to be born in Bethlehem. Well, how's that going to happen? How are you going to get Jesus to be born in Bethlehem when Joseph and Mary, they were from Nazareth? That's no problem for God. He just moved ah the Caesar, Roman Caesar. He said, I believe I'll take a census and I want everybody to go back to their homeland where their family originated.
00:09:13
Speaker
And of course, for Joseph, he had to go back to Bethlehem. And while he was in Bethlehem, that's when Jesus was born, when Mary was there with him and so forth. And I'm thinking, wow, thank you, God, that you your timing is always right.
00:09:29
Speaker
Your timing is precise and perfect. He has such precision that we can't even begin to imagine how he works out his plans and his purposes. So anyway, I think we can see in this statement that the Apostle Paul makes in Galatians 4, 4, but when the fullness of time had come. Yes, God was waiting. And then it says, God sent forth his son, born of woman.
00:09:58
Speaker
born under the law. Well, let's just pause right there and think about these three prerequisites for our adoption.
Cost of Spiritual Adoption by Jesus
00:10:07
Speaker
You see, if I were to down a cross or if I were to say, okay, what if what if I give my life so that others could be saved? It wouldn't work because i'm not the I don't match up with the prerequisites, but Jesus did.
00:10:22
Speaker
Do you know whenever my wife and I decided, hey, let's adopt a child, we thought it was going to be just a simple, quick little process. Oh my goodness. Little did we know there's this whole screening process. I had never been fingerprinted in my life. And that's when I got fingerprinted.
00:10:40
Speaker
and there were background checks, there were home inspections, there were interviews, there were life histories, there were home studies. They even checked our bank records to make sure that we could support a child if this adoption agency were to place a child in our home.
00:10:58
Speaker
So I think what I'm saying is when God was ready to allow His Son to come, man, there were so many prerequisites for who could be the Savior, who could be the Messiah. And only Jesus matched these three prerequisites. Let's look at them closely. God sent forth His Son. There's the first prerequisite. Whoever's going to be the Messiah and the Savior would have to be divine.
00:11:27
Speaker
They would have to be God. That's why it says God sent forth His Son. So one thing that Isaiah 9, 6, and 7 had already said, the prophecy that was 700 years plus before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, is He's got to be the Son of God. So that's one thing. Check. He met that prerequisite. But then the second thing was also equally as challenging if this is God, then how will it work? Because secondly, Isaiah 7.14 says he's going to be born of a virgin. He's going to become a human. So the Savior must not only be divine, he also must be human. Now how in the world can he get those two in the same person, in the same body?
00:12:21
Speaker
Only God the Father could have thought of this. And so the Son was born of the Holy Spirit within Mary's womb. And so I think that is amazing how God met that prerequisite by sending Jesus. And Jesus is like so perfect that way. But then if you've never read through the little letter of 1 John, 1 John 2, verse 1,
00:12:49
Speaker
introduces us to, well, some call it like Jesus' name card. I don't mean to be trite or sort of silly about it, but, you know, Jesus is our advocate, but he he has a name there that's interesting. He is called Jesus Christ, our righteousness, or Jesus Christ,
00:13:09
Speaker
the righteous. And so I'm thinking, wow, that matches perfectly with the third prerequisite. God sent forth His Son, the Savior must be divine.
00:13:21
Speaker
Born of woman, the Savior must be human. But then it says, born under the law. The Savior must be righteous. He must keep the law perfectly. You see, that's the difference too, why I couldn't die on the cross and it make a difference. I could not atone for sin because I have sinned.
00:13:41
Speaker
But Jesus, He never sinned. He never disobeyed the Father. He never disobeyed the Word of God. And so I'm thinking, thank you God for how you provided this incredible Messiah and Savior so that we could be adopted into your family. You met all the prerequisites of who would be needed in order for our sins to be cleansed and removed and taken away.
00:14:08
Speaker
But that's not the only thing we see in this passage.
God's Desire for Our Adoption
00:14:11
Speaker
You know, we also see in verse five, the payment, the payment for our adoption. You know, according to a website called Creating a Family, they deal with fostering, they deal with adoptions and different things like that. But according to their website today, the average cost of a domestic infant adoption ranges somewhere between $25,000 to $60,000. Now, that's not an international adoption. That is a domestic infant adoption, somewhere between $25,000 to $60,000. But what about our spiritual adoption? What did that cost? Well, Galatians 4, 5 says to redeem those who were under the law.
00:15:02
Speaker
That word redeem means to buy out of slavery, to buy out of slavery. So I was thinking about this and I thought, Lord, what is the cost that was paid?
00:15:17
Speaker
I saw two things when I read through these simple words that we find in Galatians 4-5, to redeem those who were under the law. First, Jesus was determined to redeem us. You know in Ephesians 1, verses 3-7,
00:15:38
Speaker
It sort of defines our adoption and defines Jesus' coming and all of these things. And it talks about how we are brought in Christ. We are adopted into His family through Christ and so forth. And I thought, you know, really, Ephesians 1, 3 through 7 is telling us all of this happened in advance.
00:16:01
Speaker
And that's why Jesus was determined. He wanted to come to lay down his life so that we could be brought into the family of God. As a matter of fact, entering into God's family, there's a code, a couple of words. It's sort of like a little phrase that occurs over and over again throughout the writings of Paul and definitely across all of the writings of the New Testament. But do you realize that Paul alone mentions those two words in Christ 143 times. It's so significant to be in Christ. And so across the whole New Testament, if you add the other New Testament authors in, you go from 143 times to 180 times the words in Christ are mentioned.
00:16:55
Speaker
But all of this is just ah said to us in Ephesians 1, 3 through 7. Let me read what it says. bless 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,
00:17:25
Speaker
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. Did you hear it over and over, the in Him? But what I also wanted you to hear was how it says He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. And I'm just thinking, you know, He knew before He ever left heaven
00:18:14
Speaker
You know, Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 is another great passage on the ah incarnation of Christ, and it it involved how he had to leave heaven and come down to this earth to be born as a man. But it says to me, not only that Jesus was determined to redeem us, it also says that Jesus had to die. He died to redeem us.
00:18:44
Speaker
Listen to Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself By taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him
00:19:24
Speaker
the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
00:19:40
Speaker
Friend, I'm just trying to say Jesus knew when He left heaven that He was going to die on that cross for me and you. He was coming to die so that we could enter into God's family through what He would do for us. Of course, we could not pay. I mean, what what child, what infant that is adopted could ever pay for someone to adopt Him? They couldn't pay it.
00:20:07
Speaker
No, when it talks about the average cost of a domestic ah infant adoption being 25,000 to 60,000, it's not the infant that's paying, it's the parents. It's those fathers, those mothers that are lovingly saying, I want a child and I will pay whatever cost there is so that they can come into my family. But I want to go to something else that is written in Galatians 4, verse 5.
00:20:36
Speaker
It ends in verse five with these words, so that we might receive adoption as sons. You know, the adoption process, you might not realize this unless you've been through it. It also includes selection, which involves preferences. And so before placement ever comes,
00:20:59
Speaker
You will have to sit down with the adoption agency and they will give you a form and on that form you will have to place a check. Do you prefer to adopt only a boy? Do you prefer to adopt only a girl? Do you prefer to adopt an infant or are you willing to adopt a teenager?
00:21:22
Speaker
What about race? What about health concerns? ah If the child was born with some challenge physically, does that make a difference? And so it's just interesting when I read Galatians 4-5, having gone through that process for myself, I'm thinking this is God's preference for adoption so that we might receive adoption as sons.
00:21:49
Speaker
You know, three things hit my mind about this. One is the reception of adoption. You know, he says, so that we might receive. John, in his gospel, in john John's gospel, chapter 1, verses 11 and 12 and 13, says that Jesus came to his own and his own received him not.
00:22:13
Speaker
But then it goes on to say, but to those who received him, he gave the right to become the children of God. And so it's interesting how there's a part that we play where by faith and by surrender, by placing our trust in Christ, we can be a part of God's family only because of what is provided for us through Christ. But then when I read the word adoption, I thought,
00:22:39
Speaker
What is that word in Greek? And I was so surprised to learn it's a compound word. The first part of the word, huias, is the word for sun. But the the other part of that word is thesis, which means placing. So it means someone is going to place a sun.
00:23:02
Speaker
And so a baby or a child cannot reach a parent. You see, when I adopted my two girls, they were way too young to be able to come to me. I had to go to them. And I think it's so powerful when you and I really realize that God came to us. When we could not go to where He was, He came to us. And I'm so grateful that He did. It's part of the preference of our adoption that He came down here because there's no way we could ever be righteous enough to have entered into His family. But then, speaking of family,
00:23:43
Speaker
I love the words, as sons, that is mentioned here at the end of verse five, so that he might receive so that we might receive adoption as sons.
00:23:54
Speaker
You know, we are in the family of God by choice, not by accident. I think it's so amazing that God provided this way so that you and I could become sons and daughters of God. And so I'm so grateful. That was his preference. That was him saying, I love you so much. I want you to be in my family. And so I'm so grateful that God ah included us.
00:24:21
Speaker
But I want to ah complete our study today with verses six and seven and look at the privileges with our adoption.
Privileges of Being in God's Family
00:24:30
Speaker
It says, and because you are sons, what are the privileges? Well, here they are. Because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts.
00:24:44
Speaker
crying, Abba, Father, so you're no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God.
00:24:55
Speaker
When I read verses six and seven, there were some things that hit my mind and I thought, it's so easy to describe that. Identity, indwelling, and inheritance. If you were to summar summarize it and sum it up, you could put it in those three words. You see, when he says, and because you are sons, so you're no longer a slave but a son, I think there's the authentication of sonship through incorporation into God's family. You see, people don't adopt a baby and then put the baby ah in some house by themselves and buy enough groceries and say, look, you know, help yourself. ah We'll stop by, you know, maybe once a month and give you some more groceries. You take care of yourself. They're they're not going to make it.
00:25:47
Speaker
We have to be placed into God's family. And that's why it's the plural. And because you, plural, are sons, all of you. And so I think it's great that God places us within the family. So we have brothers and sisters in Christ. And then he says ah that he has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
00:26:13
Speaker
And so there's this validation through the Spirit's indwelling for God's family. So whenever someone is truly born again and they become a part of God's family, there is someone that God says, I'm going to place within you. And that someone is the Spirit of the living God.
00:26:33
Speaker
He comes and He cries out within us, Abba, Father. So loving and so powerful when you consider that, that He's making that plea from our hearts. But then it says, and if a son, then an heir through God. The verification of a share in the inheritance of the family.
00:26:57
Speaker
Isn't that amazing that we're considered heirs of God? You know, Romans 8, 16, and 17 brings up that same thing when it talks about us. It says, and if a son, then an heir through of God. And so I'm so thankful for the inheritance, the spiritual inheritance that we have ah in Christ and through Christ. What a joy that Christmas is all about this desire that was upon the Father's heart. And the Father said, I want to provide this way so that others would receive adoption as sons, so that people could enter into my family. As you celebrate Christmas, just remember that there is a God in heaven who wanted you so badly to be in his family that he gave his son, who was born in a manger
00:27:53
Speaker
who grew up and taught the truth, who grew up and laid down his life in as a substitute for all of the all of our sins. Our sins deserve punishment, but Jesus took that punishment. He paid that penalty ah himself. And then the father looked upon the son and he said, my son is worthy of life. He's not worthy of death.
00:28:16
Speaker
I placed all of the sins of the world upon him, but he never sinned, not once. And so the father raised his son from the dead. And so what a great, great opportunity we have. So may you and may I never forget how privileged we are to call Jesus our Savior and to call God our Father.
Closing Prayer and Blessings
00:28:42
Speaker
Let's pray together.
00:28:43
Speaker
Lord, thank you so much for this passage of scripture that really tells us on a deeper level what Christmas, what Christmas is all about and what it was originally all about. It was all about the father making a way to adopt us into his family. Lord, you are so wise.
00:29:07
Speaker
ah Thank you, Jesus, for being so loving, ah for being so gracious and merciful to come and die on a cross for all of us. We love you, Lord. Thank you for the privilege of being in your family, and just the honor of having your Holy Spirit to guide us every day. So bless us as we go through this Christmas season, and may we never forget just how loved that we are. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
00:29:36
Speaker
Thank you, friends, for listening today. I pray that God has blessed you. I pray you'll have a merry Christmas, and I pray that God will fill your heart and your home with lots of joy.
00:29:52
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.