Christmas Eve Service 2007

Good evening. I'd like to welcome you all to our Time of celebration of our Lord's birth. And let me just take a minute to pray for our time together. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to just think back upon your coming. And Lord, even at the same time, to look upon and look forward to your coming again. And as we gather here, we give you thanks, we give you praise, and we thank you for the specialness of this time. And we commit our time to you.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, why don't you stand? I'd say stand with me, but that could be dangerous. There's not much room up here. So, let's sing together, O Come All Ye Faithful. Three verses here. O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. This heav'nly morning teaches us to fear Him only. Heav'nly Father, now in flesh appearing, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing all ye citizens of heav'n above. Glory to God in thee, glory in thy power, Well, it's nice to see you all here this evening.

I think we have a really neat verse that we're going to look at tonight. It's in Galatians, chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. And it says, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem us, might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And you know in this verse, there's And I think it's really a neat verse.

I think the main thrust of this verse is that God is in action. God is doing something. God is not passive. God is sending forth his son. And there's at least three things that come out of that. And actually, Vern and Mike and myself are going to try to cover that. And I get to cover the first part, which I think is a neat part, which over the years I kind of wondered about this.

God sent forth his son in the fullness of time. And I've always kind of pondered, what does that fullness of time mean? God didn't say, And I've heard somebody, I think I was talking with Doug, and we had a meal together, that was 4 BC or something like that, and it sounds kind of strange, and that's a whole other story. But anyway, there was obviously a time in man's history when Christ was born, but God phrases it in his word, the fullness of time.

So I want to kind of explore that with you tonight. And then also, Mike's going to cover that his son was born of a woman, born under the law. And there's wonderful things to be pulled out of that. And then lastly, Vern's going to share with us the idea of redemption, that God the Son has redeemed us by his blood. So this idea of sending forth is to send forth. And it's the idea that you're sent forth from a place.

If you think about it, the Lord Jesus, from all eternity past, was with his father in the heavenlies, in the highest heaven. And he left that abode, if you will, and came as a baby, as a child, as a God-man. And he came at the fullness of time. And part of that is all wrapped up in this whole passage in Galatians.

And we obviously don't have time tonight to do that. But it talks about the law. And the law actually came to an end. The period of the law came to an end. And faith was in view, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. and faith in his son. And that was the appointed time period that came to an end.

And in Galatians 3.19, which I think is my next verse, it asks the question, why the law then?

It was added because of the transgressions having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator. until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. So the idea here is the law was added until the seed, and we're going to learn another thing tonight, is that the seed is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to look in the Old Testament, we're going to see that the seed was talked about by Abraham, and it kind of moves to the Old Testament, this seed, which is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that seed was promised to Abraham, that his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, would come. So basically, the law was added until the seed would come, until the Lord Jesus Christ would come. So let's look at the first passage in Genesis 22.

Thank you, Vern. We're doing this remote kind of thing. He has a remote, and I'm telling him. Anyway. OK. So it says in verse 17, indeed, I will greatly bless you. And this is a wonderful account where Abraham and Isaac, Abraham takes Isaac to be sacrificed, and God provides. Abraham is faithful, but God provides a sacrifice for him.

And basically, this is after that, and the angel of the Lord is saying, indeed, I will greatly bless you and will greatly multiply your seed, notice it's singular, as the stars of the heavens, as the sands which are on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. In your seed, all nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So it talks about the seed, and there's actually kind of two meanings here, two ideas, and maybe it's not apparent at first. One idea is that God has set forth the nation of Israel. He came to the nation of Israel, and he's basically saying to Abraham, your nation through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is going to prosper.

That's one aspect of the seed. The other aspect is our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's actually in another passage, which I didn't have Vern put up there for me. I'd like to read that passage. It's kind of a connection between the Old and New Testament, and it talks about this seed and how the seed is really the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how we know that this reference is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 16, it says, Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed, singular, He does not say to seeds, plural, as referring to many, but rather to one. And to your seed, that is Christ. So Christ was the seed that was foretold in the Old Testament, the seed that was going to come out of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And now we move on to another passage in Deuteronomy.

And this passage is where Moses is speaking here. And Moses is speaking on behalf of God. And this is kind of an astounding passage. It's going to compare. It's going to compare Moses to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it starts off, it says, and this is Moses speaking, and he's talking to the children of Israel. He says, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, me, Moses. Sounds kind of strange, but from among you, from your countrymen, and you shall listen to him. I'm just going to stop right there. So basically, there's a comparison here between Moses and this person he's going to raise up.

If you think about it, Moses was a redeemer. He basically led his people out of Egypt. And the Lord Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. Moses was a mediator. God spoke to Moses, and Moses spoke to the people. And our Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator. And Moses was an intercessor. Moses interceded on behalf of his people.

So there's a wonderful comparison there, a wonderful picture of the Savior to come. And then the third passage from the Old Testament is in Isaiah, Isaiah 40. And let's see there. Thank you, Vern. And it says, a voice is calling. Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, every mountain and hill be made low. And let the rough ground become a plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley. then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

And you know, this is actually a heralding, a heralding about the coming Savior. And if you think about this connection to the New Testament, who was the herald of our Lord Jesus Christ? Who was the herald that proclaimed his coming? It was John the Baptist, right?

And what's really cool is, the way we know all these connections, you think, well, how do these people make these connections between the Old and New Testament? Well, the New Testament repeats this verse, and I want to read it for you. And that's how we know. I mean, it's so wonderful. The evidence is there.

It's not like man says, well, I'll take this verse and I'll twist it around, make it say that. No, it's spoken of in the New Testament, this very verse. So let me read in Matthew chapter 3, and this is where John the Baptist It says now, chapter 3 of Matthew, Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. Exactly a good portion of this verse.

And then he goes down to verse 11 and he says, As for me, this is John the Baptist, I baptize you with water for repentance. But he, speaking of Christ, who is coming after me is mightier than I am. I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." So once again, we see this proclamation of our Savior coming. And then lastly, in Galatians 3, 24 and 25, This is back to the idea of the law here.

It says, the law has become our tutor or our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. That was the purpose of the law, to show us Christ, to be a tutor, to be a schoolmaster, so that we may be justified by faith. But now listen to this, but now faith has come and we are no longer under a tutor, no longer under the law. Our faith is to be in the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This wonderful Savior who has come doesn't ask us to follow a bunch of rules. He asks us to simply trust him for who he is and what he's done. And we're going to learn more about that as we go through this evening. Thank you for your attentiveness. And I think we're going to have another song. I actually forgot. I apologize.

Thank you. the the the the the the do so Continuing on with our theme, Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, God sent forth his Son, adult Son, not a child, just an adult Son, born as the God sent forth the Son, particular Son, having come from a woman, having come under a law system.

In John 1.11, He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. And his own were the Jewish people, the Jewish nation. And born of a woman means there's two things going on here. One, he becomes a human being. The word become there is the word ginomai, which means that he came into a state of being that he never was before. And we're going to see this word again here in just a minute.

And then John 1.14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. That Word became, the Word became flesh is again that Word, Ginnomai, come into a new state of being. He was not really made anything. He became flesh. He became a man. And what's the significance of the fact that He dwelt among us? He, the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, is the full expression of God, and he adapted by taking on man's nature to all that is in man, to meet every human need. He who is with God and who was God was made flesh, and he identified with man.

John 1 16. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. For of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. New thing here. Christ presents, as he becomes a man, he brings everything out that has to do with man.

In Ephesians 4.21, the verse says, If indeed you have heard him, the Lord Jesus, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus.

In Colossians 2.3 it talks about the Lord Jesus. It says, In whom are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He who was beheld on earth had the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father.

In John 1.17. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. Another interesting connection here. That word, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. That word came as Ginnomai again. which means a new thing has come with the Lord Jesus Christ, an entirely new being. And what did he bring with him that was entirely new? Grace and truth came by him. It isn't just declared. We now have an entire new system of grace in which we live. No longer under a lost system, but under a grace system. Even though he came under the lost system, he brought grace with him.

And truth. Truth shows the relations of all things with God and their departure from all things that are of God. The ground of the work of truth shows man what God is, what perfect man is, what sinful man is, what the world is, and what the world's prince is. The word says that we have received his fullness. and is described as grace on top of grace.

Although born under a lost system, he brought with him this entirely new system. And it's a new operating principle referred to as grace. It's the unlimited and the unmerited blessings from God based on the work that he came to do. And if you look at this verse, you have to ask yourself, where did Jesus come from? He came from the bosom of the Father, the most loving place there is in existence, the heart of the Father.

John 1.29. The next day, he, John, saw Jesus come to him and he said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is his work, and John the Baptist knew it. He says, from a gracious standpoint, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John declares that God, in grace, has supplied his own lamb.

And what the work was to be done by this lamb for the satisfaction of the Father. Child is this who lay to rest On Mary's lap is sleeping Whom angels greet with anthems sing While shepherds watch are keeping This, this is Christ the King Whom shepherds guard and angels sing, Haste, haste to bring him laud, The babe, the son of Mary. Why lies he in such mean estate, Where oxen at our feet?

The cross be born for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The Babe, the Son of Mary. So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh Come, peasant king, to own him The king of kings salvation brings Let loving hearts enthrone him Raise, raise the song on high The virgin sings her lullaby Joy, joy, for Christ is born The Babe, the Son of Mary The Babe, the Son of Mary If you listen to the verses there, the second verse that Mark sang, part of it is Good Christians fear for sinners here. The silent word is pleading. Nails, spears shall pierce them through. The cross be born for me, for you. Hail, hail the word made flesh. The Lord Jesus came to do a specific task, and that was to deal with the sin issue. And did he do it? Did he deal with the issue?

According to scripture in John 19.30, When Jesus, therefore, had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The work's done. He accomplished what he came to do. And it's not just the fact that he was here. It's the fact that he died. But he just that wasn't the end of the story. Death wasn't the end. He is not here, but he has risen.

Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now he said unto them, These are my words which I spoke unto you while I was still with you. And all these things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are the witnesses of these things." So we are. We're not only witnesses of the birth of the Lord Jesus, we're also the witnesses of his death, his burial, and his resurrections. These things are known by faith and they are now our possession. As sons, the ones that our Father has determined should be his witnesses to this grace and this truth now has come to be.

We're going to be singing this Christmas carol, and at first thought, you might think, well, this is just an old Christmas carol. But think about this for a minute. God rest. God rest. It is God who does the accomplishing that we can rest in. Furthermore, what else do we see? You. You are impacted by this. You're impacted by this. This is directed at each one of us.

And how about Mary? This is more than simply, yeah, I'm happy or this is a good time of year to get excited about things or get together with people. But beyond that, why is there rest? Why is there something to be merry about? It is what the Lord has done. It is what the Lord has accomplished. That, that makes this very special. Very special. Stand and let's sing this together. God rest you merry gentlemen. We'll do three verses. God is the agent of wonder, now he made his name. We can't but praise God's name, the most glorious name. God save us all, now save us all, we will not be slain.

♪ I need some company, some company ♪ ♪ No, I need just some company ♪ ♪ Each and every day to make Christmas with me much more ♪ ♪ When we make it a great deal of this fleshy ball ♪ The flesh is not perfect, but people can do things right. No time is of no importance. No time is of no importance.

From God our heavenly Father, from the city to thee, Man of treasure, his shepherd, from tidings of mercy, From heaven and earth, thus born, this son of God our King, through all tidings of power through him, Please be seated. As Roger and Mike and I have proceeded through this passage, we saw the richness in this. As a matter of fact, we kept seeing things as we were looking at it. And as we come to verse 5, So that, ah, there's an outcome to this. There's an outcome to what God accomplished. So that He might, ah, it's what He did again. Isn't that what we just sang about? It's what He accomplished. It's what He has done.

So that He might redeem those who are under the law. When we look at this word redeemed, the particular word that Paul chose when he wrote this, means to buy out. In matter of fact, especially to buy out of the marketplace. It was used as a word in New Testament times for buying something not just out of the market and then to take it, but to buy it completely out of the marketplace, not for sale ever again. And as we look at this passage, this is a key thing.

It is not just that we have been saved from sin. Not just that we've been redeemed out from under the law, but taken out entirely, never to be put back again. It is not the Lord's intent to just try us out for a while. Let's see if this works out. No, it is His intent that we be bought out completely from everything that sin and the law and the world had claimed to in our lives. Redeem those who are under the law. The law dictated this and dictated that. It dictated behaviors, things you should do, things you shouldn't do, but never, never empowered you to do so.

Here's more consequence, that we might receive the adoption of sons. We, you and me. We're included in this. Now, what's this adoption of sons thing? In our own culture, we tend to think of adoption as we adopt some little baby, and that's a good thing. But this is a little different. This adoption of sons in the New Testament era was something that was begun.

Matter of fact, one of the emperors, the first one that it was carried out under was the one who was emperor when Christ was born, Augustus Caesar. And what did it mean? Augustus Caesar was adopted in into his position of emperor as an adult. And so when Paul says here, adoption as sons, what is he talking about but an adult who is brought in to take the place of being an emperor? So this is not just a cute little baby, as nice and cuddly as that might be, but this is a matter of giving us a place of incredible position. Astounding, astounding privilege.

That's not all. In order for someone, an adult, to be adopted through this process in the Roman Empire, it meant that any past criminal record that they ever had was wiped out. Any past crimes? Gone. Done. It meant that any debts, no matter how large or to however many people owed, were entirely wiped out. Gone. Done.

This is a phenomenal privilege. Going through this, it meant more than that. It had to be approved at the highest levels for an emperor to be carried along in this process of adoption of sons, to be placed as one who inherits this position of taking the emperorship, had to be approved by the Roman Senate. Seven witnesses had to witness the adoption process. This was high-level approval, great privilege, phenomenal forgiveness.

Isn't that wonderful news for us? This is an astounding thing. When they read this, I'm sure they said, wait a minute, put this letter down. Let me soak this up. Because the immensity, the immensity of the privilege and forgiveness that this meant. So that's why I would say in the fullness of time, God said, OK, now do this. This is the right time. And this is a phenomenal privilege that we're called to. It's approved at the highest levels that you and I, who have put our trust in Christ as Savior, have this amazing privilege, amazing forgiveness, and a phenomenal place that the Lord has given us by His own intent.

In 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 17 through 19, Peter wrote this, if you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like gold or silver. The Lord didn't just say, hey, you know, here's the payment. He wasn't able to do it with just some physical product. It took the sacrifice of his son.

Redeemed from, and this is a key thing, we are redeemed from and redeemed to. Redeemed from your futile way of life. Apart from the Lord's redemption, we would be just stuck doing whatever people do. We would be just stuck trying to make the best of a really bad situation. And no resources, no recourse. And yet, Redeemed from.

Did we do the redeeming? No, the Lord did the redeeming. It's his price paid. It's his accomplishment. Redeemed from. The futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless. The blood of Christ. Priceless. The blood of Christ. And verses 20 and 21, and this is the amazing thing. These two verses sweep all the way from eternity past on into a future that we look forward to even now.

For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has yet appeared, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, for you and me. When we talk about gathering this evening to recall Christ's coming, it's for you. It's for you that he came, each and every one of us. For the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and your hope are in God. And I think this is a key thing.

It's not just, oh, isn't this a nice story about the baby being born in this manger? Isn't this a nice story about this amazing birth that took place in a little town in the eastern Mediterranean? Far beyond that, no. This is a redeemed from and a redeemed to.

Our hope is in God and it's not an I hope so hope. It's not a, boy, that sure would be nice kind of hope. It's a certain hope. It's an absolute and fixed hope. Our hope and our trust and our confidence are in the Lord because of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he came, that he paid a price we could never pay, that he died for us and was raised again and furthermore lives for us even now and intercedes for us. Our faith and hope are in God because he came.

One of the things that astounds me as we look through these passages, even as you look through a lot of the Christmas carols, one of the things that you'll note is that not only do these passages talk about Christ's first coming, they talk about his second coming.

Peace on earth? That's yet to come. Second coming, when he comes to reign again. the time when there will be, he'll be, you know, he sings songs like the Handel's Messiah, you know, wonderful counselor. That's in time to come. That's a future and hope. Redeemed from and redeemed to. I'd like to finish with this song here. It's a song that starts off making reference to this Christmas time that we commemorate, but ends up looking to the time when the Lord will come again. One day when heaven was filled with His praises, one day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwell among men, my Redeemer to be.

Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. O glorious day! One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain One day they nailed Him to die on the tree Suffering, anguished, despised and rejected Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away. Rising, He justified freely forever.

One day, He's coming. O glorious day! One day the trumpet will sound for His coming. One day the skies with His glories will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved one's bringing. Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified freely forever.

One day he's coming, O glorious day. Let's pray. Lord, what a glorious day that will be. You came once at a time that was so, from an earthly standpoint, precarious. You came at a time when you were vulnerable much more than we could even comprehend. And yet, you made yourself vulnerable willfully, taking upon yourself our own sins. And yet, Lord, even to live, even now, for us, and in us and with us. How glorious that is. And Lord, what a glorious day it will be when you come again. In Jesus' name, Amen. so so Have a blessed, blessed Christmas time. Merry Christmas to you all.