well if you have your bibles with you open them to the book of galatians in galatians chapter four galatians chapter four my assignment tonight is to address the subject of god with us the incarnate god jesus christ the god man this is one of the most crucial critical and neglected aspects of our theology and we neglect it for a number of reasons not least of which is people love jesus as long as we're not too clear about who he is amen somebody if you want evidence of that of christmas is the ultimate evidence of that amen i'm not here to be a scrooge or anything like that god bless you i know you know the people who love christmas christmas favorite time of the year and and everything else and that that's great god bless you amen hallelujah praise the lord for all of that but here's what's interesting i want you to imagine something imagine you know in a few months pastors standing up in their pulpits and saying listen at easter jesus is the reason for the season pastors don't say that at easter why because unlike christmas nobody's tempted to make anything else the reason for the season or imagine a pastor around easter time saying hey make sure we keep christ in easter it's laughable to think that a pastor would say that but how often do we hear make sure to keep christ in christmas why because everybody loves christmas not everybody everybody that's that's that's beyond everybody amen you don't believe me listen to this it's from the guinness book of world records the most expensive christmas tree decorated 16 december 2010 the most expensive dressed christmas tree was valued at 11 million 26 900 and was erected and displayed by the emirates palace in abu dhabi united arab emirates from december 16th to december 29 2010. that's right that's right we have so diluted christmas that a muslim country has the guinness world record for the most expensive christmas tree ever in the world erected in the middle of a mall in a country where you bet not convert to christianity why because everybody loves jesus as long as you don't define who he is as long as you don't get into the nitty-gritty of what it means for jesus to be the son of god listen if jesus is just a good man and a good teacher even a good prophet he is completely acceptable mormons and muslims alike love jesus hindus and buddhists are very happy with jesus as long as he's just a teacher who offers sage wisdom then jesus is fine but the minute you step across that line and argue that jesus is more than prophet more than teacher that he is actually god incarnate god with us now all of a sudden those who were more than willing to gather with you scatter because everybody loves jesus as long as you don't define him and there are so many places that we could go when when i when the assignment came down i was like really i how where can you just like but here it is right here we'll talk about a lot of passages but i want us to concentrate here in galatians chapter 4. i'll begin there in verse 1 but really we get into this in verse 4.
i mean that the heir as long as he is a child is no different from a slave though he is the owner of everything but he is under guardians and messengers until the date set by his father in the same way we also when we were children were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world and here's our text but when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a 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 now my official title is god with us my unofficial title i know how to make them burn that christmas tree in abu dhabi all you'd have to do is stand there and explain this text beginning at verse 4. and so we will go and we will stand in front of this tree this 11 million dollar christmas tree in abu dhabi decorated with 181 pieces of jewelry rolex watches and diamond rings and all these sorts of things on it that's why it's valued at so because you're probably wondering right like what kind of wood was that i know it's not it's not it's not the wood it's the things that they put on the tree which speaks even more to the heart of the misunderstanding of what it was about and so here we are we're in abu dhabi we're standing in front of the tree and we have all of our our muslim neighbors there around this expensive christmas tree and our muslim neighbors may even look to us and say merry christmas as they stand around this christmas tree and so what do we say to our muslim neighbors as we stand in front of this tree again official title god with us unofficial title i know how to make y'all burn down that tree first but when the fullness of time had come the birth of jesus was providential the birth of jesus was providential when the fullness of time had come in other words at the exact moment when it was right when it was time in the fullness of time because because god is never early and he can't be late in the fullness of time when everything was exactly right when everything was exactly as god intended it to be in the exact moment that god intended it to happen god was not reacting to situations or circumstances it was in the fullness of time god did not decide that things had gotten so out of hand that something had to be done this was in the fullness of time god did exactly what he intended exactly when he intended exactly how he intended the birth of jesus was providential in other words the birth of jesus was part of a plan the birth of jesus was part of god's plan a specific plan for a specific purpose we learned a little something about that plan in the next phrase in the when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son we're already lighting the fire in the fullness of time god sent forth his son jesus is not like god he is not close to god he is not almost god jesus is god in the fullness of time god sent forth his son paul puts it this way in philippians let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus who although he existed in the form of god did not consider equality with god a thing to be grasped in colossians he makes it clear that the fullness of the godhead dwelled in him bodily the triune god makes this clear at the baptism of jesus jesus the son is baptized and when jesus god the son is baptized god the father speaks from heaven and says this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased so god the father declares that the one being baptized is god the son and god the spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove we have god here in the fullness of time god is executing a plan exactly when the plan is supposed to be executed and this time is significant because of the very nature of the plan and the nature of the plan is that god will send god the fullness of time god sent his son by the way this is also significant we're going to see that he's born of a woman but before we get to born of a woman i want you to recognize the implications here it's not only an affirmative statement that jesus is the son of god but this is also a very important statement in that in a very important sense he's not the son of adam how so well adam is our federal head and in genesis when adam eats of the fruit sin enters the world and death through sin because of the sin of adam and that curse that sin is passed to all of us by who are born by ordinary generation in other words we are all born in sin and shaped in iniquity all of us who are born of man and woman all of us who are born the ordinary way that people are born when you are the son of a man and a woman when you are born and produced by the union of a man and a woman what you inherit is adam's sinful nature and you stand under adam's federal headship because of that you're guilty you're guilty because of adam paul says this to us in romans 5. makes it very clear that we are guilty because of adam and because of his federal headship now federal headship is very important and it'll be very important in a moment but in order for us to understand its importance in a moment we have to understand its importance now because it's important in a moment when we talk about federal headship in reverse we get to the place where people often want to argue with federal headship and they want to say you know how is it that jesus can die all those years ago and how is it that jesus can die and you know all of us can benefit from that how is it that god can punish jesus and all of us can benefit from that in order to understand that later you have to understand federal headship now you have to understand that adam is our federal head and that all of us were in adam and guilty in adam and when he fell he stood instead of assault as our federal head and just like if our federal head today were to declare war all of us by virtue of being under that federal headship would be considered at war amen by virtue of that federal headship so what's being said here is important not only in what it affirms but what it denies but when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son his unique son john says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god through him all things were made and apart from him nothing was made that has been made and that word became flesh how did he become flesh not the same way that you and i became flesh as isaiah had foretold behold the virgin conceived and bore a son and this son is called emmanuel which is god with us there are those who have no problem giving up on the virgin birth they argue that you can remove the virgin birth you can remove the resurrection you can remove all of these things and christianity won't lose its essence they could not be more wrong if jesus is born the same way you and i are born then he is born having inherited adam's guilt and that's going to become important in a moment but as the son of god the unique son of god he did not bear adam's guilt he was born of a virgin we learn when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman and so now we have jesus who is the son of god and the son of man now we have jesus who is fully divine as the son of god and fully human as the son of man although being fully human he was not born of ordinary generation therefore unlike other full humans he did not inherit adam's sin and yet he's born of a woman and the angel comes and announces this and it is achieved and happens just as he says as jesus is born of a virgin you know we often talk about birth being a miracle we shouldn't amen the birth of a child is a wonderful thing but it's not a miracle we know exactly how it happens and if i had time i could explain it to you but i won't it is not miraculous it's about the most natural thing in the world miracles are supernatural the birth of a child is absolutely natural it happens every day all day long amen in fact it is so natural and unmiraculous that we can pretty much tell you when it's going to happen and we've become so good at that that when the birth comes if it comes before you say your baby was early and if it comes after you say your baby was late why because you know it wasn't miraculous it was completely natural so natural that you can predict when it's supposed to happen and you can predict it so accurately that when it comes you don't say the prediction was wrong you say the baby got it wrong here's the other problem with proclaiming the birth of a child as miraculous i believe it steals glory from god because this birth of this child was miraculous the real issue is why when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law and he did this so that his son could redeem those who were under the law all of these things get us here when the fullness of time had come his birth is providential god sent forth his son strategically this is the son of god he's born of a woman we're making the point here that jesus christ fully human born of a woman but not born in the same way that all men are born because if he was he would have man's sin problem he's born under the law which is significant and important as well because he's born to redeem those who were under the law now now let's put it together go to genesis and let me make my point and burn this tree genesis chapter 3 the serpent deceives the woman and the woman eats the woman gives the fruit to the man and he eats and so we have the fall of man as man has disobeyed the command that god gave him in genesis chapter 2.
and then we have god cursing in the order of the offense the serpent deceived the woman so he's first the the woman ate she's second she gave the fruit to the man and he ate he's third in line of these curses but for our purposes in order to understand our text and burn this tree we just need to understand verse 15. verse 14 says the lord god said to the serpent because you have done this cursed are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life i will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring or seed and her offspring or seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel sin comes into the world and judgment comes because of sin and judgment starts with the serpent and the judgment on the serpent has to do with the fact that the woman is going to bear a seed and at some point we don't know when the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the snake even though the snake is going to bruise his heel now the text doesn't tell us when this particular promised seed is going to come however when the fullness of time had come the promised seed came now it was necessary that the promised seed be born of a woman otherwise god lied to the snake and to you and to me he says i'm going to put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed so whoever comes to deliver us from the sin of the first adam has to be born of the seed of the woman but somehow he cannot inherit the sin of adam that's why when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman no no why is this significant this is significant because the wages of sin is death amen that's what we owe if jesus has sin of his own if he's born of ordinary generation like you and me then he has a sin debt to pay and he can't pay anybody else's but because when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman something else could happen by the way he's not just born of a woman he's born under the law so that he might redeem those who are under the law and what does this redemption look like i'm so glad you asked because both sides of this are incredibly important he's born under the law because we are guilty born in sin but we are also guilty because this sin nature is the very reason that we break and violate the law of god so we have a double problem problem number one we have the the sin that we were born with and we're guilty because of that problem number two we have this law of god that we are commanded to keep and because of the sin that we're born with we are wholly unable and unwilling to keep this law so any man born of ordinary generation is going to have this same problem number one god requires those of us who are born under the law to keep the law and be actually righteous but you will not and cannot keep the law and be actually righteous because you're born under the federal headship of adam and with a sin nature you in trouble what has to happen the seed of the woman has to be born without a sin nature number one and number two he has to be born under the law and keep the whole law so that he can be actually righteous which is why this is god's son because he is the only one who can be born without a sin nature and can keep the whole law why is this significant i'm glad you asked because he has to fulfill two sides of the redemption coin what is often referred to as his active and his passive obedience in his active obedience he keeps the whole law and he is actually righteous which is important because that means he can impute actual righteousness to you and to me and you can't stand before god without actual righteousness and you can't gain that righteousness because you're born in sin so christ keeps the whole law and is actually righteous and he can impute that righteousness to you but then as a man christ can actually take the penalty that we owe to god for our sin and deal with the other side of it so that now there can be a double imputation my sin imputed to christ who is born of a woman and can therefore have my sin placed on him because the sin belongs to man but because he's the god god-man his righteousness can be imputed to me so that christ can die a vicarious substitutionary atoning death on my behalf satisfying the wrath of god against my actual sin and my inherited sin and imputing to me the righteousness that is required for me to stand before god in right standing in righteousness this is why when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law why because as isaiah says all we like sheep had gone astray each of us had turned to his own way we're ruined we were ruined but what happens god made him who knew no sin to be sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of god in him christ died for sin once for all the just for the unjust in order that he might bring us back to god this is why the doctrine matters because without it you can't square this circle if jesus is just a good man i don't care how good a man he is a good man who is born of ordinary generation inherits adam's sin and because he inherits adam's sin he inherits adam's sin nature and he cannot obey the law of god and therefore because it is appointed unto man once to die and then face the judgment even the best of men will be condemned even if he's a good teacher being a good man is not enough being a good teacher is not enough jesus is a good teacher that is excellent praise god for good teachers but riddle me this batman what can you teach me that will take away my sin nature what can you teach me that will enable me to keep the law when i am completely and utterly bent against it when i hate god's law and i hate god's righteousness what is it that you can teach me that can overcome my sin nature what is it that you can teach me and by the way if you boil every other religion in the world down you boil it down to this it's an oversimplification but not by much you need to have a religious experience and then from that moment on do more good things than bad things and hope for the best when you die and you and i both know there's two problems with that number one i can't be good if you can't say amen you ought to say ouch i can't be good i've tried it i can't do it i just can't and even when i have achievements in the area of trying to be good i get proud of the fact that i was good and then the pride is not good i got to start all over again here's the second problem what about all my sin before my religious experience even if i could possibly balance the tables from here on out and i can't i didn't start with a clean slate so if jesus is good man and good teacher his teaching cannot and will not suffice even if jesus is good man and good teacher and good prophet what can a good prophet do other than to remind me of the fact that i am born under the federal headship of adam and therefore have only death hell and the grave to look forward to thank you very much none of that is sufficient the only thing that will work is if when the fullness of time had come in god's perfect providence he sent forth his son therefore escaping the guilt and having the power to obey born of a woman therefore representing the rest of us in humanity who are guilty born under the law therefore being able to achieve perfect righteousness and impute that righteousness to those of us who have none of our own so that he might redeem those who are under the law therefore being able to impute our sinfulness to him and to carry it to the tree all of that's good but wait there's more so that we might receive adoption as sons it would be enough if we just missed hell amen but he does this so that we might receive adoption as sons other words christ the eternal son of god wraps himself in flesh clothes himself in humanity so that he as the son can redeem us pay for our sin reconcile us to god not just so that we miss hell so that we too can be adopted as sons what does that have to do with burning the tree well if the tree's not on fire yet it's about to be first of all this jesus is not just a baby in a manger the baby's in the manger for a purpose and the baby's in the manger because we are all guilty and alienated from god and the baby's in the manger because it is only through the baby in the manger who grows up lives a perfect life dies a substitutionary atoning death on the cross raises again on the third day ascends to the right hand of the father where he ever makes intercession for us it is only through that that we can actually become sons and daughters of god you know one of the reasons people love christmas because it reminds them that we're all god's children i don't i don't want to be overly technical and i'm not trying to get messy but if we're all god's children i'm not understanding something here my wife and i have children who who came into our family biologically and we have children who came into our family through adoption and the ones who came into our family through adoption became our children and they had to become our children because before they were adopted they were not our children so if christ came to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons then that means that we were not sons or we are not sons prior to that adoption and not only are we not sons but we're enemies rightly deserving the wrath of god and that may sound ugly and it is in fact it's uglier than it sounds but it's only when you understand the ugliness of that that you understand the beauty of our adoption in christ jesus is god with us so that we might be with god verse six and because you are sons god has spent sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying abba father by the way just like we heard earlier do you see the trinity here first we see the father and the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son then we see the son now we see what the son does verse six and because you are sons god sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying abba father we're in that one verse we get all three but in the whole of this passage we get all three persons of the trinity the triune god working this out saving us and adopting us so you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through god this doctrine is essential this doctrine is non-negotiable without christmas you don't get easter without god sending forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who are under the law then christ pays for his own sin at the cross and thereafter in hell eternally separated from god and he has no redemption to offer you and me but because he is the god-man because he is god with us he is innocent of adam's sin because he is the god-man he can represent those of us who inherit adam's sin and because he is the god-man he can keep the whole law for his people and suffer the punishment due to their sins anybody being catechized out there and because of the beauty of this we can be adopted listen to this from our confession 2nd london baptist confession of 1689.
