I don't know if you remember, I think it was a couple years ago, there was a man who went hiking. Remember he somehow got his hand stuck under a boulder. I still have no idea how he managed to do that. But somehow he got his hand stuck under this huge boulder and he couldn't pull it free. And so he had to end up cutting his hand off. And I saw him a few weeks later and he was being interviewed and he went in to, you know, kind of too graphic a detail of everything that took place, but he talked about how the first day he got his hand stuck and he screamed and he yelled until he lost his voice, and then the next day he began to despair of life, think he's just gonna die here, and then he began to sort of revive his spirits by telling himself, well, maybe I can sever my hand, maybe I can get myself free, and sure enough, he talks about he broke just the right bones in all the right places and got his little pocket knife and kind of finished it off and was able to run down to civilization and be saved and be rescued from that. And a little while later, someone must have caught the tail end of this story on the news, and they were talking about, oh, did you hear that guy who got his hand stuck under a boulder and cut it off and was saved? Another person's like, oh, I didn't hear about that. But they weren't really interested. And I had to interrupt them. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation like this, where someone just butchers a story. That's not how it went at all. Or someone's trying to describe a movie that they saw, but they're leaving out all the good parts. This is how it goes. You've got to talk about all the opposition that this guy encountered, or his freedom is not going to be nearly as epic, it's not going to be nearly as exciting. Think of some great Grecian mythology, or some great battle that Rome had, and if all you talked about was the battle, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting, it wouldn't be nearly as powerful, as if you started a few years prior to all the opposition, everything, all the intensity, the pressure, the coups and all this stuff that led up to that real intense battle and that real intense victory. And as frustrating as it is sometimes to hear people try to tell a story but they only tell the very end, they don't tell everything leading up to it, every single year when Christmas comes around, I get that feeling. I turn on the radio, listen to a messenger, I go online, download a Christmas message, I get that feeling, because I hear people talking, and it's good, I'm not undermining this, I hear people talking about the grace of God, and the peace on earth, goodwill toward men, and we talk about all the wonderful niceties that God came to bring, and his grace, and his righteousness, and his peace, and his love, and everything that God came to establish, and that's wonderful, and it's marvelous, and where I would be apart from the grace of God is a horrifying thought, But that's just it. It's where I would be apart from the grace of God. We give sin a sort of a passing glance on Christmas. We kind of reference it. Why did Christ come? Well, he came to save us from our sins and so he could bring, and we love to elaborate on all the positive things that he came to bring. But I would dare say if we do not understand how desperate our situation was, why in the world the Son of God would have to become a man in order to address our sin problem. If we don't understand that, then we are not gonna understand Christmas and we're not going to appreciate the gift of Christ coming to earth. So all I want to do this morning is give you a biblical appreciation of the birth of Christ. I want to give you a biblical appreciation for the birth of Christ, how the scripture talks about it. I want to answer this question, why is it, really, I mean, let's get serious. Really, why is it that Jesus had to become a man? I mean, if someone had just come up to me and told me that God became man, I wouldn't believe it in a million years, because it's so bizarre, so outlandish, that the God of the universe would actually condescend to this dusty, dirty planet, subject himself to the ridicule, subject himself to the mockery, to the disbelief, to the accusations, to all the things that were leveled against him on this earth, and to be foisted upon a cross and crucified. I mean, that's ridiculous. Apart from the sacred scripture telling me that story, I wouldn't believe it for a second. And then, once I believed it, I would be asking the question, well, why in the world would he do it? I mean, that is incredible. There's nothing like that in human history. There's no story, even make-believe story, that comes even close to that kind of grand condescension by the Godhead to become a man. So I'd wanna know why in the world it is that he would do something like that. But the answer to that question is brushed off by most people because you have to talk about sin, you have to talk about who we really are, and that always becomes a very uncomfortable topic. And it's always hard for man to call evil evil. People always get in trouble when they start doing that. President Reagan was seen as being unnecessarily provocative and controversial when he called the Soviet Union a regime of terror, an empire of terror. And of course, President Bush, when he came out with that whole axis of evil thing, he was ridiculed for using the word evil. I mean, and this is too harsh. But you can keep going back early, earlier into history. And the New York Times, before World War II even began, New York Times was coming out with these articles saying, you know, all these rumors about the Holocaust and all these Jews being killed over there. and Poland and Germany and over there in Europe, you know, that stuff is just blown out of proportion, it's not really happening that way. And then you have the literal words of Hitler, and they have these articles, well, this is hype, you know, he's just trying to consolidate the masses, trying to unite everyone beneath him, and of course he's going to use extreme verbiage that really doesn't mean it, and we just have the hardest time, human history has proven, calling evil evil. We're so hesitant to do that. But after World War II, the famously tough General Patton walked through, for the very first time, one of these concentration camps. And even though he had seen all sorts of atrocities, he wasn't able to, literally, he wasn't able to stomach walking through this concentration camp. And since then, if we ever wonder, how low humanity can stoop. It wasn't just Hitler, there were hundreds of thousands of people under his regime doing the exact same thing. If we ever wonder how low humanity can stoop, all we need is the monument of the Holocaust. I've been to the Holocaust Museum in DC. I've been to the one in Israel. And those images are just burned in my mind. They're never going to go away. And they're just images. I never experienced it any real way. And they become burned in my mind. But when it comes to Scripture, God has monuments. He has sort of these images that should flash in the head of every single, especially believer, every single person, monuments to how bad sin is. Because we just have the hardest time, again, thinking that what we do is really that bad in the eyes of God. And the first monument is just three. The first monument is hell. Nobody likes to think about hell. But Matthew 25, 41. says that God is the creator of hell. We like to distance hell, we like to pretend that somebody else created it, you know, and God wants nothing to do with it, but the Bible tells us he created it for the devil and his angels. They fell, mankind fell, that's where the people go who stand in open rebellion against God. And even though I don't like the idea, I don't think you know, all my years of study, all my years of prayer, I can be 99 years old and I don't think I'm gonna like the idea of how one iota more or less than I do now, I'm always gonna have trouble with it. But since I'm committed to the word of God and since the word of God has been proven over and over again, I look at something like that and I marvel at how horrific my sin could be to warrant such a place. I wonder how in the world, God, can I be that offensive to you to warrant such a place of punishment. And maybe there's some of us, inevitably there'll be some listening on the radio or somewhere who will just dismiss that and say, well, I don't believe the Bible's the word of God. I think some of it is, some of it is riddled with fairy tales and stories. And you know what's interesting about those people? Every time someone says that to me, I say, okay, what part is fairy tale? And it's always the parts they don't like. It's not a scientific evaluation. They just declare fairy tale to be all the parts of the Bible I don't like, but all the parts of the Bible I do like. Well, that's historical. Come on, let's get real. Let's be real about this. We're dealing with eternity here. We can't just arbitrarily pretend that we know what parts of the scripture are historical and what parts are make-believe. The Bible, unlike any other book, has been proven over and over and over and over again throughout human history. It's not on trial. I have a whole list of scenarios such as Tiglath-Pileser, a Babylonian king, was told by the greatest minds that he didn't exist, but he exists in the Bible, but we have all the records of Babylon, there's no records of Tiglath-Pileser, so it's just made up, until archaeologists uncovered this huge city with Tiglath-Pileser etched on every single stone of that city. Once again, the Bible is verified as true. Sir William Ramsey, one of the greatest minds, one of the greatest Bible critics, Bible skeptics, said that Luke was a terrible historian. The book of Acts was just absolutely horrific and very juvenile when it came to history. So he set out on a three-year quest to trace down every single one of Paul's missionary journeys, to visit every single town he entered in. And at the end of those years, It was his conclusion that Luke is the historian of a first class. He is one of the greatest historians he ever knew, because when people start to take the Bible seriously, they don't just arbitrarily say, I believe some, I don't believe in other parts, but they actually begin to investigate, time and time again, they end up getting saved, because they see how absolutely supernatural its accuracy is. not only in historical aspect, but in the way God mercifully diagnoses the state of your soul, and the way He pleads, and the way He cries out from Scripture to read His Word, and to embrace it, and to believe it, and to do something about the state of your soul before God. So He's mercifully not angrily or kind of cosmic grumpy person up there, but he has mercifully put these monuments in scripture so that we in our limited understanding cannot fathom, I cannot fathom the nature of my sin, but I look at the first monument, I look at hell and I say, it must be off the charts. I have no idea how I offend God on a day-to-day basis. And the second monument is the cross. Now you think about that. The cross, you see Christ twisted, stretched out upon that cross, crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You understand his wrath being poured down upon the sins, those who would believe placed upon God and God's pouring down his wrath. And I look at that and I say, what kind of sin warrants such a penalty? What kind of crime, what kind of high crime against God warrants that kind of punishment? And again, I'm astonished by my sin. And then if we revert back and we say, well, I still maintain that I'm basically a good person. If we still maintain that, you have to understand, that makes the cross absolutely ridiculous. Why would God have to suffer in that way for people whose problem isn't that out of control? That's like killing a fly with a shotgun. If we're basically good people, then why the cross? Why such drastic measures by God to bring about salvation? And then the third one is the birth of Christ, the birth of Christ. If the President of the United States called you up and said, I'm dropping everything I'm doing over here in Copenhagen, I'm gonna set aside these meetings, I'm gonna come to your house, and we're gonna talk, you would be beside yourself wondering what in the world is so important that the President would wanna come and talk to me. But my friends, think about God. Setting aside his glorious robes and coming into humanity, stepping into the realm of his creation. We ask the same question, what in the world could be so desperate, so intense, what could warrant such a meeting by God, such a confrontation by God for him to come? And it's not kept a secret. The angel Gabriel tells Joseph in Matthew 121, prophesying or foretelling about the birth of Jesus Christ, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. Even Jesus' name means Yahweh saves. Even his name we have to look at and say, well, we must really need some saving. His name means Yahweh saves, for he will save his people from their sins. So God has come to earth to fix our sin problem. And my friends, I fear that we listen to the sugar-coated message of this world that tells us we're not as bad as some would think we are. We open up the scripture, we're not as bad as the scripture might say that we are. And when we do that, when we really actually end up believing that, we might as well kneel before Christ in a manger and say, well, why are you here? Haven't you heard? I'm basically a good person, and when I die, you know, God's so forgiving, you know, He's, you know, gonna let these things slide and just sort of scurry me into heaven. So why are you here, Jesus? When we ask that question, when we actually believe that, we're not as in need of salvation as the scriptures would have us think we are. So if we believe that, and I'm emphasizing this, because that is what 99% of the world believes today. If we believe that we are basically good people, I just want you to entertain this. Logically, it makes a mess of hell, it makes a mess of the cross, it makes a mess of the birth of Christ. Because those three monuments just scream out at us, our situation is drastic, our situation is horrible, and we are in desperate need of salvation, for God to come to earth, to live life, to die, we are in desperate need of it. if indeed these three monuments are from God for that purpose. But also the Bible tells us that most people aren't gonna believe this. It's gonna be in black and white throughout scripture, it's gonna be in the trustworthy form of the word of God, but most people aren't gonna believe this for a second. Jeremiah 17, nine says, the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick. Who can understand it? So the Bible's warning us, understand that if you hear the gospel, you're gonna say, no, I'm not like that. because your heart wants to deceive you. Satan wants you to stay in the crosshairs of the wrath of God and to think that you're quite fine when the scripture speaks otherwise. Well, I want to spend the majority of the time in Galatians chapter 4, particularly because when Paul talks about the birth of Christ in Galatians chapter 4, he puts it in a context of law and sin. You say, well, that's a rather dark way to look at the birth of Christ. But if you understand what the Bible means about this, you'll understand it's the most glorious way to examine the birth of Christ. Just to quickly read you this so you know where we're going, Galatians 4, 4 and 5. So God is God, God becomes a man, now he's fully God, fully man. He submits himself under the law. Why does this text say? to redeem those who are under the law, who are cursed by the law. So if your understanding of the birth of Christ stands apart from your desperate need to be saved from the condemnation of the law, if you've never put the birth of Christ and the law together, then you desperately need to hear this message. You desperately need to understand what the law has to do with the birth of Christ, because that's why he came. to redeem those who were under the law. So let me very quickly explain to you what the law is. It's one of the most important verses in scripture. We'll find it from Genesis to Revelation, a solid theme right throughout scripture. The law is essentially the character of God. It is the expression of God's character on our minds. I'm not talking about the Mosaic Law yet. I'm talking about the fact that every single human being intuitively knows what the character of God is. They might not be ready to admit that this is the character of God they're experiencing, but every single human being naturally knows what is right and what is wrong, and the only way they can dismiss that is if they sear their conscience. And a person who has no moral bearings, as it's sometimes called, we either throw them in jail or throw them in an insane asylum. If they cannot distinguish things morally, well, they become a horrific person. But most people are born into this world and they intuitively understand the character of God. And that is the law of God that God as the creator, as our creator, impressed upon our minds. And the reason he did this is not, and this is one of the most important points I'll make, is not so that we say, okay, now I know what's right and what's wrong, so if I do what is right, I can work my way to heaven. That is not why God gave us the law. He gave us the law so that we can understand how out of step we are with God's character. If you're really in tune with your conscience, it was probably today would be the last time that your conscience provoked you, or convicted you. Maybe the way you spoke to your wife, or spoke to one of your kids, or a thought that entered your mind, or something like that. The character of God bearing down, intuitively bearing down upon your mind. So if you have a sensitive conscience, which is good, you know pretty much every time you turn around, you're defiling your conscience. This is the law of God. We might think of it in this context, If you walked into a courtroom, you're goofing off outside with your friends, you walk into a courtroom, and you notice everyone's real sober, real quiet, real serious, there's this understood law within the courtroom that your behavior has to match everybody else's. You have to match the atmosphere, right? You can't keep cracking jokes and stuff. This is a serious situation. The same with a real fancy restaurant. You walk in, and people are nicely dressed, and it's candlelit, and there's a violinist playing near a white cloth table. And obviously, you're not going to start doing cartwheels across the floor. That might be good for a gymnasium, but not in this very nice, pricey So you walk into certain environments and there's an understood law that your character needs to adjust to the environment. Every human being is born into the world of God, into the environment of God with this understood law of right and wrong. And every time we turn around, I don't know about you, but for me, every time I turn around, I'm always aware of how far I fall short of the character of God, how unlike God I am. Well, there's this desperate attempt by mankind to say this is not the character of God on our mind. This is anything but. And the most common within sort of the Ivy League universities, Harvard, Princeton, all those places, and they're trying to push upon the masses, the most common is, well, this moral law really is sort of something that was born out of evolutionary necessity. So evolution, everything's progressing, it's getting better, better, right? So they say. and we're progressing toward that, and if I go kill my neighbor, that is anti-progress, that's anti-evolutionary, so morality just sort of evolved out of this. But the moment you try to put value on a human being based on productivity, or based on whether they aid the evolutionary process or not, that is the moment you have the science of Joseph Mengele, Jack Kevorkian, people who put value on life based on productivity, based on contribution. We can only find value in life, of course, according to the character of God. So I'm showing you that because there's all kinds of ideas out there how to define this undeniable moral compass that every single person has But the only one that isn't laughable and the only one that makes sense is the fact that when God created us, He put, He impressed upon our minds an awareness of the character of God so that we would grow up and intuitively understand our desperate need of God. You don't even need a Bible to understand your need of God. It's called general revelation. Romans makes that very clear. You need a Bible when you realize, I'm in desperate need of God. I need to find out exactly what to do. And you can read about what his son has done. But God has so mercifully placed that moral compass in every single human being to tell mankind that he is in need of God. Paul says this very clearly in Romans chapter one, verse 20. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature, has been clearly seen, being understood through that which has been made, so that they are without excuse. So Paul assumes that it's so obvious that God's character is impressed on every human being that you are absolutely without excuse. It is more than enough evidence that we need to send us running to the cross, to send us running to salvation and telling God how much we need him. And we can deny this, but just imagine if someone had the capability of putting your darkest thoughts on a big jumbo screen here this morning. Your most lustful thoughts, your hateful thoughts, your bitter thoughts, your envious thoughts, you know, all the thoughts that we never ever want anyone to know. You put them up and we'd be horrified. You think you'd be horrified amongst your fellow man? Imagine what you'd be like before God, before a pure, holy, righteous God to have our thoughts projected up there. And would we really at that point still think that there's a chance that we in and of ourselves can deserve the presence of God. We'd be mortified. We'd be calling out for salvation if we really, really knew how it is. We really, really believe God's diagnosis of the human heart. So this is what God does. He's placed this law in the heart and mind of every single human being that has ever existed. But man always has a hard time admitting who he is, admitting how sinful we are, so what does God do? He calls out in the Old Testament early on in human history, he calls out the nation Israel through Abraham and he gives him the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses is a further expression of the character of God. It's a greater and more detailed, 613 commands, it's a greater and more detailed expression of the nature and the character of Almighty God. And And here's how we could understand it. If I were to say to you, I'm as good as Michael Jordan in basketball. You'd say, probably not, Nate. Probably not as good as him. But I happen to know him. So I'm going to set up an appointment with him and say, can I play you one-on-one basketball? And so Monday, 3 o'clock, I play him one-on-one basketball, and he just, of course, creams me. But I still somehow, in my insanity, maintain that I'm as good as him. So someone draws up a list of all these moves that Michael Jordan has invented and can do, and then they hand me the list. And I try to do them, and each one, successively, I fail at. Well obviously after that, hopefully I'm not gonna be saying I'm still as good as him. This is the nature of the Mosaic Law. God has given his character, given his law, intuitively in the heart of man. We still maintain that by being good and being moral, even though we break God's law all over the place, being good, being moral, we can get to heaven. So God gives the Mosaic Law. He further gives more details, and we continue to disobey. to just mercifully drive home the point that if we are trying to establish salvation within ourselves, it's not gonna work. We are in desperate need of God. And that is a radical thought in this world today, because most people think, if I keep the laws, I'm a good citizen. And you're right. If you keep the laws, you're a good citizen. But when it comes to the law of God, God who, by nature, cannot tolerate sin, It's not that he's trying to be mean, it's that by nature he cannot tolerate sin. If there's an imperfection of the diamond, you're not going to say to the jeweler, you are so cruel to devalue this poor diamond. You're going to understand that's just the way it is. There's imperfection. So God cannot fill heaven with people like me. apart from salvation, apart from forgiveness. So I understand that the last way, the worst way that I think I can enter into a relationship with God is if I'm doing it by my own morality. Because I've seen the law of God in Scripture, and I understand how much I violate the law of God, and I understand how desperately I'm in need of His righteousness and not my own righteousness. Let me read you a couple of verses on the nature of the law, 1 Corinthians 15, 56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. The power of sin is the law. How in the world is the power of sin found in the law? Because we know that we're sinners. I mean, you walk up to anyone, they're going to say, I know I'm not perfect, I know I'm a sinner. But then you open up the word of God and you say, well, have you kept this command? Well, no. Have you kept this one? Nope, and page after page after page, sin is made more powerful through the law of God. It's like holding up a mirror. It's annoying that I probably have some dirt on my face and then someone holds up a mirror and you say, whoa, I didn't know I had that much dirt on my face. So you hold up the mirror of the word of God and suddenly it reveals who you really are. That's why Paul says the power of sin is in the law. It spells out the exact ways we wander from God. Romans 7.13, therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? No, he's talking about the law. The law is good. The law is the character of God. He says, is it the law that became a cause of death? Of course not. May it never be. Rather, it was sin. We can't blame our falling short of the glory of God on the law. We blame it on ourself, on our sin. In order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death, through that which is good. So that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful. So through the law of God, through the commandment of God, sin just gets darker and darker. And that's why, for the true believer here this morning, you know that the more in love you grow with God, and the closer you draw to God, the more frustrated you become with your own sin. Because when we first started out, we knew we were sinners and needed salvation, but the closer we walked to the Lord, the more we understand His holiness, and the more we're thinking, Man, I am in so much need of his grace. I am in so much need of his salvation. I had no idea how bad off I was apart from the grace of God. So it's sort of that tension. We grow in the Lord, we begin to love his grace and mercy, we begin to progressively understand who we really are in the reflection of his law. If you were suddenly called up into the presence of God, And you stood there before God, and you beheld His holiness, and you beheld His resplendent glory. You saw the seraphim bowing before Him, crying out, holy, holy, holy, night and day. If you were caught up into the presence of God, I can make you a promise that you would never say, now that I've seen the character of God, now I know that I can get to heaven on my own. It would be the last thought in your mind. How can I make you that promise? How can I guarantee that the reaction you would have before holy God would be self-loathing? That sounds tough, but how can I guarantee that would be your reaction? Because of the men in scripture, the godliest, holiest prophets in scripture, when they are caught up to the presence of God, their first reaction is feeling completely exposed, completely naked before God, loathing their sinful state. Same thing happened to Isaiah. Isaiah is caught up in the presence of God. He sees the train of God's robe, which reflects the glory of God, filling the temple. He takes all the sin and then he says, woe is me. Normally it's God who pronounces woe. Woe means judgment. But Isaiah, one of the godliest prophets of the Old Testament, begins to pronounce woe on himself. Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He's immediately smitten by the fact that he is unclean, and God is pure. He is unrighteous, and God is righteous. He is unholy, and God is holy. And he is completely overwhelmed by that. That is his reaction. And the same with the Apostle Paul. How many times was he taken up into heaven? How many times did he see some sort of cloaked revelation of God? And he calls himself a chief of sinners. He calls himself someone who's not worthy to be an apostle. He calls himself a wretched man. Who will deliver me from the bondage of this flesh? He's not referring to his pre-salvation days. He's talking about who he is right there. This godly Apostle Paul, closer he draws to the Lord, the more he realizes who he really is. Daniel, every time he beholds a vision of God, he falls like a dead man and God has to pick him back up. Falls like a dead man, God picks him back up. Because we're in the presence of God, that's what we see. And God's telling us, because none of us have even been in the cloaked hidden presence of God. So God's telling us in the scripture, this is what's going to happen on the day of judgment. If you have not clothed yourself in the righteousness of Christ, in that split second after you die and stand before God, suddenly you're going to be horrified with who you truly are. You've been lying to yourself your whole life, who you are. Suddenly you're going to see yourself and then it's going to be too late. But now is not too late. Now the scripture is replete, it's filled with descriptions of who we are and why it is that we so desperately need salvation. Well, Israel had broken the law of God. Not only had they broken the law of God and pressed on their mind, they had broken the Mosaic Covenant over and over again. You know what's awesome? This is how merciful God is. God knew they would continue to break the Mosaic Law, so he gave them a sacrificial system. He knew they were gonna blow it time and time again, so he gave them a sacrificial system. This is his act of mercy. But finally, human history comes, the fullness of time comes, and Jesus is born, and Jesus begins to preach. And so what does Jesus do? As every sermon of Jesus, hey, don't worry, I'm here now, I'm exceptionally forgiving. In fact, I tolerate unholiness, I tolerate sin, I tolerate all these things. You don't have to worry about anything. I'm here, I'm just gonna establish universal peace and we're all gonna be a big happy family. You might think that's the way Jesus preached, if you listen to some people. But here's what Jesus does. He does the same thing God in the Old Testament was doing. He wants us to understand who we truly are so that we run to him for salvation. It says in Matthew 5, 27, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust in their heart has already committed adultery with her in your heart. So who here is lusted? Everyone has. So we're all adulterers in the eyes of God. That's how the holy standard of God works. This is Jesus's words, not mine. First John 3, 15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. He said, man, that is a high standard. Well, yeah, if you want to get to heaven by being good, you must understand that only perfect angels stand in the presence of God. So if you wanna perfect yourself through morality, well, how good do you have to be to be perfect? Gotta be perfect. Jesus said, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. If you wanna play by the rules of the law, you gotta obey them all. But you wanna come to God through faith, then embrace the gospel. And he forgives those sins. He cleanses your heart. He gives you the righteousness of Christ. But it's amazing all the people who continue to try to get to heaven by their own morality. Skipping to Galatians 4. Something terrible had happened in the Galatian church. They were so compassionate. They were so loving. Paul had this some sort of malady, some sort of sickness, and he goes up to Galatia, and they just embrace him. He says to them, it was because of a bodily illness that I came to you, and they just embrace Paul, and he gives them the gospel, and they're saved, and this little church, this little congregation just starts growing in the Lord, and that must have been such an encouragement to the Apostle Paul, his first missionary journey, he'd only been at it a couple months, And then suddenly Paul gets some devastating news that some Judaizers had come in. Judaizers are people who had perverted the Old Testament laws. They had said the law of Moses was not given to show us how far we fall short of the glory of God so that we embrace him in faith. The law of Moses was given to us to save us. If we obey the laws and we live a moral life, well then we'll get to heaven. And they start introducing this heresy, Paul calls, in the Galatian church. So Paul addresses this, and in Galatians chapter 4, verse 1, says, So he's setting up an illustration here. As long as the heir is a child, he doesn't differ from a slave, even though he's owner of everything. So he's, of course, not endorsing slavery here. This is just the Greek culture at this time. You have a son of a father who owns this rich estate, has a great inheritance. And the Greek word for here is child, means from a child younger, so it can't even mean a toddler or an infant, so someone very young. And the idea is that even though you have a boy and you have a slave, and even though the boy, when he comes of age, is gonna receive the inheritance of his father, he can't legally receive that inheritance until he comes of age. So that little boy, that toddler, can walk up to dad and say, all right, fork over the house, you know, I'm the heir, but it's never gonna happen, because he has to come of age. Verse two. So this little boy is an underguardian. He's sort of imprisoned, as it were. He's under this... this manager, usually a household slave that was trusted and loved just like the family, until he comes of age. And maybe the will would say when he turns 19 years of age. In the Greek culture, I think it's kind of funny, in the Greek culture, you knew you had become a man when the little boy brought all his toys and sacrificed them to a particular god. Once you sacrifice all your boys to a particular god, well, now you're really a man. You've set away your childish things. So maybe something like that was spelled out in the will. Once you get to this place, then you become the heir. But until then, you don't get anything. So here's the application, verse 3. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage. And children here means pre-salvation. If you were to read the broader context, you'd probably understand this means prior to becoming saved, pre-grace, we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Bondage here, perfect participle. We're stuck in this ongoing state of bondage. Or as Ephesians 2 says, we're dead in our trespasses and sin. We're stuck in this state of not realizing how bad we are and how desperately we need a savior. We're kind of stuck like this. were in bondage under this. Now, when I first read this, I thought, why doesn't it say, held in bondage under the law? Instead, it says, held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. And as I began to study it out and saw all the conservative scholars pretty much agree that elemental things of the world here is a reference to false religion. before we're saved, we're held under some sort of false elementary system that doesn't belong to God, that belongs to the world. Maybe it's our own made-up religion. Maybe we just sort of imagine what heaven's gonna be like, imagine what salvation is, just sort of imagine based on how we feel what is true. Or maybe we've bought into a particular false religion, but whatever it is, it's the elementary principle of the world. And that's exactly what the Judaizers did. They took the law of God that was meant to reveal sin, was meant to send a person running back to God for grace, and they turned it into a man-made system which said the law of God can actually grant salvation. We don't need a savior. We got the law. We got good works. We got morality. That'll save us. Why did Christ come? He didn't need to. We can get to heaven on our own. So they had completely perverted this and turn the law of God from what it was into the elementary principles of this world. And you can see that in Colossians chapter 2 verse 8, it says, So there, false religion once again. Elementary principles of the world. In verse 8 he talks about being slaves to those things by nature, we're not gods. In verse 10, he talks about, you observe days, months, seasons, years. Romans 14 makes it very clear, there's nothing wrong with celebrating a holiday or particular days, but what they were doing here, they thought, by celebrating days, they were earning their salvation. It was all part of this twisted idea that we'll get to heaven on our own, God. Not on how the scripture defines it, we'll get to heaven by ourself. And I think it's interesting that Paul calls it, demeaningly, he calls it the elementary principles of this world. Why does he call it that? Because the best man can do without the illumination of God is tinker with the elemental things of God. Tinker with the most elemental, basic things of epistemology, of how we know what we know. False religions and mankind, as many letters and degrees and as brilliant as they'd like to think they are, all they do is tinker with the basics, and then you open up the Word of God, and suddenly, you are in the world of the Godhead. You are in the world of the supernatural. You're in the world of Christ. You're entering into the councils of the Trinity. You've left the elementary things of this world and you've entered into the complex and mysterious wonders of God, of salvation, of all the things that he's granted. So Paul used to be there, you know. Paul was very passionate about a false religion until he came to meet Christ. He left that aside and embraced Christ. Well, the same with the Jews then, the same with us now. If we have perverted this into thinking that we can get to heaven on our own, we are not the heirs of God. We might think we are. Galatians 3, 6 through 10, Paul makes this powerful point. He says to the Jews who have abandoned the gospel and have come to this workspace system, he says, let me ask you a question. If Abraham had to obey works in order to be saved, then why does the Bible say he was saved 430 years before the Law of Moses ever even showed up? If he needed the Law of Moses to get saved, then how in the world could he be saved before the Law ever showed up? And then he gives the answer here in Galatians 3 verse 6 through 10. Even so, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham, not those who believe they get to heaven by morality or works, but by what? By faith. And if you have real faith, then you're gonna be moral. I don't even like to use that word because it's so misused. If you have real faith, you're gonna live a life that's glorifying to God. Paul says, so we continue in sin that grace may increase, may never be, which is another way of saying impossible. You don't just get saved and then continue to live your own life. You're bought with a price, you glorify God. So that's the nature of faith. Verse eight, or excuse me, verse, Believe God and it was credited as righteousness. Verse seven, therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, all the nations will be blessed in you. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. So if you wanna obey laws, you wanna obey a certain system to get to heaven, well, the Bible says, cursed is everyone who does not obey all of them, James 2.10. If we keep the whole law but stumble at one point, we're guilty of the entire thing. Galatians 2.21, I love this verse because it just doesn't condemn a salvation by works. Ephesians 2.8 and 9 condemns a salvation by being moral. That's the last way to get to heaven. But Galatians 2.21 tells us why it cannot be this way. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness, which is what you need to access the presence of God, if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. If you can get to heaven on your own, why do you need a savior? We need a savior precisely because we can't get to heaven on our own. In fact, the gospel begins, Jesus tells us, that if any man wishes to come after me, he must what? Deny himself. Not think because of what you've done, but deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ. Gospel salvation begins precisely when we abandon ourself and come to God and say, there's absolutely no way I can do this on my own. I need you. I agree with you, God, that my sins are worthy of death and hell. I agree with you. I don't understand it all, but I agree with you, and I'm begging you to forgive me of my sins, and God will forgive you like that. God'll spread his grace over you, and he'll save your soul, because he's eager to save, he's eager to deliver. We're back to Galatians 4 as we near the end. Here's the rescue, that's all the bad news, that's all the bondage, that's the elementary principle of the world, that's the nature of sin, that's who we are, we're stuck and dead in this trespasses and sins, and there's a million verses I could go to to establish this, but then comes verse 4. But when the fullness of time, fullness of time is a direct statement on the sovereignty of God. It wasn't a random time, it was a perfect time. It was when Rome had established this Pax Romana, peace on earth. There were Roman roads so the gospel could be scattered at a fast rate throughout the ends of the earth. Greek was established as a trade language, as a world language, and the New Testament was printed in Greek so that just about everyone could read it. I mean, all these little factors, the Old Testament is completed, all the prophecies are lined up, ready for Christ to come in and fulfill them. All these millions of little factors are perfectly in place, and God says, this is it, this is the perfect time, I'm gonna send my son. In the fullness of time, God sends His Son. When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son. Now, if you're here this morning and you understand how lost you were or are, and then you see that little statement, God sent His Son, that should fill your heart with relief. The best thing I can compare it to, I remember one time I was in the passenger seat of a friend's car, we're driving down the road, and we come upon this knoll, and I see this dump truck hidden behind this knoll. My friend goes to turn left on green, and I grab that wheel just in time, and man, that truck just came thundering by, and our whole car shook, and we just kind of sat there for about five seconds, mixed with terror of what almost happened and relief that we were still alive. When you begin to understand the nature of sin, you begin to understand the justice of God and the just penalty of God, and standing before Him and having no advocate, and how horrific that would be, and suddenly there's an advocate in Christ Jesus. Suddenly we find out that Jesus is sent to Earth to pay our sins and to stand between God and man as our advocate. Oh, that relief should just wash over you. Now I have an advocate with Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Then he says, born of a woman, born under the law. That's my main point. Repetition of the word born here. Not only born of a woman, but because Jesus was born under a woman, he was born under a law. That meant he submitted himself to the law so that the law becomes that analytical sort of beady-eyed examiner just waiting for Jesus to make one transgression, to defile the law once. You defile the law once, Jesus, and you will not be a savior of our sins. Those of us who have been journeying through the book of Mark know that with every turn, Jesus never once, there's no shadow of turning, never once did he sin, never once did he defile the law. So not only was he qualified as man, but he was qualified as God because he fulfilled the law perfectly, and he was perfectly qualified to take our sins. So why does he submit himself to the law? Verse five, so that he might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. It's great enough that God saves us from hell, but on top of that, he gives us the privilege of being adopted as sons, to entering into a relationship with the Trinity, to all the blessings, all the manifold blessings that God just heaps upon us. He adopts us as firstborn sons. What an incredible privilege. Galatians 3, 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Does that bother you? Does that bother you that the righteous God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would become a curse for us? Your soul is in a dangerous condition if that does not bother you. That Christ would become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Do you know that God did not need to save us? Do you know it was not necessary for God to become man? The moment mankind rebelled against God, he could have done the same thing that he did to Satan and the angels who followed him in the rebellion. What happened there? Satan said, I will be like God, I will be like the Most High. God kicked Satan out of heaven, a third of the angels go with him. Is there any atonement set up for the angels, for the fallen angels? Absolutely none, there was no second chance. When it came to man, there's a second chance. When it comes to man, there's atonement, there's a way of salvation that is made. God is perfectly blissful, perfectly happy, perfectly content within the Trinity and he doesn't need us. You say, yes, he needs us to glorify him. I guarantee you, he glorifies himself a lot better than we do. He doesn't need it at all. It's the only right thing to do with our life as his creatures. But he would be perfectly content not to send His Son and rescue us, but He has, He's done it, because of His great, great love and grace. So that is the negative, He takes away our sins, the positive, He replaces it with the righteousness of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, God made Christ, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. On the cross, Jesus was judged as though He lived our life, Jesus was judged as though he thought, Nate Grams, dirty thoughts, lustful thoughts, angry thoughts, wicked behavior. He was judged as though he lived my life. And at salvation, I am judged as though I live Christ's life, perfect, flawless. That's the nature of salvation. That's not just an option. It's the only way it can possibly be because of who we are, because of our true state. So in light of all that, man, the gospel is simple, but the gospel's complex. So in light of all that, here's what Zacharias says. Let me read this to you in closing. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, he hears that John the Baptist is gonna go before the Messiah, prepare his way. He hears the Messiah's coming. And what is Zacharias' reaction? Oh good, now we have a good role model. I'm emphasizing that because so many people think Jesus came just to be a good role model. That just completely misses it. What's Zacharias' reaction? He says, in verse 77, to give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Finally, the knowledge of salvation comes. Obviously, you could be saved in the Old Testament by placing your faith in Christ, but all salvation looked forward to this day, and Zacharias knew it. to give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise from on high will visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of peace. So Zacharias imagines a world with no sunrise, just dark, dead, cold. The Messiah comes and here comes the sun. comes over that mountain and soon it floods the entire world with its gospel light. And he's absolutely right. That is the nature of Christ. It's the nature of the gospel to shine light and to darken souls, to shine light into souls that think they're fine, that think they don't need saving, that think they got it figured out on their own, that have this imaginary God that's just gonna tolerate their sin and just let them into heaven when they die. That is a gamble you don't wanna take. but rather you have a true Christ who has made the ultimate sacrifice, who is willing to give you his righteousness for your salvation. What are we gonna do with that? There's what the writer of Hebrews says, which is trampling underfoot the blood of Christ and putting him to open shame, saying, well, no, the blood isn't potent, the blood won't save me. And then there's the alternative, which is falling before him. being His child. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for the precious gospel. Thank You for the work of Christ on the cross. We thank You, Lord. It is a marvel. It is a mystery. of all you have done for us. I pray if there's anyone here, Lord, who doesn't know you, I pray that your Spirit would open their eyes, because we know that in and of ourselves we can't raise the dead. It must be your Holy Spirit. Lord, for all of us who rejoice and just absolutely relish in your grace and live Lord, live in your righteousness. We just praise you, God. Praise you this Christmas that you came. You came, Lord, for the greatest, most important reason, and that is to save us from what we so justly deserve. I pray these things in your name. Amen.