Somebody once said, Christmas is when God came down the stairs of heaven with a baby in His arms. It's a beautiful thought, but that's not the whole story. Christmas is when God came down the stairs of heaven with a Savior in His arms. To the world, it might seem there was nothing significant or special about Jesus.
In fact, the Bible says He had an appearance like any other man. But today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares why Jesus was the right person to redeem you and give you eternal life. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will take your relationship with God to a new level as you stay rooted in His Word. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the re-evaluation of priorities, life choices, and the path forward. This illuminates the question, what do I want out of life? Here's Skip Heitzig with some thoughts on priorities.
Don't we all want the life with a happy ending? A life marked by growth, a life marked by productivity and refreshment, and God's touch of blessing and prosperity and maturity upon it. Here's our special offer for this month for those who support this media outreach. The Daily God Book by Skip Heitzig plus playlist, eight CD messages on significant psalms. Start 2022 with Skip's Daily God Book. And they're both our way of thanking you when you give $35 or more today to help more people connect with God's Word. Call 1-800-922-1888 or go online to connectwithskip.com. Now here's another playlist sample from Skip. When you pursue Him, when you pursue holiness, happiness tags along.
Call 800-922-1888 to give or visit connectwithskip.com. Okay, we're in Galatians chapter four as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. December 17th, 1903 is a date you remember. You don't remember the date, but you'll remember historically as I tell you this story. There were two young men from Dayton, Ohio, who found their way to the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and decided to try out their heavier than air machine, they called it. They owned a bicycle shop in Ohio. And they put together this contraption because they had a dream that man could fly. And on that date, they succeeded with the very first flight as a part of their dream. They flew, get this, for a long time, 12 seconds. That was the airplane ride, 12 seconds, 120 feet.
That was it. But it was so exciting that they sent a wire back to their sister Catherine in Dayton, Ohio. And the wire said, we have actually flown 120 feet.
And then the next line says, we will be home for Christmas. Well, Catherine got the wire, ran down to the newspaper, showed it to the editor, supposing he would be as excited as she was. This was historic. This was monumental. And he looked at the wire and said, Oh, how nice the boys will be home for Christmas. What? He just overlooked the most historic news of that time.
Mankind had flown. It was the news of the century. And he didn't pick up on it. You know, that happens every year. Every year at Christmas time, people overlook the real meaning of Christmas. That's nothing new to us.
They overshadow the news of the century, the news of all history, that Jesus Christ, God's Son was born into this world to atone for our sins. We have commercialized the holiday, we know that. We've made it all about giving gifts. We've made it all about having office parties. We've made it all about a fat man in a red furry suit named Santa Claus. That's what it typically is all about. Where's Christ?
And where is He with us in our thinking at this season? There was a family who loved to go out every year this season and go look at all the Christmas displays in town. And there was always this church who had like the best nativity set ever.
And they went by and this nativity set this year was beautiful. And grandma and mom and dad, they all remarked on, wow, isn't that beautiful? Isn't that magnificent?
Isn't that awesome? Look at the shepherds. Look at the wise men.
And they put them all together. And a little granddaughter said, well, yeah, it's nice, grandma, but why is Jesus the same size this year as He was last year? And then she gave the very astute follow-up question, when will Jesus grow up?
Here's my question. When will Jesus grow bigger in our thinking, in our hearts, as believers? That's why this year, last week, this week, and next week, we've decided to look a little bit differently at the Christmas story, not at mangers and shepherds and angels and wise men with gold, frankincense and myrrh. We've done all that in years past.
We've done all of those stories. But to plumb the depths a little bit deeper and give you more history and more theology and give you the underpinnings of this monumental truth so that by Christmas Day, you'll not only understand it, but greatly appreciate it. We've been considering Christmas through the lens of Galatians chapter four, which we're going to get to in just a moment. Galatians chapter four. What Paul tells us here is that this is the news of the century.
This is the news of all history. Galatians four, verse four. In the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. No one, and I mean no one, influenced the world like Jesus Christ. Aristotle taught for 40 years. Plato taught for 50 years. Socrates taught for 40 years, an aggregate of 130 years of Greek wisdom and knowledge.
Jesus taught three, maybe three and a half years. But he has so influenced the world more than all of those guys put together. He's so important that Encyclopedia Britannica, in their article treating Jesus Christ, devote 20,000 words to Jesus. That's significant. That's a lot of literary real estate. That is more than they wrote for Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Buddha, Caesar, Cicero, Confucius and the Prophet Muhammad put together.
They recognize this man singularly has influenced the world. Somebody once said is Christmas is when God came down the stairs of heaven with the baby in his arms. It's a beautiful thought, but that's not the whole story. Christmas is when God came down the stairs of heaven with the Savior in his arms. And so we bring our focus and our attention upon that great truth. We've decided as our theme this year to explore red Christmas. That's our theme. It's a red Christmas.
And a lot of people go, huh? Because they're used to that best-selling song we mentioned last week, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. But in God's economy, it takes red to get white. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. It's the only detergent God ever gave to deal with the real problem.
It's a red Christmas. In the term of Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.
Or like the book of Leviticus, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Now let me just give you a little context. I did a little bit last week.
I'll give you a little more this week. In the book of Galatians, Paul the apostle has been looking back and serving the history of the Jews, the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel, especially in their relationship to God through the law of Moses. And he basically says that was good. That served its purpose, but that's over now.
That's done now. It's time to graduate into a whole new relationship with God. And the reason he does that is there were a group in the church who are very legalistic. They're in every church, by the way.
They're always around. They're the legalists. There really is no joy in their life. There certainly is no grace in their life.
And they always want to bring people back under the law. So Paul says the law, it was good. Now get over it. Now get over it.
It's time to graduate. It's time to grow up, leave the bondage, get into the freedom of Christ. That was kindergarten stuff. And now we look at Galatians chapter four, verse one. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is the master of all. But is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 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 that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son.
And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Last week, we looked at just one portion of verse four, did we not? We looked at the fullness of time, when the fullness of time had come.
So we've divided last week, this week and next week into a three-part series. Christmas, the right season, the fullness of time. This week, Christmas, the right person.
And next week, Christmas, the right reason. All out of this verse. So I want to talk to you about the right person. At the right season, God sent just the right person. And there's three things that you need to note about this right person. First off, this right person was sent by God.
Notice the wording. When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son. Now notice it doesn't say, in the fullness of time, God created his son or God made a son. In the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son. That implies pre-existence. You're sending somebody who is with you in your presence out from your presence.
That's the idea. God sent forth his son. Now the word for sent forth is a single word in the original language.
As I say it to you, you're going to recognize a word you're familiar with. Here's the word, ex-op-estello. Ex-op-estello. We get the word apostle from that. Ex-op-estello means to send out or commission or infuse as an ambassador from our presence on a mission.
That's the idea of it. To spell it out this way. Jesus Christ was in the presence of the Father as the second person of the triune God. Then at just the right time, the fullness of time, he came forth from that presence on a mission to the earth. Here's the amazing thought. Jesus Christ is the only one who ever lived before he was born.
Try that one on for size. Just let that one wash over you for a moment. Just let that one wash over you for a moment. Jesus was the only one who ever lived before he was born. He pre-existed with the Father at the right time he was sent out. He came forth from the Father. Now that is hinted at when Jesus prays in John 17. Remember the prayer? Father restore unto me the glory that I had with you before the world was. That was also predicted by the prophet Isaiah.
We pull it out every Christmas season. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given.
Pre-existence. Then Jesus stated it very very plainly when he confronted his enemies in John chapter 8 verse 42. He said, I proceeded forth and came from God. I did not have a son.
I did not have a son. I did not come of myself but he sent me. Again in John chapter 6 verse 38. I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. So the right person was sent by God.
He existed with God and he was sent out from God. Now it's hard to get our minds around that but have you ever heard of culture shock? If you've ever talked to a missionary or if you've ever been on the mission field you know what culture shock is. It's the shock of going into a culture that is so totally different than your own. I experienced that when I lived in the Middle East for a period of time and it wasn't like I was living in the slums of India but it was pretty primitive and I mean it's like I don't have air conditioning. I don't have a refrigerator. I don't have a car and I remember the stress, the cultural stress I felt and then when I came back to America what we call reverse culture stress set in.
I looked at my refrigerator and I went wow that baby is mine even though I was only renting. I thought that was pretty cool. Okay now just and you can only imagine it leaving heaven the glories of the father and coming to earth.
Talk about the ultimate culture shock. He was sent. The right one was sent by God. There's a great old story that comes to us from Persia from ancient Iran that is often used to illustrate. There was a king, a shah, who was fond of putting on peasant clothes, workman's clothes and going among his people and talking to them and just sort of listening to what they were like and what they needed.
He loved to do that. On one occasion he went to the lowest worker in his palace the one who tended the furnace down in the basement. And with the clothes of an ordinary peasant he sat with this man, had a relationship with him over time, ate food together, shared stories and background but all the while the king didn't reveal who he was. The peasant thought he was just another peasant, another worker come to tend the fires.
One day the king revealed himself as his king, the shah. And then he said to this newfound friend, this peasant worker down in the basement, now that you realize who I am you realize what I can do for you. I can make you rich. I can make you famous.
I can give you a city. I can make you a ruler. The tender of the furnace bowed as he bowed his head slightly. He said you left the palace of your glory to come visit me in this dark and dreary place. You brought me joy to my heart. To others you may give your gifts. To me you have given yourself.
Which reminds me of that old hymn, the words of which say out from the ivory palaces into a world of woe. At just the right time, what Paul calls the fullness of the time, God sent just the right person, in fact the only one God ever sent into this world as a savior. He didn't send us Donald Trump. Not that I have anything against Donald Trump.
I'd like to be like a friend of Donald Trump. But God didn't send us him because that wasn't our greatest need. He didn't send us Albert Einstein because he wasn't our greatest need.
He didn't send us some Grammy-winning actor because that wasn't our greatest need. In the words of a Christmas card I got several years ago that I've still kept, if our greatest need would have been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need would have been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need would have been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need would have been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness. So God sent us a savior. The right person was sent by God. Number two, notice also in our text, the right person was the son of God, not just sent by God.
The sent by God one was the son of God. For it says God sent forth his son. Now we are diving headlong into the mysteries of what we call the incarnation, God becoming man. I call it mysteries of incarnation because that's what Paul said. Paul said to Timothy, great is the mystery of godliness that God has been manifested in the flesh.
You go, now how does that work, Skip? How does God become a man? Don't ask me that. It's funny how we love to ask questions that are unanswerable. No man knows the day of the hour.
When do you think Jesus is coming back? Here Paul says the only one that God sent was his only begotten son. Now let me clarify something. When you see the term the son of God, understand that term means deity. It implies he's God. I have a son. In fact, I have an only begotten son. A one and only son. Never had any other child but Nate.
We wanted more. He's the one God gave us. I have an only begotten son. He has the same nature that I do. He's a very different person than I am, but he shares my nature. He's human.
I'm human. The son of God implies he shares the same nature with his father. His father is deity. Jesus Christ as the son is also deity. So when you see the phrase son of God in the singular, it speaks uniquely of Jesus Christ who was God in a human body.
Make no misunderstanding about that. Even Jesus' enemies knew that. In the Gospel of John, it tells us the Jews sought to kill him because he said, Jesus said God was the son of God.
To kill him because he said, Jesus said God was his father making himself equal with God. So Jesus Christ is the son of God in that unique sense that he's deity. And that's the term I'm using it. That's the term the Bible uses. Not in the Oprah sense, son of God. We're all children of God. Dr. Phil said we're all children of God. This is the unique son of God, Jesus Christ.
And people are confused about that. The son deals now with his position in his incarnation. He is submitted to the father.
Now listen carefully. Philippians tells us Jesus was in the form of God and he didn't think it robbery to be equal with God. So here you have Jesus who is equal with God, but he emptied himself.
He poured himself out. He came to this earth as a human being and he surrendered, submitted himself to the will of the father as his son. Now here's the best place in scripture to get it all put together.
It's the first chapter of John. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. So here we have Jesus.
He's God. Skip down to verse 14 and the word became flesh. That's the incarnation dwelt among us. We beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.
Then we go down a couple more verses to verse 18. No one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. So here you have Jesus. He never became God. He was God. He was God. He was deity pre Bethlehem, pre Mary, pre manger. He was God before he was born. He was God after he became man, but he became the son of God when he came into this world and he took on the body of flesh. The word became flesh and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father. So, and we talk about it every year in the Christmas story. Typically when the angel came to Mary and told her what's coming down. Hey, by the way, you're pregnant. How can that be?
I've never had sex with any man. And then the angel explains how it was possible. The angel said to Mary, Luke chapter one, verse 32, he will be great and will be called future tense, the son of the highest. Verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore the Holy one who will be born will be called the son of the highest.
Question. Why did the angel come? Why did God send his son? Why did God have to send his son? If he at the right time is going to send someone, why his son?
Here's the answer. Because God wanted to reveal himself. The best way to reveal himself is with his son. God sent his son into the world because God wants to reveal himself to the world. He is Emmanuel, which means God with us. He's God with us. Somebody once said, Jesus Christ is God spelling himself out in a language we can understand. That's important because the ancient Greeks, when all this was written in the Bible, the ancient Greeks believed whatever gods or singular God existed, he was or they were unknowable. Plato said, God and man can never meet.
Then Jesus comes on the scene and he says this blew their minds. If you have seen me, you have seen the father. In other words, if you want to know what God is like, just check me out. Watch me.
Listen to me. I embody the will of my father in heaven. That's powerful. That means when you see Jesus healing a blind man, you are seeing a compassionate God. When you see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, you're seeing a brokenhearted God. When you see Jesus teaching a crowd, you're seeing a concerned God, concerned that people know truth.
When you see Jesus dying on a cross, you are seeing a determined God, determined to do something about the sin that has plagued this world. You've seen me. You've seen the father. That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series A Red Christmas. Right now, here's Skip with an important message for you. Christianity centers on one thing, the cross of Jesus Christ. When we look to Jesus by faith, we are healed and forgiven of our sins.
That's what it's all about. Our goal is to get this good news, the greatest news, to more listeners like you. Consider giving generously today to keep these biblical messages on the air and to help reach more people with the gospel. Here's how to give. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
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