Many people think all religions are basically the same. They just have different names for God. Today on Truth for Life weekend, we'll find out why it's impossible for a true Christian to accept that point of view. Alastair Begg is exploring the Apostle Paul's teaching concerning the crucial questions surrounding the incarnation of Jesus. Yeah.
So, our subject this morning is when, what, why. as it relates to Galatians four, verses four and five. When did this happen? When the t when the fullness of time had come, what happened?
Well, he tells us in a phrase, God sent his Son. God sent his son.
Now Paul is not here giving us a detailed outworking of the doctrine of the Incarnation, but in the phraseology that he uses, in the Greek verb exapistylen, he is giving to us a word which means sending out from a previous state. He was sent out from a previous state. And what Paul is doing here In a very unworked out way is making sure that those who read his letter understand That The life of Jesus did not begin in Bethlehem. That Jesus did not all of a sudden come into existence when he was born as a baby. Thereby making him different from anyone else.
When our children ask us, where was I before I was born? The answer is you did not exist before you were born. But for someone to ask that question of Jesus would demand a different answer, wouldn't it? You have that actually when Jesus is being interrogated by Pilate in John chapter 19. And Pilate says to him, Where did you come from?
You remember that? And it says, John says, and Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate could never have got his head around it. He could never have understood it. He would never have grasped it.
It would have taken so long to address.
So, this phrase here is speaking to the fact that without ceasing to be what he was, namely, God. He became what he was not, namely man.
Now you can cross-reference it in multiple places, but John chapter 1 is as good as any. In the beginning was the word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the Logos. And he was with God in the beginning, through him all things were made. He was the creator.
Without him, nothing was made that has been made. Therefore, he himself was not created. He was uncreated.
So, what we have is the pre-existent Son. You have the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit together in eternity, entering into a covenant with one another and determining that the Son will fulfill the obligations laid upon him by the Father. And he will do so when the fullness of time has come. has come.
Now When we get to our Christmas carols, they're Usually, many of them are pretty good at helping us here.
So we have the phraseology. Low within a manger lies He who built the starry skies You couldn't say that of any other individual in the whole world, could you? But that is the claim. of Christianity. And it's not a piece of theological lumber that you can stick up in the attic.
If you want to do an honors course in Christianity, It is at the very heart and core of Christian conviction. What has God done? God has sent His Son. All right. Paul is not giving a detailed treatment here of the Incarnation, nor is he giving any great explanation of the virgin birth.
What he's actually doing is he's showing that Jesus is perfectly qualified to do what was required of him. That's his purpose here as he writes this. He's showing that in Jesus. We have the only one Who is uniquely qualified to fulfill the obligation that needed to be fulfilled?
Now we'll come back to that in a moment or two, but Jesus understood that. That's why in Mark's Gospel, the first of the Gospels, When Jesus steps on the stage of human history, and John the Baptist has been there getting things warmed up for him, he's been the opening act. In the concert, as it were. And then finally, it's time for Jesus to step on the stage. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, He was proclaiming the good news of God.
And what did He say? He said, The time has come. The time has come. What time has come? The fullness of time has come.
It's time now, he said, for men and women to repent and to believe the good news.
Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Now, if that first phrase, God sent forth his Son, speaks to the deity of Jesus. Then the second phrase, born of a woman. speaks of the humanity of Jesus. And this, you see, is the great mystery, isn't it? that here down a natural birth canal comes none other than God Himself.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell. Jesus, our Emmanuel, He is God with us. All that God is in human form, and everything that a man is, apart from sin. I love when people tell me oh the the Christian message is a trivial silly thing, you know, like invented and so on. I always say the same thing.
Are you telling me for a moment that somebody set out to invent a religion as complicated and as totally hard to believe as this? That a group sat down and said, Now, why don't we invent the idea of God becoming a fetus?
Somebody would have said, No, don't put that in. That's going to be very hard to swallow.
Now it doesn't pass the mustard. Sent forth his Son, the preexistent Son, divine, born of a woman, human, and notice thirdly, born under law. What does that mean?
Well, it means that he had a Jewish mother, that he was born into the Jewish nation, that he was subject to the Jewish law. And furthermore, that he succeeded where no one else had and where no one else would. Not only did Jesus fulfill the precepts of the law as our representative. But he exhausted the penalty of the law As our substitute. Keeping the law In perfect righteousness.
Remember. when the baptism takes place. And John the Baptist says to him, I think we've got this the wrong way round, Jesus. I think that I should be baptized by you. I don't think that you should be baptized by me.
Remember what Jesus says? He says, let it be so now. For thus it is fitting to fulfill all Righteousness. In other words, John? I'm here.
to do the right thing in every respect. And in the life of the Lord Jesus, we have one who kept the law in detail and in perfection. That is why when the accusers come, To trump up charges against Jesus at the time of his crucifixion, they are at. pains to come up with something that is really worthwhile. And Jesus, unlike any other man who has ever lived, is able to turn to them and say, What sins do you accuse me of?
What is it that I have done? And they had to go away with their heads down because they knew they had nothing they could accuse him of. Unlike you and me. And if God demands total righteousness, what the world hope do I have of being accepted by God unless I have in Christ one who was sent forth from God as God, born of a woman, born under the law, keeping the precepts of the law as our representative and bearing the penalty of the law as our substitute. By his divinity, by his humanity, by his righteousness, Jesus was uniquely qualified to accomplish God's purpose.
And the reason that the Christian would assert that Jesus is the only Savior. is not because we want to be arrogant and bombastic. and s secure to ourselves uh a position of unique authority. The reason that we are left to attest that Jesus is the only Saviour is because Jesus is the only one qualified to be a Saviour. If God must save, then the Savior must be God.
If man must bear the punishment because man sinned. Then the Saviour must be man. If the man who bears the punishment for sin. must be himself sinless. Then who meets these qualifications?
Loved ones, the way that we need to defend and argue our position in these days is not in a Is not in a doctrinaire fashion, not in an arrogant fashion, but in a fashion that essentially says to people. You know Emotionally, I go where you go. As people say to us, well, you're not going to tell me this or you're not going to tell me that. Instead of saying, Oh, yes, I am. No, say, Well, actually, I think those thoughts often myself.
I had this conversation with a young Muslim a few weeks ago in San Francisco, and he came to me and he said, You surely aren't going to say this. And I said, Well, you know, I wish that I could tell you, no, I'm not going to say this, but I am going to say this, and the reason I'm going to say this is because I don't have an option. Because unlike Muhammad, who is dead, Jesus is alive. Unlike Muhammad, who sinned. Jesus was sinless.
And unless the law of contradiction is completely kicked up into the roof. then we have to recognize that we can't both be right. The notion that is abroad in Western culture is that contemporary religions only disagree with one another on the superficial things. And on the big things, we're in terrific agreement. No, we're not.
We're not. This Jesus, born to a Jewish mother, born under the Jewish law, born as a member of the Jewish nation. stands up and says to the Jewish people, the reason That you won't listen to me and follow me is because you are paying attention to your father who is the devil. And he tells lies. And you're obeying him and listening to him.
But I come and I tell you the truth. And you won't listen to me. What kind of statement is this? The Hindu says that God has been incarnated on multiple occasions. The Christian says the incarnation is a unique and repeatable event.
We can both be right. My Jewish friends say that Jesus is not the Messiah. The Christian says Jesus is the Messiah. We can't both be right. We just have to say to our friends, well, we're going to have to think this out.
And if you're on the fringes of faith and you're wondering about this, my challenge to you is a straightforward one. I say to you, why don't you take a gospel and read it? Why don't you take the Bible and read it? And why don't you read it and be dead honest in reading it? You don't have to close your eyes, but you could say something like this: God, if you are real and you did come in the person of Jesus Christ, I believe that it would be possible for you to make that known to me when I read the Bible.
And I promise to tell you that if you do make that known to me while I'm reading the Bible, I will believe in you and I will follow you. Are you up for that kind of challenge? Or do you just want to dismiss it? A Christmas that misses this is a Christmas that misses everything. Commercialism, sentimentalism can proceed unabated.
But Christianity stands or falls on this very issue. The Easter hymn puts it: there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. That's either true or false. And we're stuck with that.
Because if we declare that Jesus is Lord and acknowledge His identity as the living God, as the ascended King, then we have no right as His disciples to tamper with what He told us. We have no right to change the rules that he set us. We have no freedom to believe other than what he gave us. And to behave other And how he told us. Let me come to the final word.
I can see some of you are just staring at me.
So When The fullness of time had come. What? He sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Why? And our time is gone, so I'm going to just give you two words.
What why was God doing what He was doing in Jesus? Number one, In order to provide redemption, and number two, in order to adopt those whom he redeemed. It's a wonderful story. There's no story like it in all of religion. The story of God's intervention.
You can read how he's done this back in chapter 3 and verse 13. It takes us to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that those of us who see ourselves confronted by the law because we do have idols and because we don't always tell the truth and because we haven't always been fair and honest in our marriage and because we do know what it is like to covet other people's stuff, we're frankly a royal mess when it comes to these things. And if what we're supposed to do is just try and pull our socks up and give it our best shot, then frankly it's a futile existence.
So this wonderful story of Christ redeeming people from their sins by paying their debt, by taking upon himself the curse of the law. And the hymn writer again puts it so nicely: O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood to every believer, the promise of God, the vilest offender who truly believes. That moment from Jesus, a pardon. receives Clean sheet. Fresh start.
New page. Debt cancelled. I love to tell this story. One of the old ministers in Philadelphia years ago used to tell a story of a lady, he called her Old Betty. It sounds she she immediately sounds fictitious as Old Betty to me.
But anyway, we'll go with her for a moment. But she lived in poverty in London, in the East End of London. And she was heavily in debt. She was in deep distress. And a Christian minister found out about this lady and told his congregation, and the congregation determined that they should intervene in her life and deal with her death.
And so the minister raised the money necessary to pay off her creditors. Having done so, and with the receipt in his pocket and with provision for her present circumstances, he went to her home in search of her. Up into a garret in the east end of London. He asked people: Does anyone know where old Betty lives? Oh, yes, she lives up in the top flat, way up in the top.
So up he went and knocked on the door. Hello, hello, nothing, no answer at all. He began to come down the stairs and people were on the landings and they said, What, how did you get on? Oh, he said, She's not up there. Oh, yes, they said, She's up there.
She doesn't leave there. She's frightened to leave there in case the police get her. She must think that you are a policeman coming to arrest her because of her indebtedness.
So understanding this, the minister went back up the stairs again. And he knocked on the door and he called to her. He said, I am a minister. And I've come to see you. I've come to help you.
And cracking the door open, old Betty said to him, I thought that you were the police. and I was afraid to open the door. Coming inside, the minister told her that her debt had been cancelled. and made provision for her present circumstances. And as she sat there looking across the table at this kindly man, she said to him, Just think.
I locked. And bard the door against you And I was afraid to let you in. I locked and barred the door against you. I was afraid to let you in.
Well, she's a wonderful picture of many today. who know themselves to be indebted with sin. Regrets in our past. Things that, like the damned spots on the hands of Lady Macbeth, we have been unable to find any perfume to eradicate. We're actually frightened, we feel guilty, we're tempted to think that people are coming knocking at our door, ready to make known to others our problems, ready to incarcerate us because of our indebtedness.
We fail to realize that He who comes knocking at the door is none other than Christ Himself, who has cancelled our debt by His death on the cross and has arrived in order to make provision for our present circumstances. That he is our great friend, but we have kept him out. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if that doesn't represent someone's life this morning, even as I speak to you. See, what does it mean to be a Christian?
Well, it means to be redeemed. It means to understand that Christ in coming, in that when. And accomplishing that for what? was doing it why? In order that men and women might have their debt cancelled, and in order that they may be adopted into his family.
Some of you are here and you are adopted into families. And you have great occasion to be thankful for the initiative that has caused you to be taken from where you were. and to become what you are now. And as a result of that, Paul says The Spirit of God. You see how Trinitarian it all is?
God the Father plans it, God the Son procures it, and God the Spirit applies it to our lives. All each member of the Godhead at work In conjunction with one another, and the Spirit comes and lives in a person's heart.
So that this is not simply something that is outside of us, inasmuch as it was accomplished by Jesus on the cross, but it is something which is made real inside of us, in that the Spirit of God comes and lives in our lives because we can never do what we've been asked to do but by His enabling, and He enables us to refer to God in a particular way. To call God Father. I hear people addressing God all the time, don't you? in terms and tones that Make it clear to me, they don't know the God that they're referencing. People at your work, people at your office, people at your school say, Oh God, or if there's a God up there, I'm gonna ask God about this, or the man upstairs, or whatever it might be.
But you don't do that, not if you're a Christian. And if you're honest, sometimes This is how your prayers go. Father. Oh Father. Fire.
Why do you do that? As a result of his redemption. Because you've been adopted. The religious unconverted man or woman. cannot know God in that way.
clutching their debts to themselves. hiding in their apartment. with the door barred, for fear that some will come and make their predicament obvious. They resist the intervention. of he who bore their sin.
and died in their place. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend. That is Alastair Begg urging each of us to read the Bible, think it through, and ask God to reveal himself. Alastair will be back in a moment to close today's program.
Now, here at Truth for Life, we teach from the Bible because God works through His Word to bring unbelievers to saving faith and to strengthen those who already believe. Not only does He work through the preaching and reading of His Word, but also through worship, through praise, through singing. That's why music is such an important part of our worship. And today, we're excited to make available a brand new resource from our friends Keith and Kristen Getty. These are award-winning music artists and hymn writers.
They've put together a comprehensive hymnal. It's called the Sing Hymnal. It's a substantial volume, and the Gettys have compiled an extensive collection of both classic and contemporary hymns that are biblically rich and singable. This hymnal includes hymns written by Fanny Crosby, William Cooper, John Newton, Charles Wesley, and hundreds more. Of course, you'll also find many well-known Getty songs, as well as hymns written by their colleagues Stuart Townan and Matt Boswell.
This is a keepsake volume for every believer, something you'll want to own. There are hundreds of spiritually rich hymns in this beautifully crafted hardcover book. And in the back of the book, you'll find interesting short stories about each of the hymns. For more information about the Sing Hymnal. Visit our website truthforlife.org.
Now here's Alastair to close to day with prayer.
Now, Father, we thank you for your word, the Bible. We pray that you will make us students of it. Pray, Lord, that each member of the congregation will go home and search the scriptures to see whether what I'm telling them is actually there. that they won't believe it because I've said it, but they will believe it. as they come to it themselves and by the enabling of your spirit.
Thank you for the wonderful redemption that you have provided for us in Jesus. We can never make ourselves acceptable to you. And some of us are really stalled as a result of trying. And then the truth begins to dawn that What we never could do in ourselves, Christ has come to do for us, and if we will rest in His provision, and accept his intervention. Then not only will our debt be cancelled, but our present Status with the living God will be transformed.
Here are prayers. May the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be the abiding portion of each one. Today and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine.
Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to study the Bible with us. The wonder of God's amazing grace doesn't grip us until we first realize the depth of our sin.
Next weekend, we'll look afresh at our desperate predicament. We'll see all that Jesus has accomplished for us, and we'll explore why. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Yeah.
Where the Learning is for Living.
