WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:19.760 Amen. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:21.280 Let's pray together, church. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.239 Lord, we've come to do exactly that on this Christmas Eve. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:31.280 It is our pleasure to gather and worship as believers have done over the centuries, regardless of what day it falls on. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.079 We are your people and we've assembled together. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:39.920 And so, Lord, uh, rescue us from sentiment and deliver us into principle, to understanding. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:43.840 Lord, we want to grasp the love of God in a way we've never grasped it before. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:49.439 So fill it with wonder today, because we've emptied it of wonder and filled it with sentiment. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:56.560 So we ask you to come, Holy Spirit, and from the Scripture and by the Spirit, to fill the love of God with wonder today. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:01.600 Let us grasp the magnitude of it and therefore be motivated by it. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.319 Not just today, but the rest of our lives. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:08.959 Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 that the love of God compels us. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:12.719 We want that kind of compulsion to well up inside of us today. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:17.599 Not as a feeling, but as a reality that's born out of an understanding. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.000 So, Holy Spirit, I can't do that. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:21.599 I need you to do that. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.680 And so I ask you to do that in Jesus' name and for God's glory. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.239 And all God's people said, Amen. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:28.719 Amen. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:29.359 You can have a seat. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:32.400 If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to 1 John chapter 4. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:33.599 I'll start reading verse 7. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:37.040 If you're a guest today, you're in town visiting people and they drug you to church. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:38.640 Thanks for not resisting too much. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:40.400 This is the fourth Sunday of Advent. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:45.280 By the way, if you're here and you're a child, you're getting Madden 24 because you came to church on Christmas Eve. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:45.920 Amen? 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:50.239 Yes, there's one person in particular right now that's kind of looking at his mom like, really? 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.920 Uh today's the fourth Sunday of Advent, and each Sunday has a theme. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.200 Each Sunday we light a candle. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:56.640 This is an advent wreath. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.560 Uh uh, and it's just kind of a reminder. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:04.640 We like to slow down and go down a little bit deeper when our culture around us speeds up and just kind of skims across the top. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:08.400 I want to talk to you this morning about the full of wonder love of God. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.240 The full of wonder love of God. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.199 Now, if you're a smart elic, you're thinking, why didn't you just say wonderful? 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:16.719 Because it's such a pallid word, it doesn't do it justice anymore. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:20.800 Uh and so uh it this dawned on me when I was having a conversation. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:30.080 You ever have a conversation with somebody and they say something that you didn't think would alarm you or catch you off guard, and it does, and you don't say anything, but your face says something? 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:34.800 Okay, so I was talking, and the person said, Hey, is it true you make a New Year's resolution? 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:38.479 Yeah, I don't make a New Year's like I want to run more or do more sit-ups. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:46.240 I make it like like this past year, my New Year's resolutions was I want to say thank you, Lord, as often as I can this year and mean it. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.199 Uh, and so I I think I've I've been a more grateful person. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:54.400 I think I'm always grateful, but I was just like I woke up this morning and my first thought was thank you, Lord, for another day. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:55.759 I usually not do that. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.159 That happened because I and so the person said, You know what? 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.080 My New Year's resolution is gonna be this year. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:01.199 And I said, No, tell me. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:04.719 We're winding down lunch, and this person said, I just want to love God more. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:06.240 And my face went. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:09.680 And then what's wrong with that? 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:11.919 And I said, Because you can't hide. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:12.800 I'm just like out there. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:14.400 I just said that that's the worst thing you could do. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:15.840 Do not make that resolution. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:17.199 You want to love God more? 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:20.639 How many people, how many of you in this room have ever said you want to love God more? 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:21.599 Say amen. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:25.599 We say it almost every Sunday, and the person's like, Pastor, what's wrong with that? 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:27.039 I mean, should we want to love God more? 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:34.159 Yes, you should want to love God more, but you loving God more is it is a response to understanding the love of God. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:36.159 You shouldn't try to love God more. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:37.840 That should, that just happens. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:42.000 It's a reflex uh to really understanding the love of God. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:47.280 And you should ponder that, and then it I tried to get out of it and I couldn't explain it, and I was like, I gotta go back to work. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.120 Wade Bird just is gonna fire me. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.879 Um, and so we're leaving, and the guy goes, So don't make that resolution? 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:53.919 That's terrible. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.479 I'll try to talk about it more on the fourth Sunday of Advent. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:57.840 I'm like, Well, that's weeks away. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.680 We'll show up and we'll see, okay? 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:03.199 So here we are, the full of wonder, love of God. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:04.560 First John chapter 4. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.240 I'll start reading verse 7. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.759 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:12.639 And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.319 Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:23.600 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:30.879 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.600 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:37.759 No one has ever seen God. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:43.920 But if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.879 Now there's there's a couple things I want to say from the text. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:48.079 The first one is simply this. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.360 All right, or really, I just want to I don't want to say something from the text. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:53.439 I want you to see what the text is saying. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:58.079 Uh, and the first thing the text is saying today is that the love of God has a source and an order. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:04:59.600 A source and an order. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:00.639 It's verse 7 and 8. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:01.519 Here's the source. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:07.759 Uh when it says right there very plainly, let us beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:09.680 Love is from God. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:10.560 This is the source. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:11.279 What does that mean? 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.079 It means God needs nobody or no thing to be loving. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.800 He is loving in and of himself and for himself. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:24.319 It is not loving you or loving your kids or granting all your Christmas wishes or answering all your prayers that makes God loving. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.959 What makes God loving is God. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:32.399 God being loving does not depend or hinge on anybody or anything outside of God. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:41.839 He's never outsourced love to somebody else, to anybody or anything, nor is he ever outsourced the motivation to love to anything outside of himself. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:44.639 Love belongs to the divine sphere. 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:46.399 Love is from God. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.800 It is, and here's the great thing about that. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:54.079 Because this is the source of love, it is untainted when it gets to us. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.560 And so there's source, and then there's order, which is what he says in verse 8. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:00.079 No, notice what he doesn't say. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.959 He doesn't say that everyone who's been born of God loves. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:04.480 That would be obligation. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:05.600 That would be a wait. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:10.160 Do you have anybody in your life, maybe that they're here for the holidays that's kind of hard to love? 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:12.079 Don't point, just say amen. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:18.639 Yes, yes, you're just kind of like, ooh, okay, whoo, whoo, whoo. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:25.439 You know you got a pack of marbell reds hidden the garage, you got to go out there and hotbox one like the deacons after they take up the offering, and you stamp it out. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.480 Okay, I can go listen to her talk for another 45 minutes. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:30.319 Yes, yes. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:37.360 But see, the Bible does not say, hey, everyone who's been born of God love, because that's like laying a burden on you of obligation. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:38.959 Instead, notice what it says. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.040 It says, Everyone who loves has been born of God. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.360 So you and I being loving people is not obligation, it is expression. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.800 It is expression, it's not obligation, it is expression. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:55.680 Love belongs to the divine sphere, and people who love like this belong to the divine sphere. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:57.040 You say, What do you mean the divine sphere? 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:57.920 They belong to God. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.279 That's why the Bible says crazy things like they will know us by our love. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:03.519 By this, all men will know that you're my disciples. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.199 You have love one for another. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:11.920 One of my prayers for our congregation going into the new year is that we just become more and more and more loving people. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:21.120 You say, now it's important because uh our culture comes along and says this, you know, that hey, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:23.519 Now, that last part, whoever loves has been born of God. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:26.480 That's the part that we get, we just take that and consume it upon our love. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:30.319 Anyone who loves has been uh has been born of God. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:36.319 And a lot of people say, Well, I'm not I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious, and I'm the most loving person you know. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:37.519 Think Oprah. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:43.279 Very cultural, and like, oh, Oprah, good person does a lot of good, but let's just be clear. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:45.360 You got to grasp what the text is not saying. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:49.519 It's not saying that if you're a loving person, that equates to the fact that you're a Christian. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.399 It does not. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:56.240 Unbelievers are capable of being very loving people because of the doctrines of creation and common grace. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:57.600 They were created, what does that mean? 00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:59.120 They're created in the image of God. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.800 Uh, this image was defaced by the fall, but not destroyed. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:15.600 And so, therefore, they're still capable of being very loving people, but not like a Christian, because a Christian, the way a Christian loves, it redounds to the reality and the reputation of God. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:17.680 Let me say that again. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:26.800 The difference in a lost person, an unbeliever, and a Christian is the unbeliever is very loving, very kind, very generous, very mannerly, all that good stuff. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.240 But the way a Christian loves, it redounds. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:31.199 It redounds. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:32.879 Pure Tanical word. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:40.080 It just kind of magnifies, it flows into the category of you by nature are not this person. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.279 God made you this way. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.639 Like someone said to me this week, man, you are like super generous. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:46.240 I it's convicting being around you. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.320 I said, actually, I'm not very generous at all. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:54.799 I by nature am a very selfish, sinful, fallen person who thinks only of myself. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.919 And this person said, Oh, you shouldn't talk about yourself like that. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.600 I said, I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about God at work in me. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:10.399 Because if God had not had not transformed me, that's who I would be today, who I would always be since I was born. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.679 So I'm not being falsely humble. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.960 I I I want this to redound to God's reputation. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:22.960 God takes a man that is damningly self-centered and says, I've been so good to you, never forget that. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.600 Generosity flows out of that. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.000 I've never I've never had a New Year's resolution. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:29.279 I want to be more generous. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:34.159 I want to understand how merciful and generous God has been to me. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:35.840 How do you not experience that? 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.639 How do you not taste and see that the Lord is good and not turn around and be generous as well? 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:41.840 Does that make sense? 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.759 This is what I mean when I say redounds. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.960 The way a Christian love redounds to the reality and the reputation of God. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:51.360 So the love of God has a source, love is from God, and it has an order. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:53.759 It's not obligation, it's expression. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:00.879 He says, I'm gonna so I'm gonna so love you that the way you love is gonna remind everybody about me. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:04.399 Here's the second thing we see in the text the love of God is demonstrated. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:06.320 The love of God is demonstrated. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:06.960 What do you mean? 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:08.240 It's verse 9. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:15.759 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.080 Now, hear that part into the world. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:25.919 Into the world where Russia is currently occupying large portions of Ukraine and innocent people are being killed. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:31.360 Into the world where war is raging between Israel and Hamas and the Gaza Strip. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.919 Over 20,000 people on both sides combined have lost their lives. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.320 And we're trying to get food into this place. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:40.240 And it's into that world. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:47.600 And by the way, God knew because when man looks to man to meet his need, the byproduct is always violence, always violence. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:58.159 And God knew that, and he sent his son into this world, not just the world as it existed in first century Judaism, he sent his son into the world that you and I occupy today. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:02.399 Sent his son into the world. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:03.120 Why? 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:06.240 So that we might live through him. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:15.120 So when I say the love of God is demonstrated, it's that little phrase made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:19.360 That to make manifest means to make actual and visible. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:27.039 It's a reference to the incarnation of God taking on flesh and being born through the womb of a virgin and laid in a manger. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:36.240 He comes crashing into this world in a very innocuous, innocent, non-threatening way, and yet is the most threatening thing that's ever happened in the history of humanity. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:37.200 Why? 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:43.360 Because it's not this ethereal concept that we could never ever verify, but an actual person. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:48.080 You ever notice that all world religions have a set of teachings about how you can get up to where they are? 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:55.039 If you do this and do this, and then you're enlightened, and then you get to this stage and then that stage, and oh, you messed up, go down three stages and start over again. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.759 It's like eventually you just give up. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:58.639 Look at me. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.960 All world religions, do your homework. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:02.720 Google it this afternoon. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.879 They have a set of beliefs and things you got to do to get there. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:11.759 Only in Christianity does the God come down to where you are. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.080 This is the beauty of the incarnation. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.120 He comes down to be with his people. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:24.240 And in these places that great theologian Johnny Cash thing about a kicking and a gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:26.399 That's a native environment for the gospel. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:28.960 That's where it happens. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:31.200 This is where Jesus was born. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:39.440 And in doing so, by the way, in the incarnation, by being born, Jesus didn't diminish his deity, nor did he become greater than humanity. 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:42.240 It's important you understand that he didn't diminish his deity. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:47.279 He didn't stop, you know, all you're 72% God, and now you took on, you know, 18%. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:48.080 No, no, no. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:50.720 He didn't diminish his deity, one iota. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.720 And at the same time, he didn't become superhuman. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.360 No, he was one of us. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:03.440 That means that Mary looks over his mother every once in a while and says, Man, that's God eating my lasagna. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.080 Don't screw that up. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:07.279 Yes. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.200 He said, of course she knew. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.120 An angel appeared to her before he was born. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:16.399 He said, Oh, by the way, that which is in you is of the Holy Spirit, and He's the Messiah. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:18.320 Stop reading parenting books. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.679 He's gonna teach you. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.440 Had the same needs, same emotions, same feelings. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:34.960 The incarnation brought heaven and humanity together in such a way that there'd be hope for a restored relationship with a perfect God for imperfect people like you and me. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:36.879 Let me say that again. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:43.600 The incarnation, God take it on flesh, brought heaven and humanity together in such a way that there would be hope. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:46.320 Without the incarnation, there is no hope. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:47.600 There is no hope. 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:48.960 You're just on your own. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.639 Make as much money as you can, pile it up, as Finney said. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:55.759 And if they hate to let them hate and watch the money pile up. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:00.879 Just pile it up because you're gonna need it because it's dog eat dog. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:12.320 Or God came hurtling into the world in the incarnation through the womb of the virgin and said, everything's different now because something is available that has never been available. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:15.519 So what's the big deal? 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:16.799 I mean, the incarnation. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:17.440 I get it. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:19.360 The incarnation, God takes on flesh. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.559 Let me just tick off four things about the importance of the incarnation. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:26.080 Number one, the incarnation validates the teaching of the Old Testament. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:31.120 The incarnation validates because every promise made about him has been fulfilled. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:36.000 Where he was born, how we'd be born, who we'd be born to, what nation it would happen in. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:39.200 I mean, there's so many things that could have gone wrong, but they didn't. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:45.600 Because God is not just a God of instrumentation, He's the God of orchestration, He conducts everybody and everything. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.480 The incarnation validates the teaching of the Old Testament. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:54.240 Secondly, the incarnation shows us that God loves us enough to make a way for us through Jesus. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.399 It's that part that He comes into the world. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:56.720 Why? 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:58.480 So that we might live through Him. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:05.519 So that you are not on your own, left alone to figure it out. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:07.360 Say, what do you mean? 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:08.080 C.S. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.639 Lewis said it like this in his classic book, Mere Christianity. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.799 He said, The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:17.039 This is the incarnation. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:22.399 The third importance of the incarnation shows us that Jesus understands the struggles of humanity. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:29.759 This is why I don't do well when preachers get sentimental and give little seven-minute ditties during Advent because you know, oh, you know, it's Advent. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:38.399 Yes, dig in, put your big boy pants on and teach doctrine so your people understand the wonder, the significance of the incarnation. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:43.600 Here's the significance of the when I say it shows us that Jesus understands the struggles of humanity. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:44.559 Like, what do you mean? 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:48.639 Remember, he didn't diminish his deity and he wasn't superhuman, he was one of us. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:16:05.679 So if you're here today and your ex has the kids because you had them at Thanksgiving or last Christmas, and you got up and you felt kind of this numb hole in your gut, this baby born in a manger who lived a sinless life only to go to the cross in your place and for your sins, he gets you today. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.759 He understands what that feels like. 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:11.360 You might be nobody knows what like look at these people, these happy families. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.360 Oh my gosh, I am so sad. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:15.039 I don't even want to be here right now. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:19.200 And God says, I'm glad you're here because I know what that feels like. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:22.320 This is the significance of the incarnation. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:26.559 You say, Well, I've got my kids, but some of my kids are with my God. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:37.360 The thing, the the feelings that are so deep and so dark you can't let out of your mouth because people will recoil in horror like me when they when the guy said, I just want to love God more. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:45.840 No, no, and by the way, I said, first John, it teaches that, he says, Hey, we know and rely on the love God has for us. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:52.639 You trying to ramp up your love for God is you increasing your determination to rely on your love for God. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.559 The Bible never tells you and I to rely on our love for God, it says we know. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:01.679 I'm trying to help you know the love of God so that you can rely on the love God has for you. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.440 I've never, I'll take that back, not never. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:08.240 It's been years since I've said I want to love God more. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:19.039 I say consistently, God, I want to understand all the facets, all the nooks and crannies of your love for me, and then the rest will sort itself out. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:23.519 You say, What do you mean the incarnation shows that Jesus understands the struggles of humanity? 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:36.000 Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15 says this for we do not for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet without sin. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:38.079 He gets it. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:40.240 Here's the last importance of the incarnation. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.880 It reminds us that God has a plan for the world. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:45.519 God has a plan for the world. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:48.000 We can't watch the news at my house much anymore. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:50.400 My wife's like, I just can't let in this negativity. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:54.480 I recorded every night until I like to know what's going on in the world, and I was watching like 9:30. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:55.599 I can't watch if I go to bed. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.519 I can't, I can't wind down and sleep. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.240 You realize that God has a plan for the world. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:05.519 Yes, the world is like it is because people are sinful, not because God's not sovereign. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.400 Okay, I don't need a theological lesson before bedtime. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.000 That gets me stirred up too. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:11.440 Gets me stirred up too. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.240 It makes me want to read a hard book by a dead guy. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.400 And to which my wife says, You're a strange little man. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.920 And I love you, and I'm going to bed. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.400 I don't want to know how screwed up the world is. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:25.279 I already know. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.200 And I hear the old uh delirious. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:27.920 I go way back. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:37.680 I hear that delirious was a worship band out of England, had a song, and the chorus just said, And God will save the day, and all will say, My glorious, my glorious. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:39.680 I used to sing it over my children when they were little. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:46.640 If you come in my office, there's a frame, bunch of frame pictures of my kids, and they y'all all go, Why are these pictures of you and your kids were little? 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.240 They're like 25 and 20 now. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:53.279 Yeah, they were more enjoyable back then, and cheaper and easier to manage. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:53.839 Okay. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:55.440 I I had them on a string. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:57.279 I could just stick them down like a dog in the backyard. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:58.559 They couldn't go very far. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.839 But if you look, there's a little piece of paper with a bunch of little lists up for both of them. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:04.880 They did it individually. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:06.720 Uh, we were going on a date in our babysitter. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:11.519 Uh Madison was sobbing, and and and she just said, Sarah said, Hey, you like your daddy. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:12.319 I love my daddy. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:13.440 I love being my dad. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.960 And Sarah grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper and she said, What do you love about your daddy? 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:18.480 And she wrote a list down. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:23.440 And one of them on the list says, I love it when he sings glory, glory to me. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:31.759 Because she would get in bed at night, and I would just, I wanted my kids to grow up, not just emotionally, like, oh my gosh, I'm 16 and I don't have I'm not married yet. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.400 You shouldn't have a boyfriend when you're 16. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:36.960 It's a waste of money and affection, but I digress. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:48.799 I would sing on my kids, and God is bigger than the air I breathe, the world will leave, and God will save the day, and all will say, My glorious, my glorious. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.000 And every once in a while, Madison would go, stand up, daddy, and do it. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.440 And I would march around her bedroom and sing, and God is bigger than. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:05.440 And so when she was 16 and girls were mean, I would say, Hey, God's bigger than these punk-faced mean girls you go to school with. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:10.480 You just say the word, and your dad would take a 40 cal down there and chitty chitty, bang, bang. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:18.160 Because sometimes God sends a messenger to deliver the message. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:24.480 And she would say back to me, she would gospel me, and she'd go, Dad, God's bigger than that. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.599 You're starting to sound like your mother now. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:30.319 Yeah, yeah. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.960 See, here's the here's the third thing I want you to see in the text. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:36.319 The love of God is demonstrated in the incarnation. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.119 And then thirdly, the love of God is defined. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.519 The love of God is defined, verse 10. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:42.720 In this is love. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.119 He says, in this the love of God was made manifest. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:46.720 Another one, it's put on display. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:48.079 I'm gonna demonstrate it. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.160 Here, he says, I'm going to define it. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:58.480 Because left to ourselves, we'd come up with some schmalchy, cheesy, this is tensely trinket of a definition of the love of God. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:04.079 But the Bible stabs a wooden cross in the ground and says in verse 10, in this is love. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:05.839 Not that we've loved God. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:07.680 Stop trying to love God. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.400 Understand his love for you. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:13.920 And then you will just as add a reflex, you'll love God. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:15.039 And this is love. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:21.039 Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:27.440 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:31.440 What do you mean when you say the love of God is defined? 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:36.079 Now John sharpens the focus and says, In this is love. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:41.119 The love of God was demonstrated in the incarnation, and here it is defined on the cross. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:48.480 Advent is a great time to ponder the atonement because it's intended to arouse this adoring wonder from each of us. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:50.079 And you maybe think, okay, but how? 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.200 Just that little word that we we just kind of see in the Bible you go, prop. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:54.480 Okay, anyway. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:58.000 Next, it's propitiation, and it means this appeasement. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:58.880 Appeasement. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.759 And you may be like, okay. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.359 So, what's being appeased? 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:10.480 Here's why, here's where you a right knowledge, a right understanding of the love of God just causes you to love God more without effort, but because of understanding. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:11.359 Stick with me. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:13.200 You're gonna want to be offended at this. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.880 I don't want you to be, but but but I gotta tell you the truth, okay? 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:21.599 Uh propitiation means uh uh uh uh uh the the the appeasement, okay? 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.519 In verse 10 says, and this is love. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:30.400 Not that we've loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.480 That means appeasement, okay? 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:34.480 So who is being appeased? 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:45.440 It's not you, it's not God dancing to all the your little expectations, it's not God not being offensive, not telling you, hey, morality matters. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:50.000 You you you don't you you've never needed to be appeased by God. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.960 God, holy, righteous God, has to be appeased. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:55.279 Why? 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:59.279 Because he's offended and he's angry and he has to be satisfied. 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:05.920 God's nature demanded a sacrifice, and God's love provided the sacrifice. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.160 You say, Well, what do you mean? 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:09.759 Okay, he has to be satisfied. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:11.519 Okay, so what does that have to do with me? 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:18.400 Here's what it has to do with you propitiation, why you should see that word and go up to, if you don't go to this church, go to some church and say, hey, what does this mean? 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:29.519 And if they lied to you, find another church because they are robbing you of sufficient motivation for worship and the capacity to love God out of reflex and not labor. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.279 Why is this what's the big deal that an offended, angry deity has been satisfied? 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:34.720 What's that got to do with you? 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:41.839 Because you and I are the ones that he's offended by and he's angry with, so it has everything to do with you. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:49.599 It applies to every one of us in this room, but in different ways, depending if you're a believer or an unbeliever, a Christian or a non-Christian. 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:50.079 Okay? 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:51.599 You say, What do you mean? 00:23:51.759 --> 00:24:02.160 For the believer, you should meditate on the propitiation that God sent his son as a wrath, atoning, uh, appeasing sacrifice for your sin. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:06.000 And for the believer, this is a constant source of worshipful gratitude. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:12.400 When those kids last week kicked into what he's done, what he's done, all glory and the honor to the sun. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:15.119 My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:16.160 I had to walk out. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.680 And it's like my second or third time, and a guy back by the door said, Hey, you okay? 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:21.279 I gotta get some toilet paper. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:22.960 These kids are killing me. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:23.680 Why? 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:25.839 Because it just welled up in me. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:26.720 Why? 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:32.880 Because of what he's done, and I didn't say, Oh, I'm gonna try to love God more this year. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:35.039 I couldn't help myself. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:37.759 It was like, oh my gosh, yes. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:49.200