so why is this the most wonderful time of the year? Well why is it just the most wonderful time of the year? Well Andy Williams gave us a few reasons right, what did he say? There'll be parties for hosting marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow. There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of christmases long long ago, a few things right now, come on, let's be real. Is anybody telling scary ghost stories at christmas? I've never understood that part of the song, I've never told any ghost stories at christmas. Do you tell ghost stories at christmas? I mean maybe maybe a little bit of, you know Jacob Marley or the christmas of the ghost of christmas yet to come, but I mean that's about it as far as ghost go, I've never understood the scary ghost stories Christmas, but hey, maybe you're going to start a new tradition or maybe when it comes to ghost, if you go to the Holy Ghost International, uh indivisible bap to costal house of waffles and worship out on exit 34 then you might get a little more ghost in your Christmas than some right, that might happen. Well, I don't have a ghost story to share with you this morning, but I do have a tale of a christmas long long ago and the glory of that tail and it's not just a tale, it's a promise and it's not just a promise. It's a guaranteed promise. We continue our series for the holidays called this this and what we're doing is we're looking at these moments from Bethlehem and why those moments long ago, matter in your life right now and they do matter right now. The old christmas carol says what? It says this, this is christ the king and then it goes on to say haste, haste to bring him laud. What is laud? Well, it it means to praise so why would we praise jesus? Why would we laud jesus? Our sermon today is is this joy? We'll be looking at Galatians chapter four, verses four and five. And and what we're going to see in paul's letter to the Galatians is that guaranteed promise not not just a christmas tale, but the guaranteed promise of what's found in jesus and beyond that. That in that guaranteed promise in jesus, you will find the joy that your heart is longing for the most right now. Only in jesus. Listen, as we begin in Galatians, chapter four verse four Paul writes, But when the fullness of the time came, God sent his son at just the right moment in history, God sent his son at just the right moment in history where people were super confused and frustrated and living in sin and error, pining away with their confusion and their frustration with a government that was taking over the world at just the right moment in history when many of the leaders of the world were questionable at just the right moment in history when people who believed in God and followed God began to be angry and afraid with everything that was happening in the world in that moment, God sent his son. And in a different way, Although all of those things sound very familiar right? In a different way, God is still sending Jesus right now, he's still sending Jesus to you right now, Jesus is still saving and helping and keeping and loving. It's what he does and the promise is found in Jesus Christ. They are true right now. They were true. Last Tuesday. They will be true this coming Thursday and they'll be true 10,000 years from now. So whatever you're going through right now, whatever you're mad about, whatever you're angry about whatever you're worried about, whatever you're afraid about, whatever negative thoughts are running through your mind, whatever your political opinions, whatever your theological opinions. One thing is clearly true that we would love for you to know, and that's this God in no way, shape or form has lost track of history. God's not confused about anything that's going on, Everything that God is doing is right on time. In the Bible we have the book of Malachi that closes out the old testament in the book of Matthew, that opens up the new testament and between those two books, there's 400 years of what's known as a silence from God, it's not that God wasn't working. He's always working. But there were no divine scriptures written during that time. And so during this time of silence, we're God's people spending time listening and paying attention to the truth that they had already received. God had given them so much evidence of his existence. He had given them so much evidence of his grace and his peace and his power and his mercy and his love. They had a treasure trove of things that they could be focusing on. They could have been looking at the promises of the messiah that was coming. But is that what they were doing? No, sadly God's people checked out, they actually quit paying attention to the truth that God had given them because they were looking for a fresh word. They were looking for a new word and they ignored the word they had already received. Somebody has said that they were blind and deaf to the truth of God, they were ignoring God, they were walking in darkness. They were choosing to focus on everything that was going on around them instead of focusing on the truth that was over them and in them and through them and around them. And then in the fullness of time, at just the right moment God went into that darkness that they were walking in and he brought light and not just a light, but that night in Bethlehem on that first christmas, he brought the light, capital L of the world and that light is still shiny. So please don't don't miss the magnitude of this reality on the first christmas night when jesus was born when jesus came into this world, God broke the silence and he has never been silent again. Please don't miss it. Whatever you hate about the world right now, Whatever you're mad about in the world right now, whatever moments you have that you say, well, God undoubtedly has turned away where God undoubtedly is not paying attention in no way, shape or form is any of that? True God is still right on time. His glory, his majesty, his authority, his power, his grace, his love are louder than anything that you hear the existence of God, the love of God, the mercy of God, it is still the most powerful reality in the universe and the great news of the gospel is happening right now. There is nothing that is called God off kilter. God's not shocked with our political elections, God's not shocked with our medical conditions, there's nothing happening in the world where God says, whoa, I did not see that coming now at just the right time for every moment of everything that is happening in the world, God is still completely and perfectly on his throne and over and over again through the good news about Jesus Christ God is loudly working, he is deeply working as far as the curse of sin is found. What's the curse of sin. Well, the curse of sin is this reality that right now for someone who is separated from God, they're separated from all that's good and holy and happy? They are actually without christ separated from joy? See, Christmas will give them a little bit of joy, a little little shred of joy, but man December 26, it'll start fading and by January two, Gosh, it'll be gone. But not the joy of Jesus. See, we we live in a time where we forget that the power of the Gospel is still true. The glory of the Gospel is still true and to be separated temporarily from God right now with the curse of sins is terrible. But the real depth of the sadness is that the curse of Sin can last beyond death to not have jesus means that the curse of Sin continues right now. That curse, as the song says, it's far as the curse is found right now, that curse is sitting in caves inhabited by terrorists on the other side of the world, the curse is there and that curse is right here in this community inhabiting houses maybe even a few 100 yards from this church, you see to not have Jesus Christ, there's no other math, it leaves us under the curse and at just the right time in history and the fullness of a moment God sent jesus into this cursed world. And right now in this moment, God is still sending jesus to you? So do you know jesus not? Do you know about jesus? Do you know jesus, have you received his salvation? Do you have a sense of safety and freedom and release from the curse of sin and even the curse of death? Are you following jesus? Or is the curse still sitting on and in and around you, Paul is writing a letter to a church in a place called Galicia. And what had happened in the Church of Galicia is they started listening to the wrong voices. Some of those voices were inside the church and some of those versus voices were outside the church, but they were they were listening to the wrong voices. They were listening to the voices outside of the church. They said, oh man, government's taken over Rome's extending way too far and everything is just so negative and awful. This is the worst it will ever be. We never hear things like that, do we? So they were listening to the voices outside of the church that had none of the glory of God to support and encourage and then they were listening to voices inside the church that we're saying, hey, if we want to deal with this sin, this this curse of sin, all we really have to do is obey the constitution of bylaws, so to speak. It was like, we've, we've got these religious rules, all we need to do is focus on the religious rules and everything will be right with God. And so what they did, they were elevating their religious rules above following Jesus Christ. And in that moment paul said, I need to write them a letter because he knew how dangerous it was for them to listen to the wrong voices because the more they listen to those voices, the more they convince themselves that as long as they kept the rules, everything was okay, paul knew they'd get lost in those voices, they would get lost in those rules. And in fact the voices and the rules might actually reveal to them that they were never found to begin with. It might reveal that they were never actually true christians to begin with. So in that moment paul wrote and this moment where christians were doing religious morals above jesus or we might say in modern language, family values above jesus, good things that were not primarily godly things. And in that moment in that time paul writes them and he says, don't forget Bethlehem, I don't know if you caught Connor's line when she was doing the narration, but she was doing this, she was the innkeeper. She goes, gosh, I must be the worst innkeeper because I just can't keep track. Listen, there are are moments in our culture right now that we are the worst innkeepers because we can't keep track of the story that actually created christmas, we can't keep track of of this truth. And so paul's like, don't don't leave Bethlehem, don't don't forget Bethlehem get there, see that this promise came into that major major that night and the promise was coming to release us from the curse of sin to bring safety and freedom from the curse of sin. So in a time in a world where God had been silent and Bethlehem that night, God broke the silence and that's why we call jesus Emmanuel God with us. Just the right moment in history of fixed perfect time, God sent jesus to rescue and redeem and this isn't just like religious mumbo jumbo. It's it's very strategic, you know, practically speaking, God sent jesus at just the right moment in history. Listen, if you're not aware of this, one of the most incredible things that exist in this country is the interstate system. Listen, I'm telling you interstate 22 from Birmingham to Memphis praise jesus for that road. Okay, I've been driving to Arkansas for the last 26 years and man, when they opened up that interstate, my life just changed and they just built a water burger in Memphis. So when I get to the end of the interstate, I've got great food too. So God is good in so many different ways but the interstate system is amazing because it allows so many different people and things to get to places in a way that that normally they would not originally most of you know the history it was Eisenhower that put the interstate system together and and it was really designed to make sure that if we could move military and and and move troops as quickly as possible. But of course we, we see it just moving the world and moving our country today when jesus was born, Rome was building the first interstate system. They were building a system of roads that was going to make it super easy for people to get throughout the empire. And not only that they were creating a common language for the whole empire. So in the moment that jesus was born suddenly, all of these people were not going to have to sit in the service and and wait for someone to read something in latin or greek or hebrew, that they may or may not understand all of a sudden there was going to be a common language and the message of jesus would get out on this system of roads far and wide. And guess what? That message got away from those systems and roads and made it to our systems of roads. The message of the gospel came to us, Jesus was born at just the right time in history practically speaking, but not just practically, he was born at just the right time. Spiritually speaking to Philip Rankin defines and describes some of the spiritual hunger that people had when jesus was born, he said it this way sinners were ready to be released from their bondage. The gentiles were tired of serving their old pagan gods and the jews were weary of being held prisoner to the law? They had tried and failed to keep for over 1000 years. So it was just at the right time, Not a moment too late or a moment too soon that christ came to make us God's sons and daughters. Are you a true son or daughter of God? Have you received this salvation or you in the family of God, if you repented of your sins, receive jesus. Are you following him? Or are you an unregenerate church member? Or are you a a seeker? Just questioning the truth about jesus. Are you an atheist or an agnostic that just seems no need for anything to do with God or religion. Do you feel like you're a failure? You feel like you're weary and tired and and not getting anything right in life, or are you proud and arrogant? And and think that you're doing everything right in life, regardless of who you are right now is a fantastic time to turn to jesus Right now is an amazing time for you to turn to jesus to be rescued and redeemed to find joy away from the burdens of sin and the burdens of pride and the bankruptcy of indifference. This is a truth that transcends time that there is this bondage of sin, that that is always hanging over us. So right now is the perfect time to turn to jesus right now is the perfect time for the spiritual silence to stop in your life and for you to become a son or daughter of God and how is that even possible? How is it that jesus makes us sons and daughters of God Paul continues to write in verse four, but when the fullness of the time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law, how do we know that jesus was a real man? This isn't some, you know, legendary fairy tale, well we know because he was born of a woman as clear in the scripture, he was born of a woman, he was truly man and while he was truly man he was truly God because he has always been and will always be truly God and God sent Emanuel to us imagine that you go this afternoon and buy a christmas present for somebody, you know maybe a mickey mouse waffle iron or you know a funnel cake maker or I don't know whatever you're going to buy and you buy that gift and you go home and you wrap it up or you have whoever the official rapper person in your family is, wrap it up and they wrap it up and then you put it in a package and then tomorrow you take it to the post office or ups or Fedex or wherever you're going and and you mail that to whoever it is that you bought that gift for. So you you've purchased something that's been sent all of that doesn't just happen. There's there's a process to making sure that that gift gets where it is going. God says that he sent Jesus, that means Jesus had to come from somewhere. And the from somewhere that the bible says is perfect eternity past in glory with the trinity God, the father God, the son God, the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus came from God because jesus is God truly God, truly man. And that's how we recognize him. So why does that matter? What's the big deal? Well, the reason it matters is because Paul says that Jesus was born of a woman and born under the law. That means that Jesus was born into a world where all the same laws applied to him as to anybody else. Jesus though never broke the 10 commandments. Jesus always obeyed all of the rules. He he perfectly obeyed God's truth. He never got any of it wrong. Sorry to break it to you. But you and I don't get to say that right. We cannot perfectly keep the law. We we break the law, but not jesus. He honored everything he did everything just as the law required. Therefore Jesus is truly God and truly man. He becomes the only person who can redeem us. He becomes the only person who can rescue us When I was a kid. Every now and then my mom would take me over to the space place. Space place was an arcade in my hometown and I'm just old enough that you know the games were only 25 cents back then. And so you know, quarter take you a long way. However, some of the arcades around town didn't take a quarter. It took a token and that's different. You had to have their token to play the game. So you take a dollar over to the little machine and put it in and give you out the tokens. Now you could go over to the machine and they still say this today. If you see one, it'll say on that little thing 25 cents. And you know what? You could put a couple of dimes and a nickel in there and you weren't playing Jack. All right. It wasn't going to happen. You know, it wouldn't take those coins, it wouldn't take a quarter. You had to have the token or you couldn't play the game by God's design and his grace and his love to make sure that salvation was available to everyone, jesus is the only token. It's just jesus. He's the only one that qualifies to rescue and redeem. He's the only one that satisfied the curse of sin that's dealt with the curse of sin. And that's the very reason why God sent him Listen to what Paul says next verse five Jesus was born so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. See this is one of the most wonderful times of the year. And and for believers, it's because it draws us back to the beginning of the story, so to speak. And and what happened in Bethlehem. But please understand the gospel did not end in Bethlehem. The gospel kept working and moving. Jesus grew up and he was crucified for my sin and for your sin. This is the story and it's not a fairy tale and it's not a ghost story, Jesus was crucified. His dead body was placed in a tomb and then three days later, he rose from the grave, Jesus is risen, he is risen, indeed he is alive right now. See, Jesus did not promise before the Super Bowl, I'm the goat, I'm the greatest of all time right here And then he went out and won a game and won a trophy. No Jesus before the foundations of the world was God's appointed 1 to fully and finally conquer sin and death. It's not a game, Jesus conquered sin and death. It's why he's the only one who's qualified and his truth and grace. He's ruling the world with his truth and grace. Even now. And as the song says, the the nations are proving right now and one day they will fully and finally, every single nation will prove the righteousness and the wonder of the love of Jesus. History is not accidentally unfolding history is purposely and perfectly unfolding in and through Jesus Christ he is returning. This is no ghost story, this is no fairy tale, it is in and through Jesus Christ that a person can become a son or a daughter of God. Someone once said that being spiritually adopted into the family of God is greater than the universe. Sounds like a big thought, right? That being adopted into the family of God, that that becoming a christian is greater than the universe. And the reason why is because before the foundations of the universe, the bible says God had designed and planned this adoptive family, he had designed and created what all of this means and how all of this was going to transpire. So becoming a son or daughter of God, it is greater than an education. It is greater than getting married. It's greater than winning the ball game. It's greater than than getting that special gift on christmas. It's greater than a promotion at work. It's greater than a new car. It's greater than this nation. It's greater than every nation. It's greater than everything in the universe. Being right with God means that a person is safe and free forever before death during death and after death. Therefore, being in the family of God being a son or daughter of God is greater than the universe. That's a christmas gift and that's the gift that keeps on giving, I've shared with you before, the story of my friends Brent and Marian martin, they adopted their daughter Tess who's a teenager now they adopted her, I think I think they got test the same day she was born. And a few weeks after Tess was born, Brent was preaching a sermon at our church and and this is what he said and it and it never escapes me. And I think on it all the time he said this, you don't earn adoption. Tess was chosen. She was not looking for us. We were looking for her. And the 1st 2nd my eyes met hers. She had status. It was instant. She was a martin. Everything I had or would ever have was now hers because now she was mine. In the seconds before I saw her, I had never known her and the moment I did see her, she had everything that would ever be mine. And then Brent said this, that is what God does. We get the family name and all that he owns. This isn't a ghost story. This is no fairy tale. This is the Godof the universe who created the universe, who was over the universe, saying to us that in the fullness of time, at just the right moment in history, he made the way for you to be a son or daughter of his. He made a way for the silence to be broken. He made a way for the darkness to go away and you know what? That would have been enough. It would have been enough. If God just made the darkness and the light go away, it would have been enough if God just sent jesus to Bethlehem to save us from the curse of sin. But again, he goes beyond that. He brings us into the family and gives us the family name. Everything of God's becomes ours. So through the baby in the manger, a person can be adopted into the family of God. Have you been adopted? Are you a son or daughter of God? Have you received this gift? Because it's not a scary ghost story and it's not a fairy tale, it is greater than the universe because it just the right time. In the fullness of time, God brought joy to the world through jesus. This, this is christ the king, he is the joy that your soul is longing for the most