four. We were unable to meet last week because
of the snow. It's amazing how much how quickly
the weather changes around here. Sixty what five
on Christmas Day and last week you know single
digits in the snow. So we're going to look what
I had prepared for last week. And what I was
trying to do throughout this Advent season is
to preach according to the themes, and we'll
look at this in just a moment, but last week
would have been the theme of joy. And so we're
going to look at that this morning. So Galatians
chapter four is our text, but really beginning
at verse four, but we'll pick the text up in
verse one. Paul writing to the church said, now
I say that the air As long as he is a child,
does not differ at all from a slave, though he
is master of all. But he is under guardians and
stewards until the time appointed by the Father.
Even so, we, when we were children, we were in
bondage under the elements of the world. And
this is our principle text. 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 are under the law, that we might receive
the adoption as sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of the 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. Let's
pray. Oh, Father, that's astounding, Lord. Your
word, what hope, what sustenance, what life it
gives. If we are a son, then we are an heir,
an heir of God through Christ. Lord, when the
fullness of time had come, you sent Him, our
Savior. Lord, I pray now that you might send
your Spirit, Lord. Illuminate the text, open
our eyes. Lord, let us see. the mysteries and
understand and grow deeper in our relationship
with you, Father. God, we need you this morning.
You tell us to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit,
and so we do, believing that Lord God, you will
help us this morning to worship your right. It's
in the name of Jesus, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
There's a verse in Proverbs 13, verse 12. Hope
deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire
comes, it's a tree of life. And I'm sure most
of you have had this experience, but have you
ever had to wait for something that you deeply
desire? I'm not talking about waiting in a checkout
line or waiting in traffic, but you were put
on hold. There was something that you deeply
desired and it was not coming. I mean, that waiting,
that time of waiting can be torturous. Often
we become discouraged or downcast, even spiritually
weak. Because unfulfilled expectations, they
do take an emotional toll on you. That's what
the Bible said. Hope deferred, hope that is not
coming, makes the heart sick. And there are many
situations this applies to. It could be a medical
situation, you're waiting for some test results,
and that waiting seems like an eternity. But
when the answer finally comes, and the answer
that you were actually hoping for, Ah, what joy.
You're elated. There's relief at the good news.
That answer to prayer brings a vitality, though
it's as though you were eating a fruit from the
tree of life. Proverbs 13 -12. The problem's
not just medical. It could be professionally
related. Some have had to go without work for
so long and the bills kept piling up. You don't
know what you're going to do. You don't know
what's going to happen. you're praying, hope
is being deferred. And then suddenly the prayers
have been answered and you get the call that
you received the job you were hoping for. Again,
what joy, celebration, a feeling of relief. Sandy
and I experienced this firsthand. When we got
married, we were hoping for children right away.
In fact, we had talked and our desire was that
even she would get pregnant on the honeymoon.
Yet the Lord had other plans. He had us to wait.
And really, I can say at the first we were okay
waiting, that we didn't immediately get pregnant,
that was fine. But days turned to weeks. Then
the weeks turned to months. And those months
turned to years. And I remember those years.
It was a hard trial. It was hard because we had
desperately hoped for children and the Lord was
not granting our request. Our hearts were sick,
as Proverbs says, because hope... was deferred.
Countless pregnancy tests taken, countless negative
results given. Sandy called me one day while
I was working here at the office and she had
taken a new medication, wasn't feeling quite
well. And so the doctor said, hey, if this doesn't
sit well with you, call. So I called the nurse
there and just said, hey, this medication is
not sitting well with Sandy. And the nurse said,
well, that's That's not typical side effects
of that medication. She said, that actually sounds
like side effects or not side effects. That sounds
like just, I can't think of the word, pregnancy,
you all get the idea. Whatever that word would
be, that's what it sounds like, okay? Side effects
would be the wrong words. Pregnancy is not a
disease, so I don't know her medicine. But anyway,
so I called Sandy and I remember telling her,
I said, Sandy, don't get too excited. I said,
but the nurse said she, sign, that's it. She
thinks this might be a sign of pregnancy. rather
than the medicine causing this. And so on the
way home, I remember I stopped at Dollar General
and I picked up a bunch of different pregnancy
tests of different brands, because they say they're
99 % accurate, but let's just make sure. And
then I remember, and I remember this very well,
October of 2017, Sandy took that first pregnancy
test and then instantly showed positive. The
desire had come. There were tears, and there
were prayers, and there were praises to God.
That moment in our lives, in our marriage, it
was if we had eaten fruit from the tree of life.
Hope was no longer deferred. The desire had come.
See, when hope is fulfilled, our souls are refreshed
and joy, joy is the theme of our lives. This
I had planned to preach last Sunday, but God
in His providence had me to wait till today.
So last Sunday, the theme of Advent is on joy.
So if you look at week one of Advent, that is
on hope. Week two, I looked at a few weeks ago,
peace. Last week should have been joy. And my
plan was today to preach on love. But the joy
that is referred to here comes because the arrival
of Jesus and the salvation that he brought. It
is a joy that light, the light, has invaded our
darkness and the life has overcome death. There
is joy because we are no longer estranged from
God and we no longer are without hope in this
world. But friends, hope had been deferred for
quite a long time because Christ did not immediately
arrive. It is not as though Adam sinned in the
garden and then Jesus immediately shows up to
die for sinners. That's not how it went. Instead,
there were centuries, even millennia, about four
millennia by the way, of waiting after Adam had
sinned. Now we know that a promise was given
immediately there, that there would be, what,
a serpent -crushing deliverer who would come.
Yeah, his heel would be bruised, but he would
stomp on Satan's head. Genesis 3 .15. And I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your seed and her seed. He that deliver shall
bruise your head." And that means crush. And
you will bruise his heel. So God promised a Savior
immediately when Adam sinned. But 4 ,000 years
passed between the time God gave the promise
and the time the promise was actually fulfilled.
Hope was deferred for 4 ,000 years, and the people,
what were they doing? Waiting. Waiting expectantly.
for the arrival of the Messiah. Now we come to
the text in Galatians 4, verse 4. But when the
fullness of time had come, God sent forth His
Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Why?
Verse 5. To redeem those who are under the law,
that we might receive the adoption as sons. The
fullness of time was come at just the right time
in history. See, under ancient law the father,
you can go to the next slide guys, the father
chose the date when his son would receive the
inheritance. He chose the date. That was at the
father's discretion. In like manner, God the
father chose the time when his son would come
and procure the inheritance for his children.
The timing was not rushed, but neither was the
timing delayed. Instead, at the perfect time,
at the perfect moment when the fullness of time
had come, then enters Christ into human history.
Now, why was the time right? It was right for
various reasons. First, you think about the law
itself. The law of Moses had completed its preparatory
role. God's people had been under the law all
the way until the time Christ came. But the law
in that time had done its work. It had prepared
the people. It was like a schoolmaster, a tutor.
It had prepared the people for the preparation
to receive the Messiah. Second, religiously,
it was really the right time. Israel had been
judged for her idolatry. She had endured the
70 years of captivity in Babylon. She had been
judged during that time. So after returning from
exile, Israel was no longer worshipping false
gods. no longer worshipping idols. But it's also
during that time in exile that the Jews developed
synagogues. Those were places, what, to serve
as places of worship, places of education. They
also served as a court. That was all taking place
during the exile. They also completed the canon
of the Old Testament, primarily with Ezra being
the scribe. All that had been done. And that's
going to help proclaim the Messiah when he comes.
Third, culturally, it was the right time because
now there was a common language. You have to
understand, Alexander the Great had spread what
Greek culture, the Hellenization of the ancient
world. Yet Greek culture and Greek language was
now known throughout the world. There's a common
language there. And this would ensure, this common
language of Greek, Koine Greek, would ensure
that the news of the gospel would spread easily.
Fourth, it was correct, because politically,
the right time had come because Rome, that was
the world superpower at that time, had instituted
the Pax Romana, the time of peace. And that gave
what? Political stability. It gave economic stability.
And Rome had developed that great system of roads.
So now, not only was there common language Greek,
there was now a great road system on which they
could travel, spreading the gospel message. And
that's what you see in the Book of Acts. The
apostles and early leaders, they traveled freely
and relatively safely throughout the empire because
Rome had built that impressive system of roads
that was just new at that time in history. So
it's for all these reasons that it was the right
time in history. And Galatians tells us at this
perfect time, when the fullness of time, when
the time was right, God sent forth His Son. Now
friends, that's in itself really worth looking
at. We just look and say, yeah, God sent His
Son. No, no. God sent His Son. The fact that
His Son was sent shows that the Son existed prior
to His birth in Bethlehem. Christ's existence
did not begin with a manger in Bethlehem. Jesus
is the eternal Son. Christ being sent from heaven
reveals to us something about the nature of that
child that was born. It's not just an ordinary
child, we know that from his conception, but
his nature is divine. He is God the Son, fully
equal to the Father in both glory and essence.
In fact, what we would say is he's the second
person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the eternal
and only begotten Son of the Father. And Galatians
tells us, when the time was ripe, God the Son
came down from heaven and entered into human
history. God sent him. But then it says he was
born of a woman. Okay, now he's born. So God,
eternal, is being born. This reveals to us his
humanity. He was born like all other men were
born. Now his conception was different. He was
conceived in the virgin's womb. She had never
known a man. That was miraculous. We call it
the virgin birth, and that's true. It ought to
be called the virgin conception. So, but his
birth was a normal human birth like anyone else
would have experienced. Mary would have experienced
pain in the birth of Jesus. You know, we sing
away in a manger and that line in the church,
no crying he made. It's not true. He was, have
you ever known a baby not to cry? If you know
a baby not to cry, it's not a baby. Because babies
are really good at a few things, dirtying diapers
and crying. They've mastered it really well.
And by the way, Jesus would have done both, and
that's no disrespect. Because when we take away
that, we're taking away his humanity. He is truly
human. So he was sent. He's the divine one. But
he was born. He is human. Isaiah hinted at this
in Isaiah 9 -6, for unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. Notice, child is born,
humanity. Son was given, deity. Jesus is the
God -man. It's what we call the hypostatic union.
He is both truly God, no less, not a demigod,
not half man, half God. He is truly God and truly
man. One person, two natures. His birth, though,
that's what we celebrate in this Advent season.
What is it? God became man. Kyle and I were talking
before we came up here. We meet together to pray
before the service starts, and we're talking
about this. I'm like, if we would just stop to
pause and think about that statement. God, Almighty
Creator, He becomes man. with all the limitations
of humanity. Why? Well, he had to be fully man
to take on man's penalty, for it was man, it
was Adam who would send. Jesus would serve as
a representative of humanity just as Adam had
done. So as God, he could be our savior. As man,
he could be our substitute. And that's one of
the mysteries of the incarnation. Martin Luther
says this, Christianity does not begin at the
top, as all other religions do. It begins at
the bottom. You must run directly to the manger
and the mother's womb, embrace this infant and
virgin child in your arms, and look at him. Born,
being nursed, growing up, going about in human
society, all normal things, right? Teaching,
dying. Now here's where the normal things end.
Rising again. ascending above all the heavens
and having authority over all things. See friends,
Christmas is the wonder. It's the celebration
at the condescension of God. And if something
is oxymoronic about that statement is that there
should be no condescension of God. God should
never condescend, but he did. And we remember
that and we celebrate this mystery that, yes,
there's God incarnate. God becomes man. And this
is a sublime show of humility. God the Son, the
eternal Son, with all the glory of heaven, took
on human nature, our nature, with all its temptations
and with all its limitations. He now is subject
to hunger and thirst and being cold and being
tired. But the Bible says something else in Galatians
4. Paul says Christ is born under the law. Jesus
is born a Jew. He's subject to the totality of
God's law. See, he was under the obligation,
Jesus was under the obligation to obey the law
or else be judged by the law. See, his birth
into Judaism meant that he was required, as all
other Jews, to perfectly keep the law of Moses.
Yet, unlike every other Jew, Jesus completely
obeyed and fulfilled it. And that's why He was
qualified to be able to redeem us from the curse
of that law. Look in the New Testament. Jesus,
you see, He circumcised on the eighth day. He
obeyed the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, perfectly
obeyed them, kept every one of them. You find
Him at Passover, keeping Passover. All the other
required feast days, Jesus was present. He did
every single thing the law required, every jot,
every tittle. He dotted every I, crossed every
T, if you want to say it that way, but even died
under the law. In Galatians chapter 3, the chapter
before, verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law, having become a curse for
us. For it's written, cursed is everyone who
hangs on a tree. Christ became a man. so that
he could obey the whole law, that he could also
suffer the punishment that was due us for having
broken it. Two things, he had to obey it, and
then he would die as one who had broken it, although
he did not. The Lord Jesus willingly accepted
this sentence of death in himself. Why? Because
that's what his people deserved. He's going to
redeem us. He's going to buy us back. He's going
to serve as our substitute. What did we deserve?
Death. What did he submit to? Death. He became
a curse for us so that you and I would not die
accursed from God. That's grace. Verse 5, to
redeem, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now,
to redeem, Paul's speaking here of Christ's atonement.
In fact, if you want to look at the letter, we
don't have time to do so. He opened this particular
book, the letter to the Galatians, speaking of
Christ's atonement. Chapter 1, verse 3, grace
to you, peace from God the Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Standard greeting of Paul, verse
4, who gave himself for our sins. Christ gave
himself in order to redeem his sinful people.
What does it mean to redeem? To buy back. It
was used or referred to the buying back of slaves.
So slaves, after they were purchased and after
the redemption price had been paid, they were
emancipated. They were set free. And the Bible
says Jesus redeemed us in order to free us from
what? Our slavery. Our slavery was not a physical
slavery. Our slavery was a moral slavery. We
were enslaved to sin. But there had to be a redemption
price. Slaves had to be redeemed, a price had
to be paid, and death was the price because that
was the penalty that was attached to anyone who
broke God's law. The wages, the payment of sin,
is death. To break the law made you a covenant
breaker. And if you were a covenant breaker,
you were deserving of death. Now God loved us.
He didn't start loving us after Jesus died. He
loved us even while we were yet sinners. Because
that's when Christ died for us. God loved us,
but in order to bring us back in full status
as the Son of God, His justice must be satisfied.
Because God's not going to deny justice, because
He's a just, a morally upright and perfect God.
So what did His justice demand? Well, for anyone
who broke the law, there must be death. The person
who broke had to die, or a sacrifice had to be
given in its place. That's what the whole Levitical
sacrificial system represented, right? And the
Bible says Jesus gave Himself. He gave Himself
as that sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God that
takes away the sin of the world. Now, how could
He offer Himself in our place? Because He's one
of us. He was a man. And as a man, He could serve
as our substitute. In his commentary, Govett
says, Christ by nature, the Son of God became
Son of Man, that we by nature, Sons of Man, might
become Sons of God. But John's thought, he said,
so the divinity of Christ, the humanity of Christ,
and the righteousness of Christ uniquely qualified
him to be man's Redeemer. If he had not been
man, he could not have redeemed unrighteous men.
And if he had not been God's son, he could not
have redeemed men for God or made them sons of
God. So do you see what we're saying is you must
believe in this incarnation and understand the
nature of Christ that he is the God -man. You
can't have one with the other or you lose salvation.
He's the God -man. As God, as his savior. As
man, he's our substitute. But why? And it tells
us so that we might receive the adoption. of
sons. So yes, you're saying Christ came to atone
for our sins. Yes, Christ came for our atonement,
but He also came for our adoption. God sent His
Son to make us sons. Now to understand Paul's
point here in Galatians 4, you have to understand
something about adoption in ancient Rome. It
is not like it is today. In the Roman world,
there might have been a few exceptions. If a
man was going to pass on his wealth, it had to
be to his sons, not daughters here. That's why
the Bible uses the term sons. It's not been sexist.
It's picking up on this point here. All the wealth
and land inheritance all went to men. In Rome,
under Judaism, you could give it to a daughter
occasionally. Now, if a man had no sons, or he
felt that one of his sons was not worthy or noble
enough to take care of the wealth, or he wouldn't
manage it correctly, he then, now look, this
is what happened, he would adopt another man.
and make him a worthy son. Now when we think
of adoption, we often think of children adopting
infants. That's very common today. But that's
not how it happened in ancient Rome. Older boys
or even adult men were the ones normally adopted.
So when the adoption, once it was legally approved,
the adoptee then would have all his debts canceled
and he would actually receive a new name. He
would be the legal son with legal rights of his
adopted father, meaning he was now entitled to
all the rights and all the benefits of being
a son of that father who had now adopted him.
So now in ancient Rome, a father could disown
a natural son, but once adoption took place,
it was irreversible. Now do you see what Paul's
picking up on? Paul's analogies, he's writing
to people that understood the Roman culture.
Christians, you and I are born slaves, we're
enslaved to sin. Jesus paid the redemption price,
redeemed us out of our slavery. But we're not
just freed, we're not just emancipated. Rather,
we have been adopted by God the Father. Well,
how do you know that? He gave us God the Holy
Spirit. As sons of God, then, we become heirs,
heirs to God's inheritance. Now friends, listen,
you can be an heir of Jeff Bezos, you can be
an heir of Bill Gates, you can be an heir of
some of these wealthy men, and you might stand
and inherit a lot, but it pales in comparison
if you're an heir of God. You get that inheritance,
all right? Now Christ is the only begotten Son
of God, meaning Christ is the only Son by nature.
You and I are sons by adoption. Now, it would
have been amazing enough. This would have been
grace had Christ came and freed us from our bondage.
That would have been amazing. But the story doesn't
end there. He didn't redeem us to leave us as
his servants. He redeemed us to make us his sons.
Then he might adopt us. See, our redemption was
not the end. Sonship was always the goal. And
when we placed our faith in Christ, we came into
the family of God. And when you come into the
family of God, you have all the rights and privileges
of being a son. This is why John said, in 1 John,
he said, behold, what manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us. Listen, behold, take notice
that we, that you and I, should be called the
sons of God. Now, modern translations will use
children, but it's important towards son. because
that's the heir. He says, listen, think about
the love that God the Father bestowed on you
that we might be called the sons of God. In Christ,
we have all the freedom, the privilege, and responsibilities
of being a son of God. Paul said in Romans 8
-17, if children, then heirs. heirs of God, but
notice what he said, joint heirs with Christ.
Friends, that's incredible as well. You and I
stand to inherit all that the Lord Jesus Christ
will inherit. We write in on his coat tails,
we are heirs of God and co -heirs, not sub -heirs,
co -heirs with Christ. He's the true son and
we're made sons, but we get everything he gets.
You know what that's called? Grace. God turned
slaves into sons. And the theme is on joy. Tell
me, what could be more joyous than this? Now,
there's one glaring difference between Roman
adoption and what God did. Christians are not
adopted because God thinks we will make worthy
heirs. That's what the Roman father would look
at. Someone's going to take care of the estate
after he passes away. Rather... This, in a surprising
turn of events, God adopts people who are completely
unworthy, and He adopts us on the basis of His
grace and makes us worthy. What's the result
of our adoption? Verse 6 in Galatians 4, and
because you're sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of the Son into your hearts, crying out Abba,
Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave.
Friends, you're no longer a slave, but a son.
And if a son, then an heir. An heir of God through
Christ. The father sent the son who died, was
buried, and rose again to redeem us. And then
the father sent his spirit. to make that real
in our lives and to assure us of this. So the
Father adopted us, the Son redeemed us, and the
Spirit assures us, or the Spirit applies redemption,
you could say that. So all of the blessed Trinity
is involved in our salvation. And this is the
thing, guys, listen, at this Christmas, don't
miss this point. God wants you, every single
person in here that knows Christ, to rest in
His fatherly love. He wants you to know and enjoy
the assurance that you have as a child of His
who has been adopted into His eternal family.
He wants all of His children to know and enjoy
the fact that they belong to Him and are beloved
by Him. God loves you. And the gift of the Holy
Spirit is our adoption papers. The Spirit of
God is the seal that we belong to God. He's the
one who helps us to recognize our position as
sons. He comes into our heart and testifies to
that. So God sends a son to make us his children,
and then God sends a spirit to let us know that
we truly are his children. Man, God really wants
us to know this, doesn't he? The spirit who dwells
within us allows us to confidently cry out to
God, the Almighty, creator of heaven and earth,
Yahweh. The covenant -keeping God. God the Spirit
allows us to cry out to him with this title,
Abba. Father. Abba is an Aramaic term. It's in
the diminutive. So, you know, like we have dad
and we have daddy. This is the diminutive. It's
more like daddy. It's an Aramaic. So it connotes
or denotes intimacy. It also denotes relationship.
So you could say this, Abba is like, dear father,
dear dad. Are you comfortable calling God that
dear dad? The spirit says he's going to make
you pray like that. FF Bruce in his commentary
said ABBA is the voice of Jesus on the lips of
his people and I love that. The voice of Jesus
on the lips of his people is when we cry out
to God ABBA. Daddy dad. Sometimes we cry out
to dad help. Sometimes we're just praising Him,
sometimes just talking to Him, but we're always
crying out to Him. See, you and I have this incredible
privilege of addressing God in the same way that
Jesus addressed Him. No slave could ever call
their master Abba, but that's what you have with
the Almighty. God, creator of heaven and earth,
is our Abba. See, you know what I would tell
you today? Rejoice! Rejoice, dear Christian!
Lift up your voice and rejoice. This is the joy
of Christmas. This is the joy of Advent. Christ
was born a child so that God could make us His
children. Warren Wiersby poignantly points out
some of the differences between slaves and sons.
I'll mention three quickly. The son has a father
while the slave has a master. As I said earlier,
no slave ever got to call the master Abba. You
didn't get to say father to him. So when the
sinner trusts Christ, he receives that Holy Spirit,
and the Spirit tells him, you are a child of
the Father. Secondly, the son obeys out of love,
because he's confident in this relationship.
But the slave obeys out of fear, a slavish fear,
right? But not a son. And the Spirit of God works
in the heart of his people to increase our love
for God, and to awaken in us this understanding
that we are his sons. Third, the son is rich.
The slave will always be poor. We are sons and
we are heirs because we've been adopted. And
you can start drawing on your inheritance right
now. Part of that rich inheritance is to call
God Abba. In Christ, friends, God has given to
us the riches of His grace, the riches of His
glory, the riches of His goodness, and the riches
of His wisdom. You know what that means this
Christmas season? You might not have a gift under
the tree, but if you know Christ, you've been
enriched in all things. You have everything.
What joy, the joy of Advent, is there because
we've been rescued from sin and adopted into
the eternal family of God. And I close with this.
For whom is this joy? For whom is it? Now when
the angels in Luke 2 announce Christ's birth,
they said, I bring you good news of great joy
which will be to all people. For it is born this
day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ
the Lord. It was born for you this day in the
city of David, a Savior. Who first received that
announcement? You'll see it tonight if you come
back to see the children. The shepherds. It was
not first given to kings, nor to priests. nor
to the powerful ruling class, rather it was first
announced to those who are on the margins of
life." The outsiders. We think of shepherds cute.
Shepherds were not an esteemed occupation in
first century Palestine. Salvation was first
announced to those who were overlooked by the
world, yet seen by God. Praise God. And that's
the joy, friends. The joy of the incarnation.
is that Christ was born for all people, especially
for those who assume it's not for me. Christ
was born for you. If you recognize that you are
a sinner, you can't get into God's favor on your
own. If you will repent of your sins, you recognize
that you have fallen and broken God's law. And
if you will come to His sent Son in faith, then
this message of good news and great joy. It's
for you, for all those who are pender their sins
and trust in Christ alone for salvation. This
is the joy of Christmas. What are with four days
from now, friends, you'll gather with family.
Some of you on Christmas Eve, some on Christmas.
Some you may be stressful. Some there may be
some division and strife because families tend
to do that broken relationships. But in the midst
of all this, there can be joy. I want to say
tangible, but joy is etherealism. It's not tangible.
Real, deep, abiding joy. Christ has come. Christ
has died. Christ has risen. Christ is for you.
Celebrate that, friends. Let's do something.
Let's commune with this Christ, the living one,
who says, come to me. Come to me and I'll receive
you. And he says that we get to commune with
him. and the way he prescribed. Let's prepare
our hearts for communion at this time. Let's
pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for your precious,
glorious, almighty work. Lord, it is so good.
It is so rich. It is so deep. It is so satisfying,
and it is so necessary. God, help us, Lord, by
your spirit to comprehend with all the saints
what is the length and breadth and height and
depth to know the love of Christ, which passes
all understanding. Oh God, guard our minds and
our hearts, keep us in this awareness. Father,
there may be some here today who are on the peripheral,
they're on the outside, but not because, Lord,
you're keeping them on the outside, but Lord
God, they have never bowed the knee to Christ.
They're on the outside of the family of God,
and tonight or this morning, Lord, I would ask
God that you might awaken in them a desire for
your salvation, that they would see their sin
and the heinousness of it. Lord, you would draw
them, causing them to repent of their sin. and
trust in your son. God, do that. And Father,
for the saints who have gathered to worship you
this morning, Lord, expand our minds and our
hearts, Lord. Let us grow in our affection for
you and all that you have done. You are a very
good God, extraordinarily good, Lord. You are
our Abba, our dear dad, our dear dad in heaven.
God, thank you for this. And today, as sons,
adopted. We come to the table of the Lord And
we commune with Christ on high in the way that
he prescribed Meet us here. We pray in Jesus
name. Amen Deacons, if you'd come prepare the
table as the children walk in they will be seated
with the children You come in just make your
way back to the parents, please