Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 63:7-9
Epistle Lesson; Galatians 4:4-7
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 2:13-23
Sermon Text; Galatians 4:4-7

It is that time of the year when people are making New Year's Resolutions. Maybe you are making New Year's Resolutions. Maybe you have said in your heart, "I resolve in 2008 to lose 15 lbs." Maybe you have said to yourself, "I resolve to remodel my kitchen." Maybe you have said to yourself, "I resolve to be able to bench press 225 pounds." Maybe you have said to yourself, "I resolve to spend more time with the family." Maybe you have resolved to read the classic novels. Maybe you have resolved to yourself to write your first novel! It is a time for us to look back at things that we did not do, and look forward to things that we would like to accomplish this year.

And while the things that I listed are all fine things, it is truly important for us, as Christians, to take a moment, spiritually, and look at God's Word, as we leave an old year and enter a new year. And so, as we leave this year and enter the next year, the scripture reading that we are going to look at briefly is just a beautiful, little, passage from the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter four. It begins with this little phrase,

"But when the time had fully come,".

And what does that little phrase tell us? "When the time had fully come, God sent His Son." That little phrase tells us,

God is the God of time.

God created time.

God is in control of time.

God in His infinite power and might, and God in His infinite wisdom and all-knowingness, arranges the events and times of this world so it all comes together in just the right place in just the right time, to accomplish the events that He intends. And so, when the time had fully come, God sent His Son.

Now what was the fullness of the time? What made the time right? Let me just touch on three quick things. It was at that time that the Romans had taken over the entire civilized world. And so, Judea was also under Roman rule. And, if someone were found guilty in Judea of a crime against the state, such as claiming to be a king, the method of punishment would be crucifixion. And so, the time had fully come, so that the Christ, when the time came, would be crucified.

Because the Romans were in charge of the entire civilized world at that time, they had chosen a universal language. Many people were bilingual. They could speak their own language, plus they could speak the universal language at that time, known as Greek.

The Romans had also made great transportation progress, so that there were highways and ways to get all around the civilized world. So when the time had fully come, for the Gospel to be spread, there was a universal language and a travel route to make it possible! The time had fully come.

It had been nearly five hundred years, since a king had truly sat on the throne of King David and ruled over the people of Israel, and so the people of Israel were longing for the Messiah. They were eagerly expecting the Messiah. And when the time had fully come, God sent His Son.

God is the God of time.

And God is the God of time in your life. There is a Bible passage that says,

"God has determined

the exact place and time that you should live,

so that you would reach out and find Him."

Isn't that an awesome and comforting passage? God, in your life, in your personal life, is in control of your time! He chose that you would be alive in the year 2007. In fact, He chose that you would be here, today. He arranged all of the events in your life, so that you would be here, today. God has determined the place and time that you would live, so that you would reach out and find Him. It is God's Will, because He has chosen you to be here today, at this place in this time, that you hear this little, Bible passage.

The little, Bible passage is a beautiful, beautiful Bible passage. It takes two of the most profound concepts in scripture, regarding our salvation, and it ties those two concepts together. It is the concept of redemption and the concept of adoption. Listen to what it says,

"When the time had fully come,

God sent His Son born of a woman,

born under law,

to redeem those under law

that we might receive the full rights of sons."

In that passage is the concept of redemption and the concept of adoption.

There was a little Russian girl, who was five years old. Her name was Miska. Her mother died and her father was an alcoholic. One day her father left the home and never came back. Little Miska was in the small, disheveled apartment all by herself, waiting for her father to come back. She waited for days, until the food ran out. So she left that little apartment and went out into the streets of Russia. She began to look for scraps of food, wherever she could find it. She begged for food and begged people for matches, so she could light little fires, to stay warm.

Finally, after about two weeks, the police realized that she was a little, orphan girl. They took her and put her in an orphanage. She was in this orphanage for a period of time.

Unbeknownst to her, way across the world, there was a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, who had heard about her poor plight. In their hearts they were moved to mercy. They were moved to compassion. They had loving kindness in their hearts, when they saw her condition. And they determined in their hearts that they wanted her to be their little child, their little daughter. They determined in their hearts, in their merciful, compassionate hearts, that they would do whatever it took to make her their daughter. They would spend whatever it would cost them, even if they had to scrimp to the last penny that they had.

And so, they scraped together all their money. They bought plane tickets and they flew to Russia. They paid to live there for a month. They paid for all of the expenses, such as the legal expenses, and the orphanage expenses. They paid whatever it took.

Finally, one day, it happened. Little Miska did not choose them. She did not even know they existed. However, (one day after they had legally adopted her as their child in court), they walked into that orphanage. And, they claimed her as their daughter. They took her home and they loved her. They loved her, they cared for her, they prayed for her, and they brought her to Jesus. And, they loved her all of their lives.

That is a small, little picture comparing what God has done for us, in this little, Bible passage. What does it say? It says,

"When the time had fully come,

God sent His Son,

born of a woman,

born under law,

to redeem those under law,

that we might receive the full rights of sons."

Our condition is worse than little Miska’s. Little Miska was a little orphan. But, you and I are in a worse condition. We were born under law. And, the Bible here describes us as slaves. We were slaves to sin. We were such slaves to sin, such slaves to sin, that on our own we could not get ourselves out of the condition that we were in. We were such slaves to sin that the ultimate end of our lives was destruction in Hell for all eternity. We were slaves, because we could not keep the Law.

Let's just walk through the Law, just a little bit, to show our natural capacity to be slaves to sin.

The First Table of the Law is that we should love God above all things. And the First Commandment says, "You shall have no other Gods."

But isn't it true that we have tendency to pigeon hole God and have a tendency to say, "God you can be my God for two hours, during the week"? Isn't it true that we have a tendency to say, "You can be my God on Sunday morning, when I go to church and when I go to Bible class"? But isn't it true that sometimes we think, "It would be better instead of 2 hours, church would be 55 – 59 minutes," because we would prefer not to give that much time to God. Isn't it true, if we go to Bible Class, sometimes we think in our hearts, "Well, I am a little better than the ones who don't go to Bible Class"?

What about the Second Commandment? "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."

Isn't it true that we can go home, and a couple of hours after church, watching the football game, when the football team does something that we don't approve of, curses come out of our mouths? And then we are, in essence, wishing eternal damnation on our favorite football team. Isn't it true that we could be making Christmas cookies and burn our hands on the Christmas cookie pan, and then cursing comes out of our mouths? Or, when we open a Christmas present, it has those wonderful words, "Some assembly required" and two hours later, we find words coming out of our mouths that are inappropriate for God's people to speak.

What about the Third Commandment, "You shall keep the Day of Rest holy."

Do we think to ourselves, "Boy, last week I had to go to church three times? First there was Sunday. Then, I had to go to church on Christmas Eve, which was Monday. And then Christmas Day, which was Tuesday. Boy, that was a lot of church." Do we have a fear in our hearts that Heaven is going to be 'forever church'? "I am going to have to sit and listen to someone in Heaven read all sixty six chapters of Isaiah and that is going to be followed then by the entire gospel of Matthew. And then, we are going to get out our hymnbooks and sing through the entire hymnbook!" Do we have this fear that it is going to be 'forever church'?

Do we long to hear the Word of God? Do we love the Word of God?

What about the Second Table of the Law - that we should love our neighbor as our self?

Do we honor and respect our parents, our teachers, our bosses?

Do we have murderous thoughts of anger against bad drivers?

Do we think sinful thoughts about cute coworkers, or cute fellow students?

Do we steal?

Do we gossip?

Do we want things that we can't have or should not have? Do we want them so bad that we can 'taste' them?

All of that is a picture of our sinful heart. We were enslaved to sin. And our condition was far worse than little Miska's and there was no way that we could save ourselves.

"But, when the time had fully come,

God sent His Son,

born of a woman,

born under law,

to redeem those under law."

God's Son was sent to redeem us.

Miska's parents determined in their hearts that they would pay whatever price it took to make her their own. Think of the price that God determined in His heart He would pay to make you His own, to redeem you. He sent His own Son, born of a woman, God and Man in one person. And He was born under the Law. He was born with the requirement that He keep the Ten Commandments, just like you. But, He was holy, innocent and perfect, and kept them without sin. So that when it came time to pay the price, to pay the price of redemption, we were purchased, not with gold or silver, but with the holy, holy, innocent sufferings and death of God's own Son. And with His precious, holy blood you were purchased. You were redeemed and you were made a child of God.

God adopted you into His family.

He took you as His own.

In His mercy and grace, He said, "You are mine." What an awesome God we have!

It is so important for us to see that, as we end one year and enter another year. That love of God causes us, in our hearts to say, "I want to live for that God, who has redeemed me at a great price, and adopted me as His child."

Our passage goes on and says,

‘Because you are sons,

God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,

the Spirit that calls out,

"Abba, Father."’

The Holy Spirit lives in your heart. If you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has come into your heart, and causes you to believe, "I have a Savior. I am redeemed. I am adopted as God's child!" And that little endearing phrase, "Abba, Father" calls you to cry out, "Abba, Father." Abba is an endearing, little, Hebrew word that means "Daddy." It is like a little child calling out, "Daddy!" If you are a father, you have heard your children call out, "Daddy," when they were little.

That one word can have lots of different meanings. When there is a little, sobbing one, crying because they feel guilty because they have done wrong, and they cry out, "Daddy" that is a cry of, "I want to be accepted. I want to be forgiven." And so, as we enter the new year, we cry out, "Daddy. Daddy, forgive me. Forgive me for my sins of the past." And He does. He does, because He has redeemed us and He has purchased us.

"Daddy!" If you are a dad, you have heard that joyful cry, looked and seen a little one wiggling the bike down the driveway. It is a cry of excitement. "Daddy! Look at what I am doing! Aren't you pleased with me? Aren't you proud of me?" We, too, aught to cry out, as we enter the new year, "Daddy! I want to please you. I want to be obedient to you, Daddy, as I enter this new year. I want to commit myself to you."

That cry "Daddy" can also be a cry for help. You have heard it, if you are a dad. Out in the yard you hear, "Daddy!!!" You run out and it is a cry for help. We, too, cry out, this new year, "Daddy, help me! Help me to be a better spouse, better parent, better son or daughter, better brother or sister, better church member, better worker, better student. Help me! Help me to serve you. And, help me by causing me to dive deeper into your Word, deeper into the Sacraments, deeper into prayer, through which you give me strength."

Finally, there is that cry, "Daddy," when Daddy comes walking through the door and you get to be together, again. As Christians, we look forward, not just to 2008, but ultimately, we look forward to the day when we will be able to see our Daddy, God, and our Brother, Jesus, in Heaven. And until we get there, we live for Him.

Amen.