The Incarnation
from the Father’s standpoint
8 December 2019 AM – John 3:16 – Incarnation – Scott Childs
Introduction: Last week we examined the incarnation (i.e., the fact that God became flesh) from an eternal standpoint (a.m.) and from a historical standpoint (p.m.). If you are a parent, you can imagine a bit of how God the Father viewed the incarnation of His Son. As Jesus bore our sin on the cross, the holy Father had to abandon Jesus. Read text.
Transition: As we examine the incarnation from of God the Father’s standpoint, we will discover amazing benefits for us.
To the Father the incarnation of Christ was…
1. An Expression of His Love
a. His love for sinners is incomprehensible.
1) We have great difficulty understanding God’s love. It is so amazing that we cannot explain it. What makes God’s love for sinners so incomprehensible?
a) He is God, the Sovereign of the universe.
b) God’s love is His choice to meet our needs sacrificially.
c) The world is the sinful human race. As wicked sinners, we have nothing to offer God (Jer 17:9).
d) God “so” loved points us back to John 3:14. He loved us to the extent of being lifted up on a cross to die as our substitute.
e) God loved so much that He gave His Son to die for us. Can you imagine giving your own son to die for a bunch of disobedient sinners? No way! Yet God loved sinners like you and me that much! (Romans 5:8) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
2) We cannot grasp how our holy God could love sinners. (1 John 4:9-10) “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
b. His love for sinners is matchless.
1) There is no greater love!
2) In his letter to the Ephesian church, the Apostle Paul prayed that they … “May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19)
3) The hymn writer By Charles Weigle in his hymn “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus” penned these words.
a) All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me, All my heart was full of misery and woe; Jesus placed His strong and loving arms about me, And He led me in the way I ought to go.
b) No one ever cared for me like Jesus, There’s no other friend so kind as He; No one else could take the sin and darkness from me, O how much He cared for me.
To the Father the incarnation of Christ was…
2. An Endowment (or gift) of His grace
a. God graciously gave His Son.
1) God sent His Son to earth to save us. (1 John 4:14) “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”
2) God gave His Son to die for us without charge to us. It cost Him dearly, yet He offers us eternal life freely. That is grace! (Romans 3:24) “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”
3) God’s salvation is only by grace.
a) If you could clean up your life, change your bad habits, wash out your mouth, delete the filth from your brain, or preform the most amazing religious deeds, you could not earn one second in heaven.
b) If you could earn heaven, it would be no longer a gift of grace. (Romans 4:4) “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
c) (Ephesians 2:8-9) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
b. God will graciously give us all that we need.
1) The giving of God’s Son to save us from hell was only the beginning. (Romans 8:32) “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
2) As God’s children, He gives us all that we need to live for Him. (2 Timothy 3:17) “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
To the Father the incarnation of Christ was…
3. An Enablement of His will
God created man for His pleasure. (Revelation 4:11) “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” After Creation, God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve’s sin spoilt God’s will for the human race. The incarnation once again enables God to fellowship with the redeemed. That is His will for you and me!
a. The incarnation enabled God to save sinners
1) John 3:16 says that believers should not perish but have everlasting life. That is God’s will for you and for everyone.
2) It is God’s will to give believers life. (John 6:40) “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
3) He wants to deliver us. (Galatians 1:4) “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”
4) He desires to save all people. (1 Timothy 2:4) “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
5) God is not willing that any should perish. (2 Peter 3:9) “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
b. The incarnation enables believers to do God’s will
1) Unbelievers cannot fellowship with God, but obedient Christians can. (1 John 1:7) “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
2) God’s will for your life and mine is that we might be saved and live lives that please Him. This is possible because of the incarnation.
a) (Romans 12:2) “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
b) (Ephesians 5:17) “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
c) (Ephesians 6:6) “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;”
d) (Colossians 1:9) “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”
e) (1 Thessalonians 4:3) “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:”
f) (Hebrews 13:21) “Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Conclusion: From God the Father’s standpoint, the incarnation of Christ was an expression of His love. It was an endowment of His grace. It was an enablement of His will. The incarnation allows us to know God’s love, receive God’s grace and to do God’s will. These benefits all hinge on one thing – repentance and trusting Christ alone to save us from hell. Have you received God’s gracious gift?
If you have, are you walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing?
Song: Amazing Grace 236 (think carefully about the words)