Christmas 2022
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Merry Christmas. I’m so thrilled that you are here today joining me in celebrating the birth of Christ together. I find it hard to believe that so many churches this year did not want to come together and on this Lord’s Day to worship Christ. But for our church we would have it no other way. It’s just that important and exciting and real. The birth of Jesus really happened and because of Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection this earth and all that is in it has forever been changed. God is in control and has a plan for you and I. Over the past several weeks we have been talking about the importance of a Substitute. I’m not talking about the sports type of Substitute but the spiritual aspect of just how desperately we all need a Substitute. So, today I want to tie all of this in with Christmas.
Now, in order for us today to really understand Christmas we have to go back a few years, and not just a few thousands years ago to the birth of Christ, but all the way back to the very beginning of time. We have to go back to the garden of Eden. Everything in the beginning was perfect and beautiful because everything was without sin and death. In Genesis chapter 3 we read about the Fall and how Satan deceived Eve and both man and woman sinned. Because of this there were consequences and the curse now comes into effect. God pronounces this curse on Adam and Eve.
But God also does something amazing here. God gave Adam and Eve the promise of a future offspring, this offspring who would be born of a woman. That future son would make all that was wrong, right. He would make all that was broken, whole again. This offspring would bring peace and harmony where so often we see only strife and conflict. From here on yes Adam and Eve would have conflict. Adam would have to work hard (by the sweat of his brow) to produce food and take care of his family. Eve would have conflict in that of the pain of childbearing and eventually the pain of death. But the good news here as we have seen in Genesis 3 is that the offspring of Eve would eventually overcome the Serpent, bringing with that a final victory.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
However the offspring of Eve would be a long time in coming.
-At first Adam and Eve thought it might be in their sons Cain and Abel and we know how that turned out. Cain killed Abel, and eventually Cain also died.
-We then come to Abraham and God makes this covenant with Abraham and maybe it would be his son Isaac. But eventually Isaac dies. And generation comes and goes. God eventually brings his people into the promise land.
-In Israel’s history we come to a widow named Naomi and her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth. They were in desperate circumstances because they were both without husbands and sons. They lived on a thread of hope. Then came Boaz and the classic story of boy meets girl. Boaz met Ruth and they married. Well eventually they decide to have children and the son born to Ruth and Boaz was named Obed. What is so interesting is that Obed fathers Jesse and Jesse has several sons in which we meet the runt of the family by the name of David. We have heard about David’s adventures and how he killed a Giant named Goliah, but the story doesn’t end there.
-While David was on the throne, God gave yet another promise directly to him. This was another promise of a son. God said David's son would be king forever and there would be no end to his kingdom. That was God's promise.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
When we come full circle to the New Testament and open up the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we read about the birth of Christ and his earthly ministry. We see the Jesus comes from heaven as the gift given to mankind from the Father. God gives Christ to us to be our Redeemer and our Substitute, doing for us what we could never do for ourselves.
We see just how much Jesus is our Substitute at the very beginning of his ministry, when He begins His public work by coming to the Jordan River and meeting John the Baptist. Turn with me to John chapter 1 because I want you to see this today.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Imagine the scene at the Jordan that day. John was busy baptizing the people in preparation for the coming of the kingdom. Suddenly he looks up and sees Jesus coming his way and he knows this is the Lamb of God.
Think about what John the Baptist was doing here. He was telling everyone he could, that Jesus was the One Who had come to take away the sin of the world. Jesus would fulfill all of what was symbolized in the Old Testament sacrificial system.
-From the skins of the animals that were killed to cover Adam and Eve.
- To the ram that was killed in place of Isaac.
- To the passover lamb and many other lambs that were slaughtered and burned on the altar as an offering before God to represent atonement for sin. The lamb was a substitute, so in calling Jesus “the Lamb of God,” John was announcing that Jesus would be a Substitute, but One Who would make real atonement.
I want to share just one verse with you today, and so I want you to turn with me too 2 Corinthians chapter 5. As you are making your way there I want to help explain what this verse means and just why it is so important for you and I today.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Here is what I want to help explain from this short little verse. When Jesus went to the cross and died for sin, what he really did is he made satisfaction for our debt, and our guilt. Jesus satisfied the ransom demand for our release from captivity to sin. The reason why this is so important this morning is because there are so many people today who carry around guilt and shame and embarrassment. Why? Because they are in captivity to sin. But, things don’t have to be that way because Jesus has died so that you can be set free.
However, there is another significant word that I want you to see here when we think about the atonement of Christ. The word is substitution. When we see our sin as a crime, and we understand just how bad it is, we need to now understand and see that Jesus acts as the Substitute, taking our place. Jesus came to this earth and gave his life as an atonement. It was not to satisfy God’s justice for His own sins, but for the sins of others. And so, Jesus stepped into the role of the Substitute, representing His people. Again He didn’t lay down His life for Himself; He laid it down for His sheep. He is our ultimate Substitute.
So today, Jesus’ birth was real and we are forever thankful and great full for that, however Jesus’ mission was to be the Substitute. Jesus understood this and embraced it. From the start of His ministry, He knew He had come to act as a Substitute on behalf of His sheep. At the center of His teaching we see and understand that He was not doing this for Himself but for us. Why???
-to redeem us.
- to ransom us.
-to save us.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
That is why Jesus was born and today we celebrate the wonderful fact that we have been given a gift church. In fact the Apostle Paul says it like this in Romans.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Pray and Lead into Communion)
Closing Benediction:
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.