The Living Word

Introduction:

Last week we looked at the fact that Jesus came to reverse the curse that came upon the earth and all of humanity because of the Fall in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

One of the biggest results was that humanity began to look to its own wisdom instead of look to God.

The Israelites later asked for a king to rule the like the other nations, in 1 Samuel.

This upset Samuel, but it upset God even more.

God told Samuel that Israel decided that they wanted a king instead of having Him as their King.

When we read through the entire Bible, the Old and New Testaments, we see that God promised that a King would eventually come through the line of David and would rule and reign forever.

We know now that Jesus was that long awaited King who fulfilled the Law and the prophets.

He was born in Bethlehem as our King and was crucified for everyone of us.

How many kings do you know who would give up their lives for their people?

Most of the time it is the other way around.

Think about for a minute if you or a close family member needed a kidney transplant to live. Think about if it was a child of yours.

Imagine if you hard a hard time finding a match in blood type, but some how it was discovered that the President of the United States was a perfect match.

Let’s take it a bit further and think about him deciding that your child’s life was valuable enough to give you one of his kidneys.

Can you picture him coming up to this area with all of the secret service surrounding him to risk his life because he thought your child’s life was that valuable.

Jesus was so much more important than the president and He didn’t just give up an organ for you, but He gave up His life for you.

He is our king and we serve Him, yet He gave up His life for us.

WOW!!!

We believe that Jesus is our King who will rule and reign forever.

We might not see it now in its fullness because there is still sin in the world, but I believe that Jesus is in His ruling place of authority now.

He alone is the One who died for our sins, rose to life again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

He is the greatest overcomer and the victory belongs to Him.

This is not a popular passage read close to Christmas, but I believe that it is one of the most powerful passages in all of scripture.

John 1:1–14 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Point 1: What did Jesus’ coming meant to the people of His time?

All throughout history God had a plan to send a savior for the world who would rule and reign forever.

This King was promised ever since the Fall in the garden of Eden.

He was expected and talked about by all the patriarchs of the Bible throughout the years.

Before the announcement to Mary that she was carrying this long awaited King, God was silent for 400 years.

Previously, God would spoke through different manifestations to His people or through the prophets, but after the book of Malachi was written there was not a word.

For 400 years God was silent and then broke His silence by announcing that the King was about to be born.

The little child that we celebrate being born on Christmas day was/is our savior and King, but He was also the spoken, living Word of God.

God broke His silence by sending His Word in the form of a human. In the person of Jesus.

It does seem like the birth of John the Baptist was foretold first, but it was all to make way for Jesus.

In John 1:14 the Bible says, “14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Hebrews 1:1–3 “1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

God spoke into the world the Law, the way for humanity to live.

We couldn’t do it, so Jesus came as the Living Word.

Everything that the Law said to do Jesus did.

Humanity never knew what a life looked like that lived the way God desired until Jesus came.

Jesus was so much different than the prophets of the Old Testament that God spoke through.

They were all men, but over 2,000 ago in Bethlehem God began to speak through the life of Jesus.

Jesus was one who was fully man, but yet HE was also fully God.

Jesus fulfilled the Law and the prophets by living out what He commanded.

A preacher once said, “Jesus is perfect theology. If we want to know how the Father would act towards others or live if He was a person, look to Jesus. He went on to say that we should run from anything that tries to describe God in any way that we cannot find in the person of Jesus”.

This is what we call the “incarnation”.

Incarnation means:

the embodiment or the taking on of flesh.

God stepped out of Heaven and lived in the person of Jesus.

The NIV Fire Bible says that Jesus was the revelation of God in human form.

To the people of Jesus’ time, His coming probably was a surprise to them.

For the last 400 years they were doing what was supposed to be done in the Temple and all of their rituals not hearing from God at all, and all of the sudden they get word that the long-awaited Messiah is here.

What???

Men, could you imagine for a minute?

What would you do if your fiance, the woman you were pledged to be married to soon, came to you and said, “I am pregnant”, and you know that your relationship with her was pure and you never slept together.

All of us would probably have had the same reaction until the angel appeared to us to say that she is telling the truth.

The people of Jesus’ time were way more knowledgeable of the scriptures that we will ever be, but yet most of them missed the One they were looking for.

It is very possible to have religion without relationship.

Even though Mary conceived and was pregnant and still a virgin, her and Joseph carried through and was faithful to God because they knew they heard from Heaven.

Even if times get really hard in your life, you can have peace knowing that you are in the will of God.

When we are certain God has us where we are we will have that peace that passes all understanding.

They heard from the angel and then had confirmation from the Wise Men who came to worship Jesus, and then the words of the prophetess Anna, in Luke 2:36–38“36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Those things were confirmation to them, but the way Jesus lived His life was confirmation to everyone else that He was the Messiah—that He was the long-awaited King, He was the light that stepped into darkness, and He was and is the Living Word of God.

Acts 2:22 “22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.”

Jesus came into the world as a baby born to a virgin and lived a perfect life fulfilling the Law; something no person could have ever done.

What did God say through Jesus? God spoke through Jesus that He so loved the world that He gave His one and only son.

God spoke through Jesus that there is hope for humanity.

God spoke the Law through His prophets which brought death because Romans says that no one can keep the Law. There is only One perfect person.

Jesus fulfilled the Law by upholding every part of it, yet He who knew no sin became sin for us.

Jesus’ perfect life proved that He was the Savior of the world that came, not to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it.

He also performed many miracles even being raised to life again Himself.

His coming to them meant that even though they were still under the rule of Rome and the earthly king sat in Rome, the true King was in the hearts.

Point 2: So, all of that is good, but what does Jesus’ coming over 2,000 years ago mean for us today?

John refers to Jesus as the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us.

John also describes Jesus as being light in a dark world.

Jesus was born over 2,000 years ago during a time in the nation of Israel that had not heard from God for a long time and was spiritually dark.

The people then might had been knowledgeable of the scriptures and very religious with their traditions, but they missed Him.

He came to His own but His own did not receive Him.

We are all here in church today gathered together to worship Jesus by singing songs, listening to our wonderful kids singing songs, and we are all hearing the Bible being preached.

We are not here because we are perfect and have everything figured out.

We are here for just the opposite: to rejoice that God came in the person of Jesus, lived a perfect life, but yet took upon the curse of the world because Galatians 3:13 says, “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

Humanity was cursed from the tree that Adam and Eve ate from and Jesus was cursed by hanging on the cross, but He overcame that death by raising to life again.

The curse was reversed by our King.

Conclusion:

This baby that we will celebrate being born in a little more than a week from now is the One who brought light into a dark world and continues to do so.

What the world is about to celebrate is so much more than a tree, decorations, and gifts, but He is our Savior, King, and Messiah.

He is our purpose for living and is our everything.

Over 2,000 years ago Jesus stepped into a dark world to bring light and expose what was hidden.

His desire today is to continue to live through you and me.