The Love of the Word
Notes
Transcript
Advent 2023 – The Love of the Word (Jesus)
This fourth week of advent lands on Christmas Eve this year as we celebrate the coming of the Messiah. Much like our Easter celebration of the Resurrection in the Spring, this Sunday is like every other Sunday in that we come together to worship the risen Jesus. This is different in that it’s the time of year we focus particularly on His incarnation. The time of his birth. But it’s so much more than simple birth. Listen to how Scripture reveals the news of what was to come:
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.
30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Incarnation – latin word, “incarnatio”, literally means, “taking on flesh”. Theologically, it refers to the embodiment of God taking on flesh – specifically, Jesus Christ, who is the 2nd person of the eternal Godhead.
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 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
Word, in this context, is another name for Jesus.
2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
1 John 1:1–3a (CSB)
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—
3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us;
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war.
12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself.
13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
John 1:14a (CSB)
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The eternal, one-with-the-Father, Creator, sustainer, ruler, overcomer, Word…took on FLESH.
I hope you understand just how HUGE that statement really is!
Illus: The largest nuclear bomb ever test, the Tsar Bomba, which is a 50MT nuclear weapon. If in Chattanooga, it would look like this (though the impactwould be extensively farther out):
📷
Comparatively, that little bitty baby, lying in a feeding trough, contained all the power throughout all creation, such that when the Father spoke, it was through the Son (according to John 1 and Hebrews 1), that Creation exploded, if you will, into being.
“The Word was God.” The sovereign, holy, infinitely and eternally good Son, who is indestructible spirit became weak, destructible FLESH and DWELT among evil humanity!
When we say holy, that means perfectly pure.
ILLUS: My procedure a couple of weeks ago was in an extremely sterile environment. If something had been detected that was impure, surgery would have been postponed until it could be cleansed. BUT IT WASN’T PERFECTLY STERILE. There were impurities that rode in on us all as we were coming in to the O.R. With God, that isn’t so – not the slightest imperfection!
This is holiness to the extent that even the slightest offense towards that holiness deserves immediate eradication. No questions asked!
ILLUS: Consider the story of Esther. In it we are told that the QUEEN; the King’s own wife, could not enter his presence without being summoned or she would die! That’s just a MAN (a part of evil, fallen humanity)! The Great IAM is the supreme Being who established all that exists beyond the known universe (which is, itself, incomprehensible!)
“BECAME FLESH” – Literally, “put on skin”. But more than that: took on the character and nature of a man and lived among sinful, rebellious, insignificant mankind – He had both the nature of God and the nature of man dwelling together in one body. WHY????? It makes no sense.
Give me one good reason why a supremely holy, sovereign ruler of the vastness of the entire universe (and that’s only the part we can see!!) why He would ever do what seems so absurd to anyone thinking, as to become flesh and do what the Bible says He did.
It cannot be due to the nature of man – there is nothing in us that warrants that from the God above Whom nothing exists.
There can only be one reason, and that must be all about the nature of God!
What is it about His nature that would lead Him to do something like this? (Note: His nature is too expansive to speak of it comprehensively. Only in how it relates to this question)
8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Motive: His love for those He had chosen to create in His image (as His image-bearers) compelled Him to do what He did so that people who responded to His self-revelation by submitting to His Lordship could live through him.
This is the essence of the Gospel:
· Man rebelled against God. (Genesis 3)
· God rightly condemned man for his sin. (Progression: Genesis 2:16
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.
3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Romans 6:23 (CSB)
23 For the wages of sin is death…
· Through the rebellion of Adam, the whole family line became corrupt (all have sinned by nature and by choice – Romans 5:12, 3:23).
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
· Can you do anything to save yourself? · Can you do anything to save yourself? Yes. You just have to keep the Law of God perfectlyfor your entire life. If you’ve done that, please talk to me afterwards.
8 Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
9 If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
11 For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.
· “Law of Freedom” – Also called “the Law of Love.” – Because God is both HOLY and LOVE, there is both justice and mercy.
Justice –
Romans 4: 22-25 (context is the promise fulfilled in Abraham by faith)
22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.
23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,
24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Any other way besides faith in Jesus leads to death: 2 Thess. 1:9
9 They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength
10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The same fate is described of humans described as the “goats” in Matthew 25:41
41 “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!
Mercy – John 3:16
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
houtws = 1. “in this manner”. Also, 2. “relatively high degree”. Context determines usage and both meanings are accurate.
“Perish” refers to eternal destruction, in compared to eternal life.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
This was ALL the work of the Triune God, alone!
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
This love compelled Jesus to willingly leave heaven in all its glory, and come dwell among us.
· Perfection in heaven with the Father -- perfect relationship. Ruler of His own Creation.
· Laid it aside - Phil 2:5-8
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
· Came into this world in the most humble of circumstances to unlikely parents: a tradesman and an unmarried girl. Born in a "barn"
· Raised as a common tradesman
· Nowhere to call home
· Lived a holy, sinless life -- that took great sacrifice and determination since he "was tempted in every way and yet did not sin."
· despised, punished, humiliated, and tortured
· Died as a criminal with not even a place for burial
Did he have to? No.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Matthew 26:52-54 (CSB)
52 Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
53 Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels?
54 How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”
This verse also tells us that it DID have to happen – if man was to be redeemed. It was the only way, and the Love of the Word, Jesus, compelled Him to come, born into a poor family, in the most humble of settings, living the most normal of lives, dying the most painful of deaths, to be raised to the most glorious of names, and to redeem for Himself a people, adopted through faith into His own glorious family. How amazing is that love!