The Child Born to Die
The Child: Christmas 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Christmas begins in the dark.
2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.
2 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.
16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger...
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 Then Jesus again spoke… saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
46 “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
12 So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him...
2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him;
3 and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face.
5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe...
6 So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!”
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
18 There they crucified Him...
35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.
36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there.
37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
38 At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.
39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads
40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,
42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.
43 “He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
44 The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.
45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Imagine how dark it was in that tomb.
Here’s the REALITY: The Child—the one whose birth we celebrate every Christmas—that Child was born to die.
What REVELATIONS follow from this reality?
(1) If the Child Jesus was born to die, then the Father sent His Son to die.
Most parents bring their children into the world hoping they will live, but God sent His Son into the world ordaining that He should die.
Isaiah prophesied...
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief...
Jesus said...
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life...
(2) If the Child was born to die, then not only did the Father send the Son, but the Son willingly came into the world so that He could die.
When Jesus was before the cross, He said...
27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
And earlier He said...
18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
(3) If the Child was born to die, then everything Jesus did in His life was in anticipation of His death.
In His baptism, He professed to be dead to sin.
In His temptation, He proved that He was dead to sin.
In His teaching, He prepared us for life after death.
In His miracles, He proved His power over sin and death.
41 Taking the child by the hand, (Jesus) said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
14 And (Jesus) came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”
43 When (Jesus) had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
(4) But if the Child was born to die, then Jesus didn’t come primarily to preach, perform miracles, or even make disciples; His primary purpose was to die.
(5) If the Child was born to die, then those that loved Him and followed Him would see Him die.
34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—
35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
25 But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”
(6) If the Child was born to die, then those following Jesus were following a dead man walking.
(7) If the Child was born to die, then those learning from Jesus were listening to a dead man speaking.
(8) If the Child was born to die, those healed by Him were healed by a dead man working.
(9) If Jesus was born to die, then it was the agreed upon plan from eternity past that the Father would send and the Son would come to offer Himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sin.
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
9 (The Father) has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He lavished on us.
Here’s the REALITY: The Child—the one whose birth we celebrate every Christmas—that Child was born to die.
What REASONS prompted this reality?
(1) The Child was born to did because the price for sin is death and Jesus came to put sin to death by becoming sin on the cross.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
(2) The Child was born to die so that God could be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
(3) The Child was born to die so that those enslaved under the curse of sin and death could be set free from the curse by Jesus who hung as a curse for us on the cross.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
He comes to make His blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found...
(4) The Child was born to die so that the Father would be glorified in His death.
30 So after receiving the morsel (Judas) went out immediately; and it was night.
31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
(5) The Child was born to die so that those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world will be gathered to God.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
(6) The Child was born to die so that all of the families of the earth would blessed.
(7) The Child was born to die so that the nations would be glad.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy...
1 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.
(8) The Child was born to die so that death would lose its sting and sin lose its power.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But here’s the FURTHER REALITY: The Child didn’t just come to die… but He came to die and rise again!
In Luke 9:22, Jesus was…
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
So here’s the REAL REALITY: The Child, Jesus, didn’t just come to die… but He was born to die and rise again, but…
...how should we RESPOND to Him?
(1) Let us repent of sin and believe in Him.
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
(2) Let us be baptized in His name.
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(3) Let us proclaim the His death until He comes...
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed...
17 ...when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
Have you repented of sin and believed on the Jesus for salvation?
Have you been baptized in His name?
Are you ready to proclaim His death by partaking of the Lord’s Supper?
