Promises Made & Promises Kept

Advent is in full swing. Advent is Latin and it means “coming” or “arrival”. Anyone growing up use an Advent calendar? Maybe, hanging on your wall in your living room? We have one and the kids get to move the animals that are tucked into each day up to the Nativity in expectation of Christmas day. The arrival of Jesus in humility.

Advent the four weeks running up to the birth of Christ is all about remembering and longing for Christ. We aren’t very good at that. Now, don’t get me wrong - we love Christmas.

In our house thanksgiving barely got a nod before the girls were out shopping black Thursday? Is that a thing? deals. Micheal Buble is blaring in our house as the tree is getting trimmed, the lights are being put outside, we’re drinking hot cocoa, but if we are honest - how much of these traditions are finding their purpose in remembering and longing for Jesus?

Advent is about preparing for Christmas - getting our spiritual house in order to be able to celebrate Christ’s birth. It is about recognizing sin, repenting of our sin, and looking around our broken world and recognizing the need of a Savior.

At the heart of Christmas it is about Promises Made and Promises Kept. At it’s core it’s about a promise keeping God - who would move heaven and earth - to dwell among His creation. And central to the message of Christmas “God with us” is the miracle of the Virgin Birth.

Look at with me:

“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

Pray

The Virgin Birth

Central to the message of Christmas is the Virgin Birth. Deep streams of promise flow from the Virgin Birth and it infects our theology deeply.

The Virgin Birth points to the miracle of:

Conception

In we read:

“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God.’”

Mary conceived a child, not by biological sex, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was a miracle.

But, why? Why this path? Why this way?

If Jesus would have been born of Joseph and Mary in marriage - He would have not been God and He would have been sinful.

A man named Rob Bell once said that the Virgin Birth is not like a brick in the wall that if you take out of Christian belief takes down the wall, but rather it is a spring in a trampoline. Take one out and that’s okay the trampoline still works correctly.

No. That is heresy. The miracle of the Virgin Birth makes possible the brith of a sinless savior.

Romans 5:18 ESV

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Romans 5:12-

Romans 5:12–19 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

I guess ole’ Rob Bell forgot this part of the Bible. See Adam represented humanity, much in the same way Trump represents the US. Because Adam was our Federal Head, our representative, we bear a sinful condition that we inherited, from Adam. But see, Jesus didn’t have Adam as a Father, no His Father was God because of the Virgin Birth. Thus no inheritance of the sinful condition. It’s a miracle that is a foundational stone, not a spring on some trampoline.

The Virgin Birth also points to the miracle of:

Incarnation

“the virgin shall conceive and bear a son...” Christmas is about God the Son taking up human flesh. It is about Him enacting the Father’s plan to reconcile the world unto Himself. It is about heaven coming to earth. We celebrate the incarnation of Christ during this season. The term incarnation is actually Latin, not Greek or Hebrew (the languages of the Old and New Testaments). In Latin, the term caro or carnis means “flesh” or “meat.” It is where we get our English word carnivore - like the T-Rex vs. the Brontosaurus Herbivore. Carnivore meaning meat-eating animal or plant. So the incarnation to Christians refers to the point in our history when the eternal Son of God was joined with human flesh or a human nature. Full God becoming full man - that is the wonder of the incarnation. So is there some type of analogy that can help us wrap our mind around full deity putting on human nature?

Would it be like, you and I, fully human joining nature with a worm, or maybe a toad, or a slug of some sort? Yes, but no. Think of this - no matter how insignificant the creature may be that you and I could be united with - it would still be a creature - something created. God the Son is eternal - uncreated. God and man, Creator and creature, Infinite and finite, All-powerful and weak- how amazing is the Incarnation and how amazing the miracle of Christmas.

And finally, the Virgin Birth points to the miracle of:

Immanuel

“and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Here we see the heart of Christmas. God with us. The fundamental assumption of the Virgin Birth is that it makes possible everything else claimed about Jesus. If the Virgin Birth is true - Jesus is true and so is all He did. God made promises in the OT and kept His promises in the Son of God tabernacling with us. Jesus, is our Immanuel.

So people didn’t talk to Jesus when He walked the earth and say “yo, Immanuel water my camels over yonder from Jacob’s well.” No, see the name Immanuel said something about His identity - who Jesus is - rather than this is “such and such.” Like I was sitting talking with EK at nap on Monday and she said - your name is Josh, but I call you daddy. And I said to her - yep, my name is Josh but I’m your daddy - translation - part of the core of who I am is being dad to my daughters and son. And so Christmas is about the Son of God making a home with us - He is our Immanuel.

So this season I want to give you two challenges going forward and one action step for tonight:

First, has to do with preparing your heart for Christmas. It’s a reading plan centered on the central message of Christmas. It’s devotional in nature and simple to pull off. You can find this reading plan @FBCIP Student Ministry on Facebook or @fbcipstudentministry on Instagram (have a slide prepared) please spend a few moments each day taking advantage of this plan.

Second, this Saturday from 8-6pm (dark) Micky will be setting up a car wash in which all the proceeds will go to helping families here in IP with Christmas. Serving at this car wash will not benefit you for camp and it will not make the news, but you can be apart of God’s plan to bless this world in Jesus by serving to help a family. Call your mom and dad tonight and get on that sign-up sheet.

Finally, a time of corporate prayer to recognize our sin - our leanings toward false idols and an opportunity to repent of these things. I want to encourage you to get into a posture of prayer - come down front and kneel. Make an altar of your chair by kneeling. Stand. Sit. Bow your heads. Whatever you are comfortable with. Maybe, you need to go to your friend in Christ and pray together - while I lift a prayer to God corporately.

Pray

the emphasis is to be placed less on the fact that names are such and such, than on the fact that the bearers of the name actually are what the name says about them