Reason for the Season
Advent 2018 • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
Intro:
AG:
TS: Today is the first Sunday in Advent. This season has been called the “Most wonderful time of the year”. i agree, but for far different reasons than the classic song says.
There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When loved ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year
I like Christmas music. I love the holidays! Except for a few short years, I couldn’t wait for Christmas!
But Christmas is far more than the world says.
Christmas is when we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus. Far more than just a birth of a man, we celebrate God taking on flesh to walk among us. God emptying Himself and humbling Himself for our benefit.
Today, we look at the heavenly side of Advent as told in John 1.
1. The Word Was
1. The Word Was
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
:1-
One of the most important questions we can ever face is, “Who is Jesus?”
The right answer is the foundation and leads to faith and repentance which leads to eternal life.
The wrong answer is a weak foundation and often leads to a false belief in a false method and thus leaves one condemned to a devil’s hell.
There are many confusing voices in the world today, just like there have always been.
What did Jesus say about Himself?
I and the Father are one.”
Jesus said I am GOD!
Our text this morning, inspired by God, explains it well.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
Jesus is here called the Word
In the beginning, before there was even time, there was GOD.
Jesus was there with God and verse 1 says Jesus was GOD.
Our Savior is nothing less that GOD.
Paul said it this way in
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Col 1:
Due to that, everything we find in the Bible about God the Father is true about God the Son.
Due to that, everything we find in the Bible about God the Father is true about God the Son.
He is all powerful
There is nothing He cannot do
No power and force on Earth can stop God from carrying out His plan.
He is all knowing
God knows everything.
He not only knows everything, He knows all options which could have happened.
When we make decisions, we base it on limited foresight. We think we know the outcome, but we are just guessing based on past experiences.
GOD on the other-hand, knows exactly what can happen based on each and every decision we make and knows what choice we will make. God makes His plan with 100% certainty!
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
He is present everywhere
He is present everywhere
God is here today. God is also in town at every church. In fact, God is everywhere that exists. He is all places at the same time.
Jesus was that way before He was conceived and returned to being that way after He left earth.
Only during the time He limited Himself to a physical body was this not true.
Jesus was and is God.
BONUS: All we have said about God the Father and God the Son is also true about God the Holy Spirit
2. The Word Worked
2. The Word Worked
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Jesus wasn’t just sitting around in a recliner sipping sweet tea until His queue to be born, He was busy!
a. Created
a. Created
All things were made through Him.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Jesus was active in the creation process.
Jesus was active in the creation process.
When Genesis records the creation of the first human:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
c
col 1:15-
An amazing thing has happened.
Scientist who have been studying DNA have finally determined that every human being came from 1 man and one woman. A single set of parents!
Now, even DNA verifies the Biblical account!
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
b. Contained life
b. Contained life
In the beginning, Jesus encompassed life!
The plan for salvation was already in place.
Sin brought death into God’s perfect creation.
God knew we would need a Savior
In Jesus was have that Savior.
Eternal life comes through faith in Him and repentance.
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
c. Continued Shining
c. Continued Shining
Light is often used to describe God and His glory
Light also is used in Scripture to refer to holiness or purity
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Darkness is used for sin or wrongdoing
But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Jesus was working in eternity past.
3. The Word Witnessed
3. The Word Witnessed
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
a. Became Flesh
9 months before He was born, Jesus took on flesh.
At the moment of conception, as a single cell, God the Son, was encased in a fleshly tent.
He experienced life from conception to the grave as a human being.
He limited Himself
Lived as a human.
He ate, slept, and walked.
He worshipped, prayed, and worked.
The Creator, became a creature!
THIS is amazing!
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
This reality is surely the most profound ever because it indicates that the Infinite became finite; the Eternal was conformed to time; the Invisible became visible; the supernatural One reduced Himself to the natural. In the incarnation, however, the Word did not cease to be God but became God in human flesh
He emptied Himself, limited Himself and came to offer Himself.
He emptied Himself, limited Himself and came to offer Himself.
b. Bestowed grace upon grace
c. Made the Father known
if you have seen me you have seen the Father
Because of this, we can become the children of God.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus is here to to save!
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
This is what we celebrate at Christmas! Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He forgives and gives eternal life to all who have faith in Him and repent of their sins.
Paul said it this way,
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Today, we celebrate Advent, we celebrate Jesus
Has He entered into your life?
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Do you know Him as Savior and Lord?
Don’t leave without talking to someone about this. It is the most important decision you will ever make!