Advent Week 4 2017
Notes
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Illustration:
So kids, what do I have here in my arms? Yeah? How many eyes? Toes? ears? Any guesses how many teeth he has?
Any kids her really like babies? What do you like about babies?
What do babies do? Eat, sleep, cry, need their diaper changed.
You know it was only a couple of weeks ago that Theodore learned to smile? Before that he would only smile on accident, he did not even know he was doing it.
At Christmas time, tomorrow we will celebrate the mystery of when God, who made every single person in the room, and every thing ever thought of, and every star and planet, who holds everything together became just like Theodore, barely able to hold his head up straight.
Tomorrow we celebrate the babyhood of the Son of God.
Just barely able to hold his head up.
This is the supreme mystery of Christianity that God became human. With all the hubbub of the Christmas season we can become almost inoculated to this the greatest of all miracles.
God became human, and he did so for a reason: as our passage says: He will save his people from their sins.”
God became human so that he might save us from our sins.
FCF: All the religions and philosophies of the world agree that something is wrong with us, with humanity, Christians call this sin. It does not take much to look out and see sin. You see on the news, hear it on the radio. And it does not matter if you are a republican or democrat, there is no policy that can fix the human heart. Some of you know the sin out there in the world but for you
you feel it very personally it is a daily struggle not to feel guilty or like you are not measuring up.
And as St. Augustine says so well sin is disordered love. That is we love good things too much or love out of order. God became human so that we can be saved from our sin and have rightly ordered love.
We need to be saved from our sin, so that we can have a rightly ordered love.
We need to be saved from our sin, so that we can have a rightly ordered love.
Some of you powerless over the sin in your life, or it is simply a daily struggle and longing to just not feel guilty or ashamed.
So what is the solution to all this?
We need to be saved from our sins. We needed someone to do it for us, this is humbling and uplifting at the same time.
this is humbling and uplifting at the same time.
What is God’s solution? Become a baby. Truth really is stranger than fiction. God’s answer to humanities problem is to become human.
And what we see in this passage is that
We can be saved from our sins because God became human
Because God became man we should joyfully receive his salvation
So first
God became human, this is the central miracle and mystery of Christianity, so lets look at this miracle this morning.
First we see in our passage that it was
GOD who became human
GOD who became human
And he did so by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 18
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was not conceived by the normal means of conception. This was a supernatural conception from the Holy Spirit with the virgin Mary. So the Bible tells us this is an extremely unusual birth but it is not simply a supernatural conception by the Holy Spirit.
And then in verse
It is the incarnation of God himself, look with me at verse 23
And then in verse 23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Jesus is God with us. God incarnate, in- fleshed. The God who created, became the creature.
Oh and in case you are thinking, hmm that seems way out there, not really possible, well you are in the same boat as Joseph was. Look at verse 19
And it is just as incomprehensible today as it was then. Look with me at verses 19
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Joseph knew how baby’s were made. He knew what was going on, so he was going to do the noble thing and have a quiet divorce and not draw too much attention to her. You see it is not like people before the scientific revolution were intellectually inferior. Sure he did not know about zygotes and cells division and so on, but he was no dummy. God became human through supernatural means, all the scientific knowledge in the world will not help explain the incarnation of God. That is not the fault of scientific knowledge, there are just some things that cannot be proved through the scientific method.
God becoming human is the supreme mystery of Christianity. It is the gold standard of miracles.
Sub point: It is the supreme mystery of Christianity
And so we have the Christmas miracle that God became human, and he became human, as verse 21 says: “ to save his people from their sins.” Humanity needed a savior, but we could not produce one, salvation had to come from the outside.
God to humanity, and the way God saves humanity is by becoming human.
Illustration:
Every movie maker knows that everybody has the same fear when it comes to outer space. And it is this: is the fear of becoming un-tethered to the space ship and floating away with no way to get back.
This is why every movie about outer space either has a scene where this happens, almost happens, or at least is talked about. Last year the movie Passengers had just this scene. This man and woman are on this space ship and it hit asteroid field and there is a huge malfunction and the man puts on his space suit and goes out to fix it, while the other stays inside. Well they fix the problem, but the man becomes un-tethered in the process and begins to float away into outer space, unable to do any thing, no matter how hard he kicks or swims or struggles there is nothing he can do that will change his direction, unless something or someone else comes into contact with him. And just as you would expect in dramatic fashion the woman puts on her suit and just in the nick of time right before he is out of reach and about to float away forever she grabs him and pulls him back in. his salvation had to come from the outside himself, it did not matter, how strong, smart, good, or creative he was, he was helpless until someone else came in and saved him.
I think that every move ever made about space has a scene or at least talks about the possibility of floating away into space with no way to get back
Application:
The same is true of humanity, we cannot save ourselves someone else has to do it, that is why God became human. To do what no one else could do. Apart from the incarnation of God we are all floating off into outer space unable to change our trajectory.
All the religions and philosophies of the world agree that something is wrong with us, with humanity, the question how are we saved? The Bible says that salvation comes from outside of us from God, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, Emmanuel, God with us. This means that a president cannot save us, the right political policy not save humanity, enough education won’s save humanity. The right technology won’t fix humanity. Salvation cannot come from below, it must come from above.
The only one who can stop humanity from careening off out of control into the nearest star is the one who holds the stars in his hand. Humanity can only be saved by God himself.
So GOD became human in Jesus to save us
Only God can save people from their sins
And while we needed God to save us, we also needed a human to do the work that is why
Application: We need to God man to save us not, not a president, or sports team, or policies
God became HUMAN
God became HUMAN
Verse 21 says she will bear a son, and verse 25 says that Joseph did not know her until she had given birth to a son. Jesus is the son of God, and he is also just as much also the son of Mary. Jesus took on human flesh. Jesus did not just seem human or look human, but took on everything that it means to be human.
Jesus became human in every way that we are human. He felt the full range of human emotion, knows what it feels like to be tempted, to be tired, to be hungry, to laugh to cry, to see injustice. He did all this not to satisfy curiosity, like I wonder what it is like to be human. He did this to save his people from their sins, and adopt them back into his family.
So why did God become HUMAN to save his people? Well for us to be accepted into the family of God we needed to have someone represent us before God. Our sins, our enslaving rebellion, keeps us at odds with God. And if we are going to be reconciled we need someone to speak on our behalf. To be a go between. We needed one of us to represent us.
Illustration:
The winter Olympics begin next year in February, so in light of that what are some of your favorite winter Olympic games? Now kids help me out, what would do you think are somethings that you would need to do to become an Olympic athlete? Okay now this one is a bit trickery, what would it take for you to be an Olympic athlete for another country, so let say you wanted to be a cross country skier for Norway, what would you need to do?
Why?
You can’t represent a country that you are not from.
Application:
So just like you would need to become Norwegian to represent Norway in the Olympics. Jesus had to become human to represent humanity and save us. God took on what was ours so that he could give us what was his, and save us from our sins.
he had to become human because he had to take what was our so he could represent us
Amasodor or olimic athlete
What he has not assumed he has not healed
We can be saved, he is the taking the initiative , all we need to do is receive it.
I can’t forgive myself,
Application:
So God became HUMAN in Jesus and did what he set out to do and save his people, to take their place.
One way Jesus saves us as our representative is from condemnation. God does not condemn you because Jesus the representative stood condemned in your place.
Now many of you say you believe that, but at the same time will say something like this: “I know God does not condemn me, but I can’t forgive myself.” Sure God does, but I cant.
To that I say, do you have a higher standard than God? Are your sins so great that Jesus cannot overcome them? Jesus stood condemned so you don’t have to.
God’s verdict of you is more important and more significant than your verdict on yourself. And if you find that you are out of line with God’s view of you, you should seek to get in line with God.
Kids, Jesus is your representative too. This means that he saves you from condemnation as well. So no matter what grade you make or how good you are athletically, of if you are a part of this group or that, God is as happy with you as he is with Jesus, because Jesus is your representative. When God looks at you he says: that's my boy, that's my girl, I am so glad they are mine.
Well if Jesus is your savior it means he represents you before the Father. Which among many things means you sins are forgiven. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now many of you say you believe that, but at the same time will say something like this: “I know God forgives me, but I don’t forgive myself.” To that I say, do you have a higher standard than God? Are your sins so great that the incarnate God cannot overcome them?
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Also, when you have a friend who one day is so close to you and the next day you get the cold shoulder or worse betrays your trust. Remember that because Jesus represents you before God, God never gives you the cold shoulder, And God’s opinion is infinitely more important than the coolest person in school.
And also know this, Jesus knows what it is like to have one of his best friends, someone he trusted betray him. Judas was one of Jesus best friends, and he turned on him. Jesus represents us as one of us, who knows exactly what you are going through.
God became human in Jesus, so that he could represent us, and now as someone said the dust of the earth sits on the throne of heaven.
Jesus knows every single temptation you know, he felt the pull and overcame it, and the same spirit that was at work in him through his temptations is at work in you. You have what it takes, because the Spirit of the Jesus is yours.
Well some of you may be wondering why don’t you experience his power over the sin that you can’t seem to eradicate in your life. What do you do?
Well some of you may be wondering why don’t you experience that over the sin that you can’t seem to eradicate in your life. What do you do?
Well you pray, have others pray for you, seek wisdom. And if you are chronically anxious pray and God may take that from you, pray and he may lead you to get off social media or turn off the TV. Or he may guide you to take medication. Sometimes we don’t experience the power over sin because we are not open to God’s way. So take lust or anger or fear and you have prayed, but nothing is changing, for years you don't seem much difference, but you are not even open to the idea Christian Counseling. Maybe the power of Jesus in that moment might look like the power to overcome your pride and humble yourself and ask for help.
Many times we don’t experience salvation from the enslaving power of sin because we try to go it alone and white knuckle life. Or we try to distract ourselves with entertainment or social media, or TV.
We spend more time on entertainment and distracting ourselves in front of our smart phone or TV and wonder why we lack
power of our sins. If Jesus represents you it means you have his Spirit, and by his Spirit you have the power, the ability, the energy to no longer be enslaved to sin.
All the while we have access to the power of the Spirit of Jesus in our life to free us from enslaving sin and fear. So what ever your struggle is, pray, have others pray for you, seek wisdom from above. Turn off the TV, the computer, the smart phone, get off social media and seek the power and wisdom of Jesus.
You have what it takes, not because
So what ever your struggle is, pray, have others pray for you, seek wisdom from above.
Jesus
anxious pray and God may take that from you, pray and he may lead you to get off social media or turn off the TV. Or he may guide you to take medication. Sometimes we don’t experience the power over sin because we are not open to God’s way.
Jesus became human to save us from our sins. And as our representative to save us from sins penalty and its power.
He became human and this means we can be saved, God forgives us becuase of Jesus, “I cant forgive myself”
Conclusion:
Jesus is God with us. Jesus is fully God and fully human.
Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. The Mediator Must Be True God and True Man
It was his task to swallow up death. Who but the Life could do this? It was his task to conquer sin. Who but very Righteousness could do this? It was his task to rout the powers of world and air. Who but a power higher than world and air could do this? b(a)Now where does life or righteousness, or lordship and authority of heaven lie but with God alone? Therefore our most merciful God, when he willed that we be redeemed, made himself our Redeemer in the person of his only-begotten Son
Conclusion:
God became human, God had to become human to save us. For he is the only one who could do it, who could save us.
When we needed a savior he made himself our savior
When we needed righteousness he made himself our righteousness
When we needed life he made himself our life
He became one of us to save us. Immanuel, God with us. The greatest miracle of all time, lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.
As John Calvin says of Jesus:
Calvin quote
Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. The Mediator Must Be True God and True Man
It was his task to swallow up death. Who but the Life could do this? It was his task to conquer sin. Who but very Righteousness could do this? It was his task to rout the powers of world and air. Who but a power higher than world and air could do this? b(a)Now where does life or righteousness, or lordship and authority of heaven lie but with God alone? Therefore our most merciful God, when he willed that we be redeemed, made himself our Redeemer in the person of his only-begotten Son
And as it has been said the dust of the earth sits on the throne of God
God became human
Sub point: It is the supreme mystery of Christianity
Only God can save people from their sins
the dust of the earth sits on the throne of God