Sermon Tone Analysis

*:Matthew 1:18-25 ~~* 18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, *before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit*.

19And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

20But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been *conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit*.

*:*21“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name *Jesus*, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name *Immanuel*,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25but *kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son*; and he called His name Jesus.

Isaiah 7

 

Conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit

 

Jesus = Ijhsou~~v, יְהֹושֻׁעַ Yehôshua~/Yeshua, i.e.

Joshua meaning Yahweh Saves = YHWH + *A*d*O*n*A*i = Yahowah

 

Immanuel = Ejmmanouh>l, עִמָּנוּאֵל one word as a name, *God with us*; changed to two words by the Jews in approximately 75 A.D.  

 

*:Luke 2:10-14 ~~* 10But 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; 11for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

*:Matthew 2:1&2 ~~* 1Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?

For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

 

Matthew 2:11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him.

Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

*Daniel *was made the Chief of the Magi – these were likely the Babylonian keepers of Daniel’s prophecies.

*69 weeks* from the decree to rebuild the Messiah will be *cut off* ~~ that takes us to about 32 A.D. for Jesus’ death – back up approximately 30 + 3 ½ years to a range of 2-8 B.C. December 25, 5 B.C., a few months before Herod the Great exploded the last time.

And they gave him gifts; gold and frankincense from Isaiah's prophecy, but also myrrh - which was used to anoint a corpse – the *'Messiah will be cut off*' and this *'will make atonement for iniquity*' and ultimately *'bring in everlasting righteousness*.'

Even at the birth of our Savior, the *shadow of the cross* is already falling over his face. .

.

*:**"John 1:1-18 ~~* 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… *3*All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being… *14*And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth… *16* For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

*17*For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

*18*No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

 

*:Hebrews 1:2-3 ~~* 2in these last days /God/ has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

3And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

 

 

Not only did God create all things through the Word, it is the Word that actively holds all things together.

Without the active work of the Word we and our universe would literally fly apart at the speed of light.

This Word who is a portion of God is the Bridge between God and man.

He humbled Himself and stepped out of light into darkness to enable peace between God and mankind because God loves you so much.

*:John 17:3-5*, Jesus Himself praying to the Father says, 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“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

The Bible says God is our Savior, but *what are we saved from*?

God, of course, He is the only possible *judge* but is full of mercy to those who are righteous.

What is righteousness?

*Fair Judging* requires the *capacity for responsibility* which in turn requires *free choice* – YOU MUST CHOOSE!

*:**"Romans 1:17-25 ~~* 17bThe righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith…” 19bBecause that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

21aFor even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give /Him/ thanks… 25bThey exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…

 

*Hebrews Eleven* says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

We resist accepting God because He may want something from us, we may not get our own way, so we say there is no God.

We already know the Bible says in Romans 1:20 that since the creation of the heavens and the earth God’s invisible qualities have been obvious and so people are without excuse because simply from the world around us we know in our heart that God exists.

Since we know that there is a God we must contrive a way so that we don’t have to listen to Him.

We say you can’t know for sure what God wants so why try?

 

*We resist accepting the Bible because* if we do then we have to make a choice to either obey what it says or to reject God.

You see if it is God’s Word, His revelation to mankind we are no longer rejecting *religion* or a *preacher *or an *ancient book*, we are actually rejecting God Himself.

So it’s far easier on our conscience to say that we can’t know what God wants.

It's far easier to remember a *helpless baby*.

A baby lying in a manger is harmless, non-threatening, but a man dying on a cross--a man who claims to be God--that man is a threat!

He demands our allegiance!

We cannot ignore him.

We must either accept him or reject him.

He leaves us no middle ground.

But why resist doing what God wants?

He has already paid the ultimate price, but you must accept with your heart.

Jesus is the Word, He is God and He humbled Himself to a life among humans and an imbuement of sin and a sacrificial death and then death could not hold Him.

 

*:Isaiah 53:5&6 ~~* 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 

1 Peter 2:24&25 ~~ 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

*Ephesians two* says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

As a work of God's grace which means "unmerited favor," salvation then is *A FREE GIFT*.

The words grace and gift stand opposed to the concepts of merit and works as a means of receiving what is given.

The Scripture make this clear in bold statements and by the many references to salvation as a free gift from God without cost to us.

God's *Christmas tree*, or Salvation in Christ is free, but it’s not cheap.

It cost God the death of His very own Son, the Lord Jesus.