Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Discounting of Jesus Christ*

(Whole Bible)

 

As we look forward to Christmas this week, I would like to read for you a description of the baby who was born in Bethlehem and whose birth we celebrate.

The description is found in Colossians 1:15-16: 15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16) 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.

That, folks, is God the Father’s view as delivered through the Apostle Paul of the baby born in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago.

I take it from those words that Jesus Christ is supreme over all – or He is not supreme at all.

Unfortunately, we live in a world and a culture where people want to take a little bit of Jesus, but they fall far short of the whole package.

I want to assure you this morning, it does not work that way.

We must take all or we must reject all.

A rich young fellow wanted to give his father something for Christmas.

He had been through all the obvious, having given him a new widescreen HD TV one year, a Porsche another year.

So he was looking for something different.

Well, one day he was looking around a market in Costa Rica where he was vacationing when he came across a most unusual bird.

Not only was the bird beautiful, but it could talk; it could count; it could give stock market quotes.

It was a very special bird – and all for only $20,000.

Well, the young man didn’t even hesitate.

It was the perfect gift, so he bought it and had it sent.

The day after Christmas he called.

“Did you get the gift?” he asked his father.

“Oh, yes,” he answered.

“Well – how did you like it?”

“Oh, it was delicious!”

That is what much of the world has done with our Savior.

They have taken the gift of God and destroyed it because they will not recognize His supremacy.

It reminds of a sign I saw one time in a store just before Christmas.

On display was a manger scene with a sign attached – “Jesus Christ, Discounted.”

Our world has discounted Jesus Christ and when we do that, all hope of salvation is lost.

It is useless to talk about that Bethlehem baby unless we are going to recognize fully his identity, his plan and his purpose.

Discounting even one element of his person results in the loss of the whole.

So the question we want to look at this morning is, how has Jesus Christ been discounted and how is His supremacy shown?

*I.

** Some Discount His Birth – Man Rather than God-man*

* *

It’s Christmas, so let’s start with the birth of Christ.

Some, many of whom ardently celebrate the holiday, nevertheless discount the birth of Christ.

How?

Well, usually they do so by denying that He was born of a virgin.

They are happy to have a wonderful, wise and tender young man who grew up to be the greatest prophet the world has ever seen, but they will not have Him as God.

They discount the /miraculous/ in His birth.

In so doing, they tear away at His supremacy.

But the Bible is very explicit on this subject.

You may have a non-virgin birth if you want, but you may not have it and still claim allegiance to Scripture.

It tells us that the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared to the young Mary one day and told her that she had been favored by God and would bear a son who would be great and whose kingdom would have no end – hardly a mortal description.

Mary’s first thought as expressed in Luke 1:34-35 was the most natural one: 34) And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

35) 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.

You see, this virgin birth was not just a nicety.

It was rather an intrinsic part of the plan of God.

Without going into all the theology of it this morning, it was the means by which Jesus became the God-man, a being unique in history.

It was the means by which He as God could experience human life – having a God-nature which He could not give up, but also having a human nature.

It was the means by which he could have a human nature, yet one not tainted with sin, thus equipping him as the second Adam.

It was the means by which he could live life fully through the resources of his human nature, yet experience it in His God nature.

To deny the virgin birth is to strip Jesus of His deity and render Him a mere man.

To allow the virgin birth is to acknowledge the truth of Matthew’s assertion in Matthew 1:23 23) “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

God, one of us.

God-man.

Now, why is this important?

Let me just give you some key reasons:

 

#.

He had to be a man in order to succeed where the first Adam had failed.

For God to live perfectly would be meaningless – for a man to live perfectly was critical to God’s plan.

Jesus did that.

#.

He had to be God to provide the infinite sacrifice required to save mankind as a whole.

What God could not do – die – He experienced in the/ person/ of Jesus Christ, and thus provided in John’s words in I John 2:2: 2) propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

No man could do that, but the God-man could.

#.

He had to be God to experience life as a man so that He could be an advocate for us.

We read in Hebrews 2:17-18: 17) Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18) For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus was perfectly suited for his atoning and advocacy work by being the God-man.

Take away the virgin birth and all of that goes up in smoke.

It was sometime in the late 1860’s.

Two infidels once sat on a railroad train, discussing the life of Christ.

One of them said, “I think an interesting romance could be written about him.”

The other replied, “And you are just the man to write it.

Tear down the prevailing sentiment about His divinity, and paint Him as a man—a man among men.”

The suggestion was acted upon and the romance written.

The man who made the suggestion was Colonel Robert Ingersoll, the noted atheist.

The writer was General Lew Wallace, of Civil War fame, and the book he wrote was called /Ben// Hur/.

However, something unexpected happened in the process of constructing the life of Christ, Gen. Wallace found himself facing the greatest life ever lived on earth.

The more he studied, the more he was convinced Christ was more than man.

Until one day, in his own words, he was forced to cry “Verily, this was the Son of God!”  Folks, Christ was supreme in His birth.

*II.

** Some People Discount His Life – Good Rather than Perfect*

* *

A second way that people discount Jesus Christ has to do with his life.

They are more than willing to have him living a good life, even a great life – even the greatest life ever lived.

But perfection?

Not possible.

Didn’t happen.

Can’t accept that.

But once again, they are in direct conflict with the Scripture, where Jesus’ sinless life is made abundantly clear.

Hebrews 4:15:  15) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

This is a tremendous encouragement to the believer.

Christ never asks us to do something that He hasn’t already done, for it says that He has been tempted in every respect as we are.

Whatever your Achilles Heel, whatever your great struggle, He knows; He cares and He can provide victory.

But the even bigger reason that Christ’s sinless life is important is found in Romans 5:19: 19) For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, [the reference is to Adam’s sin],  so by the one man’s [Christ’s]  obedience the many will be made righteous.

Do you see that the only reason Christ was able to make atonement for all of us was because He had first lived a sinless life?

That was the requirement.

It had been illustrated from the earliest times in the sacrifices of the Old Testament.

The requirement was always for a lamb “without blemish.”

Remember that?

What was the point?

The point was that the ultimate sacrifice for sin would have to be someone who had lived perfectly and thus deserved for himself /none/ of the punishment he was about to endure.