Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: John 1:1-14, John 14:5-11

Date: 12/05/21 File name: Incarnation2.wpd

ID Number:

Theme: The incarnation was God revealing Himself to men.

Why did Jesus come into the world?

Last week we learned that Jesus came into the world to redeem the lost.

He told a man by the name of Zacchaeus that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost, (Luke 19:10).

Jesus came to redeem sinners and to save them from their sin.

If you’re here this morning, and you’ve never confessed Christ as your Savior and Lord, then the gospel is for you.

Come to Christ and be saved.

Jesus also came to show us the Father.

My goal for this Advent season is to explain why Jesus came into the world.

Last week the key idea was redemption.

This week the key idea is revelation.

Jesus came into the world to reveal the nature and character of the true God who is Creator and Sovereign.

To know Jesus is to know God.

On November 26, 2021, the New York Times newspaper ran a lengthy article in it’s print edition that included a half-page color photo of a woman named Carissa Schumacher.

Who is Carissa Schumacher?

Well, that’s the story.

She’s a Medium who claims to channel dead people for Hollywood celebrity clients.

She purports to speak to the dead, and the dead supposedly speak to and through her.

Her website claims she is “Dedicating herself to helping others train their own empathic intuition, she conducts Pure Source energy channelings and guided Sacred Spirit Illumination Journey tours to help participants cleanse and align their energy fields to find heightened abundance, balance and joy.” (Now, if you can understand that spiritualist mumbo-jumbo, maybe you can explain it to me).

Normally, we could ignore the story as just one more example of the new-age spiritualism popular among Hollywood elite, and their gullibility for spiritual charlatans.

Considering that Ms. Schumacher charges, $1,111.00

an hour for her prognostications, only the “rich and famous” can afford her.

What makes Carissa Schumacher so unique among those in her profession is who she claims to channel.

The Time’s story tells us, that the “dead person” she most regularly channels for her hosts is Yeshua of Nazareth.

Now, for those who may not know, Yeshua is the Old Testament name for Jesus.

Yes; Ms. Schumacher claims to channel Jesus Christ for her paying public.

The Time’s article is about a channeling session held last weekend at the home of actress Jennifer Aniston.

Ms. Schumacher introduced herself saying, “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Carissa.

I knew my whole life that I would be a channel for Yeshua.”

Unfortunately, at last week’s gathering, Ms. Schumacher decided that the atmosphere wasn’t conducive to channeling Yeshua, and Jesus failed to show up.

But, if you would like to know the wisdom of Yeshua you can purchase her new book — The Freedom Transmissions — for a mere $23.19 (marked down from it’s normal $28.99 or the Kindle edition for $14.99).

What’s the point?

I would submit to you this morning that Jennifer Aniston and her friends could save themselves a heap of money if they’d only pick up an old, old book that “channeled” everything Jesus wanted us to know about himself and the Heavenly Father 2,000 years ago.

It’s called the Bible.

One of the reasons God the Father sent God the Son into the world was so that sinners could actually come to know God the Father.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

(John 17:3, ESV)

What does Jesus reveal about God?

I. THE INCARNATION REVEALS THAT CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD

1. the Apostle John begins his gospel in a way reminiscent of the very first book of the Bible

a. in Genesis we read: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, (Gen.

1:1, NIV)

b. in the Gospel of John we read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

(John 1:1, NIV)

2. Genesis begins with the creation of the world and tells us of God’s creative efforts

3. but in his gospel, the Apostle John goes behind the creation account into eternity past and tells us the story behind the story of creation

4. that story is of an eternal Christ in glory with the Father, high and lifted up and on His throne

ILLUS.

This is what the Prophet Isaiah sees (Isa.

6) in his vision of heaven’s throne room.

He sees the “... Lord high and lifted up.”

a. Jesus was the Word that was with God and indeed was God

1) words are used to express our thoughts, ideas and intents

a) words can be like a soothing balm or an exploding bomb — healing or destroying

b) a positive word makes you feel good, but a negative word leaves you feeling depressed and defeated

c) a discouraging word can defuse your enthusiasm for a project, but a positive word encourages you, and becomes a motivating force

3) behind every word there is an image that conveys meaning to us

b.

Jesus Christ — as the Living Word — is the expression of God’s thoughts and intents toward us

1) it’s one thing to say, I love you

2) it’s another thing altogether to be loving – to inflesh our love through personal direct actions

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

(John 3:16, ESV)

5. in Christ, God showed us Himself

a. if you want to know what God thinks about your life, all you have to do is look at the life of Jesus

ILLUS.

The great rocket scientist Robert Oppenheimer once said, "The best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person."

b. that’s exactly what God did in Jesus

A. JESUS CHRIST IS ONE WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER

1. Jesus is and forever has been and will always be eternal with the God because He is God

a. three times in the first verse, the Apostle John uses the word was

b. now, I know most of you don’t care for grammar lessons, but it’s important that I give you one very quickly

1) the word was in this passage is the imperfect form of the verb to be

c.

there is no adequate translation for the verb in the English language

1) in the original language of the Bible, to verb to be is a word that expresses timelessness

a) thus, we might read the verse like this: In the beginning always forever was the Word, and the Word always forever was with God, and the Word always forever was God.

2. what’s the big deal?

a. it means that Jesus Christ, is and forever has been and will always be eternal

3. at Christmas, we celebrate the birth of the Savior

a. his name is Jesus, and he is the Christ

b. just because He was born of a woman and had flesh and blood as we do does not contradict His claim to deity and oneness with the Father

“No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.”

(John 6:46, NIV84)

“I and the Father are one.””

(John 10:30, NIV84)

c.

I don’t think you can get any clearer than that

4. Jesus has absolute equality with the father

a. the nature of Christ has been discussed since the earliest days of the Church, and many errors about his nature have had to be refuted

1) some have maintained that Jesus was merely human and had great wisdom and spiritual insight

2) some have believed that He was adopted by God at His baptism and was divine only until abandoned by God at His crucifixion

3) and a few have even advanced the idea that Jesus is divine, but not on equal footing with the Father – in essence he is second-banana in the universe

b. but Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus is God, come to us in the flesh

1) He was made in the likeness of men, yet he is God Who over all, blessed forever

2) in the Book of Hebrews, the Bible says that God, in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being

3) to believe anything different is heresy