Welcome on this Christmas 2008 as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, as we look back over this year, things did not go too well in this country and for that matter, the world! It was pretty tough with the Stock Market losing over 40% of its value and people losing millions of dollars! Many have lost their jobs! People have lost hope in the government. They have lost hope in general and it is looking very black as the year comes to an end and we begin a new year, which does not look good either!
I know, great Christmas message but it is better than the Mother’s Day message of the demon locusts from the pit of Hell! Folks, out of the darkness there is a great light that has come, may we not forget that. Now, let me explain what I mean by this hope in the midst of the storms of life we are facing, in the dark times we are in and the dark times that are ahead. Several hundred years before the birth of Christ the prophet Isaiah gave hope!
Way back in 732 BC the areas of Zebulun and Naphtali were taken into captivity by the Assyrians, under the reign of Tiglath-Pileser, and it was called "Galilee of the gentiles" since it was under gentile domination. Things were bad, the spiritual darkness was devastating. Things looked very bleak, you might say it was night, things were black! (II Kings 15:29).
And yet, some 800 years before the birth of Jesus Christ we are told in Isaiah 9:1-2, “Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.”
Now as black as things were, God is going to pierce that darkness with His light. Turn to Matthew chapter 4, and I will show you what I mean, as we see Jesus in His earthly ministry. Starting in verse 12 we read, "Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.'" Matthew 4:12-16. A people that were in spiritual darkness, trying to find God, have had that darkness pierced by the light of God Himself! He was there to show them the way out of this spiritual darkness. As Jesus said in John 8:12, "...'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'"
It is out of that darkness our Savior was born. And I know it is easy to be distracted by all the things that are going on around us and thus, instead of seeing the light we see the darkness. Instead of seeing the great hope that is there, we see hopelessness. This morning, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ I pray that you will find that hope in Him and not lose sight of what He has done, is doing and will do in your life. We will be looking at Matthew chapter 1 this morning, but before we get to our text, let me share with you this story. We are told:
Take the year 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies. But the world was overlooking some terribly significant births.
For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England's finest statesman. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby's name? Abraham Lincoln.
If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I'm certain these words would have been heard: "The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today." But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news--when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior.
- Adapted from Charles Swindoll.
Again, it is so easy to be distracted, discouraged, and afraid of the darkness but God has pierced the darkness as He became flesh and dwelt among us. The light has come, as we will see this morning. With that said, let’s begin reading in Matthew chapter 1, starting in verse 18 and see what the Lord has for us on this Christmas morning.
All that the prophets spoke about, all the over 300 prophecies regarding the first coming of Jesus Christ have begun to be fulfilled with His birth in the city of Bethlehem of Judea. And please understand that Jesus was not just a man, He was not just a prophet of God, but He was and is the God-Man! Notice that His name, Emmanuel means “God with us.”
I don’t know if God can be any clearer on that. God became flesh and is dwelling among us; He took on the body of flesh. That is what John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-2, 14.
But why did God become flesh and dwell among us? For what reason did Almighty God have to crawl into a body of flesh? Folks, we don’t have to guess because we are told in Matthew 1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus [the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior], for He will save His people from their sins [that is, prevent them from failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God].”
Did you notice what Matthew is saying? Jesus did not come to free us from government bondage. He did not come to free us from a financial disaster. He did not come to free us from anything except for one thing. He came to free us from our sins!
That truly is the problem folk’s. Isaiah elaborates on this point as he tells us, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2. You see, sin has separated us from God, even just one sin because God desires perfection, He is holy and that is all that can stand before Him. Thus, Jesus has come to set us from our sins or as Isaiah 1:18 tells us, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’” The Living Bible puts it like this, “‘Come, let's talk this over!’ says the Lord; ‘no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!’”
Now I do realize that there are those that don’t believe in God, they don’t believe in Jesus, as this story from the Associated Press illustrates for us. We are told:
You better watch out. There is a new combatant in the Christmas wars.
Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness sake,” will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.
In lifting lyrics from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.
“We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.”
To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.
Edwords said the purpose isn’t to argue that God doesn’t exist or change minds about a deity, although “we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people’s minds.”
The group defines humanism as “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.”
- Eric Gorski, Associated Press, Groups shouting, pouting over mixed seasonal messages
How sad to feel that way. And to think that man can be good enough, do good for goodness sakes, how is that working? Obviously not to well apart from Christ! And think about it. When a loved one is on their deathbed, are you going to call for your local atheist or agnostic for hope? Absolutely not, even people that are not religious look to someone of the faith to give them hope in this life or in the life to come!
I have called this study, “Time Changer” because God, becoming flesh and dwelling among us has changed time. Let me explain it like this. We are told:
It is commonly thought that BC stands for "before Christ" and AD stands for "after death." This is only half correct. How could 1 B.C. have been "before Christ" and 1 A.D. been "after death"? BC does stand for "before Christ." AD actually stands for the Latin phrase "anno domini" which means "in the year of our Lord." The B.C. / A.D. dating system is not taught in the Bible. It actually was not fully implemented and accepted until several centuries after Jesus' death.
It is interesting to note that the purpose of the BC / AD dating system was to make the birth of Jesus Christ the dividing point of world history. However, when the B.C. / A.D. system was being calculated, they actually made a mistake in pinpointing the year of Jesus' birth. Scholars later discovered that Jesus was actually born in around 4 BC, not 0 AD. That is not the crucial issue. The birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ are the "turning points" in world history. It is fitting, therefore, that Jesus Christ be the separation of "old" and "new." BC was "before Christ" and since His birth, we have been living "in the year of our Lord."
- WikiAnswers, www.GotQuestions.org
Jesus Christ is the Time Changer for by His birth, time, in a sense, has been changed. Before Christ there was not complete atonement for our sins but after the birth, the life, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is complete atonement for our sins, every one of them! And now we have access to the Father through Jesus Christ as Jesus said in John 14:6, “ . . . ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
There is our hope folk’s. As dark as this life may get, our hope is still in Jesus Christ and His light not only shines in us, into our hearts, but we then become light bearers for Christ as we shine the light of Christ in this dark world!
For me, I spent 24 years in B.C. or before Christ! Then, about 26 years ago I received the most precious gift anyone could ever give to me. I received the gift of life that is only found in Jesus Christ and now, for the last 26 years I have been living in A.D. or in the year of the Lord!
A few weeks back my wife was with our daughter-in-law, Kara and she was laughing because of a story she was reading. It was a story of a mom who was so excited about this Christmas because her son understood about Santa Clause and she couldn’t wait till Christmas morning. When it arrived there were all the presents under the tree and the mom said with a big smile on her face, “Who brought you all these presents?” And with a big smile on his face, he shouted out, “Grandma!” And Kara said, that was so much like Julie! You know, as much joy as we get in giving gifts, the gift of life that is found in Jesus can never be topped! It truly is a precious gift.
Now, in those B.C. years for me, those years I once lived in, there was not a lot of hope. All my life was related to what was happening around me. And, obviously that was in a constant state of flux, it was constantly changing, sometimes for good and sometimes not and thus, my hope waxed and waned depending on what was happening around me, to me!
Then, some 26 years ago my hope changed. No longer was it based upon outward circumstances or situations, but it was based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ and His precious promises to me. Folks, that hope is unchanging because God is unchanging. That hope is sure because God is faithful and what He has promised He is more than able to bring to pass! Now I am living on the other side of B.C., I am living in A.D. or the year of the Lord!
For those of you here this morning who once lived in B.C. or before Christ and now you are living in A.D. or in the year of the Lord, what a precious gift you have received. Remember your life living in B.C. and now what God has done in you and through you as you received Him as Lord and Savior of your life! Folks, to borrow an expression, it doesn’t get any better than this, that is until we go to be with the Lord!
Thus, our hope is in Christ and we can rest in that no matter what storms may come our way as He brings His love, His peace, His joy into our lives. Listen to this story and you will see what I mean. We are told:
Once an artist was painting a winter scene. As he began to paint, the scene that unfolded on the canvass was of snow covered ground and pine trees. The artist's hand brought the day to a close and night fell on the canvas, and the entire scene was covered with semi-darkness. A grim log cabin was barely visible in the shadows. Then the artist dipped his brush in the yellow paint of his pallet, and with a few strokes placed in one of the cabin windows the warm glow of a lamp. As he finished the painting the gold rays of the lamp reflected happily on the fresh snow. The lonely light totally changed the tone of the picture, replacing the gloomy chilled night with a warm and secure homestead.
What happened on that canvas happened two thousand years ago on the world's canvas. When a tiny baby came into a grim and dark world, shining light across the barren landscape and offering all the hope of eternal warmth and security.
- Daily Bread
Don’t let anyone, not even Satan rob you of that truth, that our hope is in Christ and He can take the darkest night and make it bright. He can take the coldest day and bring warmth to it. We can rest in Him no matter how the storms of life beat down upon us!
Some of you here this morning may still be living in B.C. You have not given your life over to Jesus Christ and thus, are living in a time before Christ, before He is Lord and Savior of your life! Let me share this story with you about a man who maybe felt like you do right now. A man who rejected God, a man who thought it was ridiculous to believe in Him. But, as you will see, God touched his heart and He came to know the true and living God. He moved from before Christ to the year of the Lord in his life. We are told:
There was once a man who didn't believe in
God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about
religion and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe,
and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus,
despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy eve, his wife was taking their
children to a service in the farm community in which they
lived. They were to talk about Jesus' birth. She asked him
to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!"
he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as
a man? That's ridiculous!"
So she and the children left, and he stayed
home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow
turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window,
all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before
the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something
had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn't see more than
a few feet.
When the snow let up a little, he ventured
outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In
the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently
they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught
in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded
on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings
and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly.
A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted
to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay,
he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night
and wait out the storm.
So he walked over to the barn and opened the
doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice
the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around
aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it
could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but
that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He
went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and
made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't
catch on.
Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind
them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got
more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the
barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where
they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!"
he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place
where they can survive the storm?"
He thought for a moment and realized that
they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose,
then I could save them," he said out loud. Then he had an
idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried
it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese.
He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight
into the barn--and one-by-one, the other geese followed it
to safety.
He stood silently for a moment as the words
he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If
only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought
about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God
want to be like us? That's ridiculous!" Suddenly it
all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese--blind,
lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show
us the way and save us.
As the winds and blinding snow died down,
his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought.
Suddenly he understood why Christ had come. Years of doubt
and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his
knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: "Thank
You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm.”
- Source Unknown
What a glorious and precious Christmas it was for this
man who came to Jesus. And did you notice what he did to earn
this salvation? He
didn’t work his way in. He did not wait until he was good
enough to get in because that would never happen. He didn’t
make some kind of deal with God that if God did this then he would
do that. All he did was believe and by faith, he asked Jesus not
only to be Lord in His life but also to be His Savior, to be His
Emmanuel, to save him from his sins, and the Lord did!
And folk’s, He wants to do the same for you if you
would let Him, if you would receive Him into your life!
You see, Paul reminds us in Romans 6:23, “For
the wages of sin is death, but the [free] gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “For
the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift
of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our
Lord.” In other words, if you want to try to work
your way into heaven, if you want to live in your sin, then the
payment you will receive is death, spiritual death or eternal
separation from God and ultimately in the Lake of Fire!
But, God has given to us a free gift, a bountiful gift
of life that is only found in Jesus Christ. Thus, our spirits have
been made alive again in Christ, we can have fellowship with the
Father and we will spend eternity with the Lord. That is His promise
to us, our hope is to be with Him forever and He will bring it
to pass, He is more than able, He paid the price for us to get
in!
Notice that this is a free gift. How much does it cost?
It is a free gift! As
we celebrate Christmas and some of you have opened your presents
already this morning and some of you will open them later today.
And if you did or when you do, after you open them do you ask
the person who gave it to you, “So, how much do I owe you
for this present, for this gift?” Of course you don’t
because it was a free gift given to you by someone who loves you.
If that is true, and it is, why in the world do we ask
God, “So, how much do I owe you for this present, for this
gift?” It makes no sense when He tells us that it is a free
gift? It costs us nothing but it did cost God everything. In John
3:16-21 we are told, “For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but
he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this
is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not
come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who
does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly
seen, that they have been done in God.”
Folks, that is love and all God asks us to do is to receive the gift by faith into our lives, that gift of eternal life with Him! Paul, in Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it very clear for us if you are still not sure about this free gift. He wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” The Amplified Bible puts these verses like this, “For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]”
You see, we have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, PERIOD! There is nothing you can add to salvation except your sin and God has paid for that. Thus, receive that free gift into your life, the free gift that God is extending to you because He loves you that much!
Christmas should be a special time of year for each of us as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus was not born on December 25th, but we know that God was born, He became flesh and dwelt among us and that is what we are celebrating this morning! If you have received this precious gift of life that is only found in Jesus Christ, moving from B.C. to A.D. or before Christ into the year of the Lord, praise the Lord! Don’t forget to thank Him for the precious gift He has given to you. You see, I am sure you remembered to thank all those who have given you gifts, but God has given you the best gift, eternal life with Him, don’t forget to thank Him for that gift!
If you haven’t received this free gift of life that is found in Jesus Christ, if you are still living in B.C. or before Christ, won’t you receive the greatest gift that has ever been given this Christmas by asking Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life? I pray that you would and thus, you will move from B.C. or before Christ into A.D. or in the year of the Lord in your relationship with God. The prayer is simple and yet it is powerful and it can go like this:
"Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I come to you asking you to forgive me my sins and to be Lord in my life. I believe by faith that you have forgiven my sins and that you are Lord of my life. Thank you Lord for your love and forgiveness. Thank you for saving me. Amen."
When Pope Julius I authorized December 25 to be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus in A.D. 353, who would have ever thought that it would become what it is today.
When Professor Charles Follen lit candles on the first Christmas tree in America in 1832, who would have ever thought that the decorations would become as elaborate as they are today.
It is a long time since 1832, longer still from 353, longer still from that dark night brightened by a special star in which Jesus the king was born. Yet, as we approach December 25 again, it gives us yet another opportunity to pause, and in the midst of all the excitement and elaborate decorations and expensive commercialization which surround Christmas today, to consider again the event of Christmas and the person whose birth we celebrate.
Brian L. Harbour, James W. Cox, The Minister's Manual: 1994, San Fransico: Harper Collins, 1993, p. 254
As I close this morning, let me leave you with this to think about on this Christmas morning. You probably have heard this before, but it is powerful and it will get you to think of what God has done in sending us Jesus. We are told:
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
- Source unknown
That is the love of God for sinful man, for you and me! He loved us so much that He sent us a Savior; He became flesh to dwell among us and pay in full the penalty for our sins! Won’t you receive that gift into your life? May “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26. Jesus Christ is the Time Changer not only in this world, but also in our lives!