I'd like to ask you to turn in
your Bibles, if you would, to the 22nd chapter of Genesis. Last year, this time of the year,
I was in the middle of a series of messages titled, Characteristics
of Grace. And I stuck with that series
instead of veering off as most do in this time of year. And
this year I started thinking about what it was the Lord would
lead me to preach this morning. You just never know. Just never
know who God's going to bring through these doors to hear his
word preached. Many come this time of year to
hear about a baby in a manger. I was asked about my way of celebration
this time of year. I was in a discussion with the
firemen of the fire department. He said, you want a tree, Pastor
Reeves? I said, no, thank you. Not for any religious reasons.
Folks, I got nothing against. anybody having a tree. I've got
nothing against putting lights up. You know, those lights are
pretty. I've always enjoyed driving around and seeing the lights. The people in the neighborhoods,
you can go real slow down through there. I used to be a limousine
driver, and one of my favorite times of the year was to go down
into Old Sacramento, the 40s. The 40s is what they call it,
the street numbers and stuff. And they're old, high-pitched
homes. And they were all built back
in the 1940s. And boy, those folks, they just
light up their houses down there in such a beautiful way. It is
a very beautiful thing. Very pretty, very pleasing to
the eye. And I shared with Thomas over
there, I said, you know, it has nothing to do I don't set up a tree because
my children are all grown. I don't have any little ones
anymore that can really enjoy the unwrapping of the presents.
That's a wonderful thing, isn't it, to watch the little ones
unwrap a present? I can remember when my kids were little, their
favorite thing to open was just a box. They didn't care what
was in it. Whatever was in it always got
tossed off to the side, and they would play with that box for
hours and hours. It's a wonderful time of year
to spend with our family. And to the credit of most, they
do spend a little time speaking about this one who's in a major
and what he came here for. But for the most part, that's
kind of where they stop. And I've been to several. then
go on to declare who the baby Jesus is, why he came here. So I don't want to discredit
all. But before I came here and heard
the truth, all I ever heard was, it's your decision. All I've
ever heard was, this is what the baby Jesus came here for,
this is what he did, this is where he is now, and now it's
up to you to decide whether to believe that, It's up to you
to give the gift to God of your belief. It's up to you to make
a decision to come down to the front and accept Christ into
your heart. Many of today take this opportunity,
this important event, and they make it a time to satisfy their
desires rather than a time for what this event truly stands
for. Nowhere in scripture Nowhere in scripture do we see clearly the time of
this blessed event. People think that because the
season was this or the season was that, you know, times 2,000
some odd years ago, seasons were different than what they are
today. For the most part, harvest time was the same and that kind
of stuff. Scripture doesn't come down and be very clear about
it. It's kind of like the end times. And we all know what happens
to people who try to predict the end times, don't we? We've
seen several do that over the last few years and not a single
one has been right. Nowhere in Scripture do we clearly
see the time of this blessed event, nor do we read of instructions
on how to remember it. Our Lord gives clear instructions
on how to remember His death though, doesn't He? We're clearly
taught of what we're to do in remembrance of our Savior. In
the letter to the Corinthians, our Lord inspired Paul to declare
the events at the Last Supper our great God had with His disciples
before He was taken by wicked hands and crucified on that cruel
cross. He said this in 1 Corinthians
11.23, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered
unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was
betrayed, took bread. And when He had given thanks,
He'd break it and said, take, eat. This is My body, which is
broken for you, this do in remembrance of Me. Is that pretty clear? We don't see anything like that
in regards to God's birth. After the same manner, it says
in verse 25, He also took of the cup, and when He had supped,
saying, this cup is the New Testament in My blood. This do ye as often
as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death
till he come." Isn't that interesting? Mankind has come up with this
big celebration for our Lord coming into this world, and it
is a celebration we should celebrate. But they've taken the truth of
what happened and they've made it something of their own desire.
That's what all the glittering is. That's what all the pretty
lights are. Notice the forthcoming, the plainness. He says, do this in remembrance
of my death. You can't get any clearer than
that, can we? Our Lord came to do His Father's
will and nothing short of it. He had a purpose in humbling
Himself and being made in the likeness of flesh. Folks, there's only one way.
One way that men can be reconciled unto God, and that is by the
perfect holy blood that was shed upon that cross just over 2,000
years ago. The Lord Jesus, 100% God and
100% man. He is the way, the truth, and
no man cometh unto Him but by the Father. Ever since the fall
of Adam, men have been told a sacrifice must be made, blood must be shed,
atonement must be made. There is no remission of sin
without blood. But not just any blood will do.
The blood of the perfect Lamb is the only blood God will accept
in satisfying His justice. Everything else is no more than
a picture. A picture of that holy, blameless, spotless Lamb
of God. The birth of the Christ child
was significant. It was a significant event indeed. For He was of the Holy Ghost,
not of men. In the book of Luke 1.26-32 we
read, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from
God into the city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin,
exposed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, Hail thou that art highly favored, and the Lord
is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest, And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no
end. And then Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be,
seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said
unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon her. and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also, that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God." The holy, perfect nature of God
ran through the veins of this child. Perfect in every way. He who knew no sin, Yet, He came to us as a servant. He came to serve His people. To commit Himself for the people
of God, chosen from the foundation of the world. He came to be our
kinsman redeemer. To make peace between all for
whom the Father had given Him. This child is the only one who
could do this. No man of Adam's loins could
ever satisfy the justice of God. From the blood of Adam flows
the nature of sin, spiritual death, and you cannot mix the
two natures. Are you with me in Genesis? Read
along with me as we read verses 1 through verse 8 of chapter
22. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham. And he said unto him, Abraham,
and he said, behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. This is the one God promised. He said, this is the one that
you and your wife shall have. And the seed of God shall come
from this one. It was a promise made to Abraham,
take this one, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah, and offer him there a burnt offering upon one
of the mountains, which I will tell thee. And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood
for the burnt offering. And he rose up, and he went unto
the place of which God had told him. And then on the third day,
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place afar off. And
Abraham said unto the young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and
I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again unto
you. And Abraham took the wood and
the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he
took the fire in his hand, and a knife, And they went both of
them together, and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and
he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son. God will provide. Himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. God will provide Himself a sacrifice. God the Father promised a people
to God the Son. God the Son redeemed this people
with His own precious blood. And God the Spirit is going about
this very moment, revealing the Son to the promised through the
preaching of His Word. A covenant, a pact, a promise
was made between the great three in one. Three distinct persons,
yes, yet one God. A mystery, yes. But so it is,
nonetheless, one God. Turn to the ninth chapter of
Isaiah, if you would. There have always been three
in heaven. God has always been three in one. In the first chapter
of Genesis, verse 26, it says, And God said, Let us make man
in our image after our likeness. It's plural. Yet we also read
in the New Testament, I and my Father are one. One who sees
this Christ child for who He truly is has seen the face of
God. For in this person, this God-man,
this God-child dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead is what
Scripture tells us. You must worship the Son in spirit
and in truth. If not, then you do not worship
the Father. Look at verses 6 and 7 of Isaiah
chapter 9 if you would. For unto us a child is born,
Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder. And his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government
and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and
upon His kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth forever and ever. The zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this. The Lord Jesus Christ is
ruler over all things. He has been from eternity past.
The difference now is that He's in the flesh on His throne. There
is a God-man right now, this very moment, sitting on His throne
in heaven, working everything out according to His own counsel. Thus saith the Lord. You see, God provided Himself
a sacrifice for the sins of His people. But all the world sees
is this precious child, innocent and loving and pretty and appealing
to the heart. They are blinded to the truth.
They are blinded to His purpose. They are blinded as to why He
came. Why do they relish such in a
child in a manger? Because the world does not want
a God who rules over everything, including the will of men. We come into this world with
a will, a nature that is against God. Every one of us were born into
that very nature. We refuse by our nature the true
and living God. We will not have this man rule
over us, is what they cried. And that's exactly what you and
I cried at one time. Turn over to the book of John for a moment. We will not have this One, this
Child, this God-Man to rule over us. Are you with me in the book of
John? Chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In verse
14 we read, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory. The glory is the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. But let's continue
on in verse 4, shall we? In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. Did you catch that? The darkness
comprehended it not. There was a man sent of God whose
name was John, the same came for a witness to bear witness
of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not
that light, but was sent to bear witness of the light. That was
the true light which lighteth every man and cometh into the
world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and
the world knew him not. That's my title for this morning,
this morning's message. The world knew him not. Neither
did we. Not until the Lord, by his mercy
and grace, brought each and every one of us under the preaching
of his gospel to hear who this child, why he came into this
world. To hear about why he came, what
he did when he got here. what He accomplished by becoming
flesh, and what He's doing right now. All mankind are born dead
spiritually. When Adam sinned, the whole world
died with him. Spiritually, that is. Men began
to consider themselves as gods. That's why they call it, my will. My free will. My decision. I followed the Lord. My, my,
my, I, I, I. You go to these other churches
and that's what you hear when you go to them. I began to follow
that little baby. I went to the front of the church
and prayed with the man. Now I follow the Lord. Our Lord gives us an example
of that very thing in Scripture. We hear about where the people
cried out, what must I do to be saved? What can I do to be
saved? That's the nature of men. What
can I do? There's got to be something.
In Matthew 19 verse 24 we read this, and again I say unto you,
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And when
his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying,
well then who can be saved? If men can't do it, if there's
nothing for them to do, then how can men be saved? And our
Lord answers it with this. With men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Folks, it is God that showeth
mercy. And He is merciful to whom He
will be merciful to. He is the potter. We are the
clay. He does what seems good to Him. Some are created to be vessels
of mercy. This is Scripture. And others
are fitted for destruction. The world doesn't like to hear
that. What do you mean? What do you mean I'm fitted for
destruction? Could you imagine if somebody would have told Pharaoh
that? Did you know that Pharaoh was
raised up, the most powerful man in the world, the richest
man in the world, for one purpose? That God might show his strength
through the destruction of Pharaoh and his men in Egypt, delivering
his people out of bondage. This is why those who have been
given life, those who were chosen before the foundation of the
world, for God to show His mercy to, we see this child for who
He is. Look over to Luke chapter 2,
please. All throughout the New Testament,
Christ went about healing the blind, raising the dead, healing
the lame. Pictures of what He came to accomplish
by providing Himself a sacrifice for the sins of His people. We
who were dead in our sins by the mercy of God have been given
life. Born again is what it says. You must be born again. Not of the flesh, but of the
Spirit. Obviously we're not going to climb back into our mother's
womb. But if God wanted it that way,
we could obviously do it, couldn't we? All things are possible through
God, are they not? Did not the walls of the water
stand straight up and the ground become dry for Israel? All things
are possible by God, are they not? We are born again, not of the
flesh, but of the Spirit. We see with God-given faith the
Lord our God in the face of His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. We
see God Almighty in that child. But we see the reason He came. He, the Spirit, came to us when
we were but dead, spiritually dead, and through the preaching
of His Word, He gave us life that we could come to Him. And
we see that all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, He
says. He says, My sheep hear My voice. We hear the Word of
God, for what is it to Him? Boy, I missed out something there,
didn't I? We see Him for who He is. Sovereign Ruler over all
that is. Creator of all things. King of
all kings. The One who is rightfully called
God. One of the most prominent things
that I have heard in these last 20 years is this. I've heard
about a God who deserves to be called God. The first thing our Lord laid
on my heart strongly was this is a God who deserves to be called
God. Who has the right to be called
God. For everything He does is godly. It's sovereign. Ruler in everything. Including
the calling of men out of darkness. He's sovereign ruler over all
that is. We see Him for what He's done.
We see this child for the reason He came into this world, and
that was to save His people. Plain and simple. A beautiful
child, yes. But there's an ending to that.
That child must grow up and become the sacrifice that God will provide
for His people. The very one that Abraham was
talking about. God will provide Himself a sacrifice. The blood that was shed on that
cross was the blood of God and it accomplished exactly what
it was shed for. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. Our Lord said, it is finished. There is nothing for us to do,
nothing we can do, for we have no righteousness in ourselves.
There is only one righteousness and that is the righteousness
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The holy man to walk this earth.
He who knew no sin. He was made to be sin that we
would be made righteous in Him. We see Him for what He's doing
and what He shall do. He's sitting on His throne right
now, the throne of glory. And He will not share it with
another. Do not try to take the Lord's glory by adding something
you have done to salvation. Salvation is of the Lord alone. We see this Child for what He
is now ruling over all things. Ruling over all providence. Making
all things according to His desire. The world speaks of a child in
a manger. Have you seen this child for
who he is? Have you seen this child for
what he would do? Have you seen this child for
what he accomplished? Have you seen this man for what
he is doing right now? He's not a man and a child in
a manger anymore. He's sitting on His throne right
now ruling everything. The government shall be on His
shoulder. And because He is God, everything
His desire shall come to pass. And our Lord desires every single
one for whom He shed His blood for on that cross. Perfectly. Without fail. Are you with me in Luke? Chapter
2, verse 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord,
now let us thy servant depart in peace according to thy word,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. which Thou hast prepared before
the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and
the glory of Thy people Israel." Do you see your salvation? Then praise our Lord, for He
came into this world, and the world knew Him not. And you and I were in that very
same boat at one time. And I don't know about you, but
when I think of that boat that I was in, that darkness that
I walked in, I see the grace of my Savior, His love to me
magnified in a way that just makes my heart explode with love
for Him. When we see the truth of who
this baby Jesus was and what He did, can we not love the One who first
loved us? Do we see our salvation in this
child? Then praise our Lord, for He
came into this world, and the world knew Him not. But through
His mercy, through His grace, we can read this in Romans 9,
16. So then it is not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that wratheth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Do you see the child? In truth, folks, if you do, then
you are no longer of this world. Turn over to John chapter 17, and I'll bring this to a close. You see, this child, and what
he has become, and where he went, and what he did for your sakes, This prayer is for you. These words spake Jesus in verse
1 and lifted up His eyes to heaven and He said, Father, the hour
has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him, And this is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth,
I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now,
O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was. I have manifest Thy name unto
the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given
unto them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I come out from Thee. And they
have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me. For they
are Thine, and all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am
glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father,
keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that
they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them by their name. Those that thou gavest me I have
kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that
the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word. And
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth." How many How many messages across
this country today will stop a moment and consider those very
words we just read? The glory of God is seen in the
face of that child, but he's no longer a child. He's the ruler
of everything. Glory be to the King, my Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.