Today I'd like to talk about,
again, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus? Well, Jesus was a man. He was
born 2,000 years ago in a little town called Bethlehem. Probably about 100 people lived
there. Now it's a large city. But at that time, not many people
lived there. was a small town. He was born in a manger because there was no place for
him at the inn. Probably would have been more
comfortable for Mary to have Jesus at an inn. There would
have been water there probably and different things. A lot more
comfortable. But he was born in a manger with
a bunch of animals all around him. But who was he? Was he just another
baby who was born that night? Imagine that night, there was
multiple babies born in Israel. Multiple babies born around the
world that night. But none of them were like this
baby. That portion that Brian read,
even before the baby is born, God names the baby. God names the baby. An angel of the Lord, which we
know who that is, comes to Joseph and says, fear not. Wonderful,
two wonderful words, fear not. Don't be afraid to take Mary
because that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. She's a virgin, and yet she's
pregnant. This is a miraculous thing, isn't
it? Christ is the seed of the woman.
See, we get our sin nature from our dads, don't we? And our moms,
too, because they're sinners, too, just like we are. But we
are conceived in sin, the scripture says. We come out of the womb
speaking lies. And some people say, well, I
don't believe that. Well, that's what the word of God says. It's not up
for debate. We're sinners. People don't like
to know, don't like to be called sinners. When I, before the Lord
saved me, I didn't like being called a sinner. Did you? Got
offended when people said that. Well, Now I'm a safe sinner. Are you? It's a wonderful thing to be,
and it's all God's work, isn't it? But this birth here was prophesied. In Isaiah 7, 14 it says, Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. Immanuel! Very unique name in
the Old Testament in Isaiah 7, 14. Immanuel. What does that
mean in the Hebrew? It means God with us. See, so this baby that was born in Bethlehem, this baby that was born was like
no other baby. His name is Emmanuel and he's
God incarnate in the flesh. He's fully God and yet fully
man. He's the God man. The scripture says that this
body was prepared for him by the father. And let's read again what Brother
Brian read, Matthew 1, verses 18 to 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on the wise, soon to be. When as his mother Mary was a
spouse to Joseph, before they came together, so before they
had sexual relations, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. She's still a virgin, and yet she's pregnant. Then
Joseph, her husband, being a just man, that means, and look at
that, he's called a just man. What are we called? Just folks. How are we made just? By Christ. How was he made just? By Christ.
See, he's looking to the Messiah, right? He's looking to the Messiah.
He's looking. He's looking. He's looking. He's a just man
in God's eyes. Oh my. not willing to make her
a public example he didn't want to shout from the rooftops that,
oh, she's done this. No. Was minded to put her away privately,
without any noise. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And look at this, before he's
even born, This angel of the Lord tells Joseph what he's to
call him. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall, what? Why is the whole reason that
Christ came here? It's right here in this verse.
His whole mission is summed up right here. To save his people
from their sins. Are you a sinner? I'm a sinner. Has God shown you you're a sinner
yet? We're all born sinners. Oh my, whether you believe it
or not, we're all born sinners. But look at this, look at this.
This is good news for sinners who can't save themselves. It
says Christ came to save his people from their sins. That's
wonderful. That's the best news a sinner
can hear, right there. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, remember I said, Immanuel, look at this, behold, a virgin
shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted as what? God
with us. So this is no ordinary baby,
this is God with us. This is what's called in theological
circles the hypostatic union, which just means the God-man.
I don't know why they have to use these fancy terms. He's the
God-man. He's both God and man in one.
He's 100% God and he's 100% man, and yet without sin. See, we're
conceived in sin. He was conceived of the Holy
Ghost. My oh my. He's absolutely sinless. from birth until death, and even
now. Then Joseph, being raised from
his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and
took unto him his wife, and knew her not, till she had brought
forth her firstborn son. And he called his name, what?
Jesus. He did as the angel of the Lord
said. Called his name Jesus. Which means Savior. Savior. I turn, if you would, to Luke
chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. My oh my. Look at this. Last week I had said how God
used a heathen king, a heathen emperor, right? To all of a sudden
decide, Augustus, all of a sudden decide, well I'm going to tax
everybody in my empire. so that Mary and Joseph would
be brought back to Bethlehem, the very place where it was prophesied
that Christ would come into this world, if he be born. Now they lived in Galilee, and
so they traveled all the way to Bethlehem. Look what it says
here. It came to pass in those days
that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should
be taxed. And world there is the Roman
Empire. It's not the whole world. It's the known world of the Roman
Empire. Just like, for God so loved the
world, it's not the whole world. He loves his people, doesn't
he? In Christ. So the world here was the Roman
Empire. Should be taxed. And this taxing
was first made when Cyrenus was governor of Syria. And all went
to be taxed, everyone into his own city. So the lineage of their
birth, they would go to the city. So Joseph and Mary were of the
lineage of David, so they went to Bethlehem. And Joseph also
went up into Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea,
into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Interesting
too, Bethlehem means house of bread. What's one of Christ's
titles? He's the bread of life. Isn't
that wonderful? Oh my. To be taxed with Mary
as a spouse, wife, being great with child. She was almost ready
to give birth. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for
them in the inn. Now ponder this. Again, on this
day, there was no doubt many children born in the world at
this time. And I'm talking the whole world,
not just the Roman Empire. There was many children born
on this day, but none were like this child. Scripture says this,
and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. When? When Christ was born. God
was manifest in the flesh. justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto Gentiles, believed on in the world, and
received up the glory. Let's consider verse 21 of Matthew. Let's go back to Matthew chapter
1. Let's consider this verse here. My, oh my. Matthew 1, 21. And she shall bring forth a son, And thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Micah
says this, But thou, Bethlehem, afraid of thou, thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of these shall he come
forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings
forth have been from everlasting. See Christ Christ, before he came to this
world, was known as the Son of God. And God becomes a man. Why? Why does God become a man? Well, we are flesh, aren't we? We are men and women. God can't
die, can he? So he becomes a man who can die. He becomes bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh, that he might save us from our sins. Now there's
no love greater than that. Scripture declares, greater love
hath no man than this, and the man lay down his life for his
friends. Christ laid down his life for
his people, his friends, his people. He purchased us with
his precious blood. There's no other way of salvation.
And think of this, God himself thought up this plan. When did
he do this? In eternity. In eternity. See, God is not like us. Vicki
and I were talking about this the other day. I walked, you know how I get frustrated
when I see things. I walked by this bookshelf the
other day and it said, Jesus is a seal, or seal. And I looked at that, for a second,
and I said to Vic, I said, isn't that so, you know, I started
to burn, so I had to walk away. They have pulled Christ down
to make him like anybody else. He's not like us. God is not
like us. God is eternal. We're finite. God is all-powerful. We can't even save ourselves.
God's all-knowing. We only know what we learn. And
that's just a little wee bit in this world. But He's all-knowing. He's infinite. He's not like
us. People say, God's my co-pilot.
That's so degrading to God. That's so degrading to the king
of the universe, the one who sits upon the throne. You know,
angels can't even look at him, they have to cover their eyes,
because he's so holy, he's so majestic, he's so righteous.
And the only way we can be in heaven is through the blood of
Christ. The only way we can have acceptance with God, the holy
one, the righteous one, is through the righteous one himself, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. He's so holy, that's who God
is, he's so holy. He's not a peanut God that's
waiting for you and I to do things. He does whatever he pleases.
That's the God of the Bible, right? The scriptures say he
does whatever he pleases and the armies of heaven and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. You ever
heard of something and you thought, no, that's nothing. And yet he has mercy. Yet He
has mercy on the people of His choosing. Mercy. His grace is poured out upon
them through Christ Jesus our Lord. And His love for them is
so great that He loves us as He loves Christ. Because we're
in Christ. And when were we chosen in Christ? From before the foundation of
the world. That's when. See, God works outside of time
and space. We live in time and space, right?
He's outside of time and space. He invented time. He invented
space. He spoke the universe into existence. He's all powerful, all majestic. And yet he humbles himself and
becomes a man. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. And we say he wasn't even welcomed
in the inn. The one who created the whole
world. There's no room for him in the
inn. It just shows us his humility.
Here's the king of kings and the lord of lords born in the
lowly manger. My, he wasn't born in pomp and
circumstance. Now when a king has a baby, my
oh my, eh? Or in the old days when a king
had a baby, there's celebrations for weeks. The king is going
to have an heir. Oh my. And he grew to manhood in a despised
village of Nazareth. A place where the Jews said,
can anything good come out of Nazareth? Oh God. Isn't it amazing how
God works? His son is born in a manger. God himself is born in a manger. In a place where we would probably
say, I'm not going to stay there. If we were needing a place to
stay and somebody said to us, well, there's room back in the
manger where the animals are, what would we say? I don't even
want to think what we'd say. I'd be like, see you later. I'm out
of here. My oh my. You know Jesus never
traveled beyond the border of the small country of Israel?
And yet his influence is worldwide. Kingdoms. Think of the great
empire of Rome. Huge empire. It's gone. But Christ is still being preached
and proclaimed. Think of the great empire of
Babylon. The Medes, the Persians. The Greek empire. All these huge
empires of past, they're all gone, aren't they? But Christ
is still being proclaimed. Do you know that even time, now
they've changed it in the last few years, but you know that
even time is measured through Christ? B.C. before Christ, A.D. after death. He's no ordinary man. He's God
incarnate in the flesh. And although he never left the
Small country of Israel, there's been more books written about
him than any other person in time. He never invented anything, and
yet all the inventions date their patents from the time of his
birth. When a patent is registered, they register it under AD. If you were to make something now,
they register 2022 AD. Oh my. He never owned anything,
and yet every man is eternally poor without him. He was poor
while he was on the earth, and yet he made many rich in spiritual
blessings. We have all spiritual blessings
in Christ, and yet when he was on this earth, he was poor. Scripture
says he didn't even have a place to lay his head. That sure goes
against the health, wealth, prosperity gospel, doesn't it? See, the reason they never mention
that is because He's not their master. Oh my. And then He willingly
went to the cross. He lived the perfect life as
our substitute, and then He willingly went to the cross to die in the
room and place of His people. You think of this, He didn't
stop the man who crucified Him. He laid there while they nailed
him to the cross. No doubt he was filled with agony
as those nails pierced his hands and his feet. And yet he willingly
laid there. He could have destroyed them
all, couldn't he, with a word of his power. He willingly dies on the cross,
why? To save his people from their
sins. And they wag their tongues at
him, the people at the base of the cross, some of them said,
he saved others, he can't save himself. Meanwhile, on that cross,
the manifestation of the power of God is occurring as he's saving
his people from their sins, a number which no man can number. the sinless one dying for sinners. And then he willingly gave up
the ghost. Do you know he could have hung on that cross? Death
had no claim on him. But our sins were laid upon him. And the lamb must die. The blood
must be shed. in order to save his people from
their sins. And he willingly hangs upon that
cross. And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was darkness over the earth until the ninth hour. And
that's over the whole earth. That's just not a partial eclipse. That's over the whole earth,
because it says, over all the earth. until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus
had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And having said this, he gave
up the ghost, willingly gave his life for sinners such as
I and you." Isn't that wonderful? My, oh my, what a Savior. Now,
his birth was unique. It was unique in nature because
it was supernatural. Let's go back to Matthew chapter
1. It was supernatural. He was conceived of the Holy
Spirit. There is nothing known to science
that can explain the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
true that Isaac had a supernatural birth. Sarah was barren. But
Isaac was still the seed of Abraham. Christ is the seed of the woman. He's perfect. He's sinless. He had no human father. He is
born of a virgin, begotten of the Holy Spirit of God. Matthew
118, it says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was unwise when
his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph. Before they came together,
she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. See, our babies,
our babies are born dead in trespasses and sins. My children are sinners just
like I am. You know? Even that little baby that is
held in the mama's hands is a sinner. We're conceived in sin. We come
out of the womb speaking lies. Scripture declares that. Oh my, oh my. But this baby This
baby was different. Scripture says this, the wicked
are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they
be born. Speaking lies, that's every son
and daughter of Adam. That's you and I. But Jesus Christ
was born sinless. No thought sin, no sin in deed,
no sins ever spoken. He's absolutely perfect. Because
he's God incarnate in the flesh. Can God sin? No. No. Man can sin, right? But God can't. But He's the perfect
God-man. You know, I believe Christ could
never sin. He was tempted like you and I, but I think He was
impeccable. There's a... Norm and I talked
about it, and I preached a message a while back called The Impeccability
of Christ. He was absolutely sinless. He couldn't sin. Because
He's God in the flesh. He's tempted like we are, yet
without sin. He's perfect. He's the holy,
spotless Lamb of God. Absolutely perfect. He never
sinned in His life. He was God incarnate in the flesh.
And He came to die. He came to die. That's the whole
reason He came here. They also call His name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. How is he going
to do that? By dying at Calvary's cross. By offering himself up
before God. See, who did we sin against?
Every one of us in this room have sinned against God. Every one of us. God's law declares
us guilty. But Christ Jesus, he bled and
died for sinners. He bled and died for sinners.
That's the amazing thing. That's why we say, come unto
Christ, flee unto Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
Whether one acknowledges they're a sinner or not, we're still
sinners. My. You know, he said that he's
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Christ never had any deceit in
his mouth. He had never had any sin at all. He's perfect. He's holy. He's unblameable. And here he is living the perfect
life, right, obeying God's law to every jot and tittle, fulfilling
the law, honoring it, magnifying it. Why? For you and I as believers. And there was no announcement.
Think of this, at his birth, there's no announcement from
the high priest. The king is born. He's born in a lowly manger. There was no announcement by
the high priest. The Messiah is here! No announcement. Born. And lowly shepherds got
to hear the good news, didn't they? lowly shepherds. And there were some in the same
country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over
their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord came
upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them,
and they were sore afraid. For they saw this angel, and
they were afraid." Isn't it funny men will tremble
at angels, but yet not tremble at God? My, oh my. And the angel said unto them,
fear not. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people, Jew and Gentile. For unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. Oh my, the Messiah, the King. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in
a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward man. Luke chapter
2 verses 8 to 14. So Christ's birth is unique.
He's born sinless. We're born sinners. He's born
sinless. And the birth of Christ was prophesied
in the Old Testament scriptures. As I said in Isaiah 7, verse
14, it says, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and now shall
call his name Immanuel. God with us. God with us. See, we couldn't save ourselves,
could we? So God becomes a man. Why? To save his people from
their sins. That's magnificent. In our Lord's birth, it was prophesied
that He'd be born of a virgin, and He was born of a virgin.
Do you know in Genesis 3.15 it says, And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. See, the Lord Jesus Christ crushed
Satan at Calvary's cross. He bruised his head. but it only
bruised Christ's heel, which is his humanity. It never affected
who he was. He's God. And even the demons
knew who he was. Even the demons in Scripture
says, I know who thou art, thou holy one of God. And they trembled
in fear before the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our King. That's our King. That's our Savior,
beloved. my turn if you would to genesis
chapter 22 look at this genesis chapter 22 speaking of christ here i read genesis Genesis 28, 13
to 14. And behold, the Lord stood above
it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest. To thee will I give
it, and to thy seed. And to thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to west and east
and to north and to south. And in thee shall thy seed be
blessed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Now
look at this in Genesis chapter 22 verses 15 to 18. You know
God promised Abraham that one of his descendants would be a
blessing to all nations? And think of who Abraham was. He was an idol worshipper. He was an idol worshipper. And God saved him, didn't he?
And how was Abraham justified before God? He believed what
God said. He believed what God said. Look
at this, Genesis 22, verses 15 to 18. And the angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, By
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done
this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son. Remember,
he took his son up to be sacrificed. That in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of the heaven and the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou
hast obeyed my voice. And when it says in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, that's talking
about Christ. That's talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Jews and Gentiles are blessed, those who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, aren't we? My, oh my. My, oh my. And our Lord's birth
was unique in its purpose. Why was Christ born into this
earth? Why did the Ancient of Days,
that's what he's called, God's called the Ancient of Days. He
has no beginning and no end. He's called the Ancient of Days.
Why did He become a man? Why did He become a man? Well,
the purpose of the birth of Christ was different from the purpose
of the birth of any other. Christ was born to die. We're
born to live. Christ was born to die. That was the whole reason he
came here. You know, Scripture says he set his face like a flint
to Jerusalem. In the Hebrew, that's that immovable
stone. You've heard me say it many times, the stone that will
not be moved. And he, from the time he was
little, he had his eyes on what he was supposed to do. How do
we know that? Dave, we talked about this, that
beautiful portion of Scripture where he says, I'm about my father's
business, and he's only 10 years old. He's talking with all these
great teachers in Israel, in the temple. Mary and Joseph left
him behind, remember? They were like, two days they'd
gone, or a day or two. And they left him behind, didn't
even know he was with, they thought he was with somebody else in
the family. And they go back and they see him, and he's talking
with the teachers, asking questions, and giving answers that are so
profound that they're all amazed. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
Little did they know, little did those teachers know, that
there they are talking to the Messiah. Talking to the one who was prophesied
to save his people from their sins. And the Jewish people, they were
looking for the Messiah to come and to release them from the
bondage of the Roman Empire. They thought the Messiah would
come and politically rise up and be a king over all of Israel.
They'd lost their freedom again and they were looking for a deliverer
from the Romans, from those who ruled over them. And they did
not expect to find them among the lowly. They did not expect them to be
a lowly carpenter You know why? They didn't know
who he was. They didn't even know that who
they were talking to was God incarnate in the flesh. The one
sent, sent, sent by the Father. Why? To save his people from
their sins. They expected the Messiah to
be found among the great, the noble. And here, the Messiah comes born
in a lowly manger. No pomp, no circumstance. Now, I'll tell you what, for
those shepherds, they sure saw something, didn't they? Them
angels appearing. And it says they were so afraid.
And I love what that angel, the angel of the Lord, too, he says,
fear not. God tells us, doesn't he? He
tells his people, fear not. Fear not. My, it's so wonderful. And here, the lowly birth of
Jesus, born in Bethlehem. His childhood spent in the despised
city of Nazareth. Brought up in the eyes of the
people as just an ordinary man. My oh my. How this shows that
God pours contempt on human pride, doesn't it? Next, we would like us to consider
his birth is unique in purpose. Again, why did Christ come into
this world? Why did the ancient of days become an infant? Well,
the whole purpose of, again, Christ was different from the
purpose of the birth of any man. He was born to die. He came to
save his people from their sins. And the only way for him to do
that was to die as our substitute at Calvary's Cross. That's the
only way. We must be redeemed, right? Can we save ourselves
from one sin? Not one. Can we pay the debt
that we owe for one sin? Not one. Scripture says the wages
of sin is death. Right? So our just payment for
our sin is death. The law of God demands that.
So, the sinless one. God becomes a man. And his name is Jesus. Savior. For he shall save his people
from their sins. We can think of men who lived
in this world. One man's born to rule. Another
man's born a genius. Another man's born for some other
great purpose. We think of Moses. He was born
to lead the chosen of God, born to lead Israel out of bondage. Elijah is remembered as a prophet
of God to call a sinful nation to repentance. David was God's
choice to be king. Cyrus, a heathen ruler, was used
by God to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Alexander the Great
Another heathen ruler was used by God to spread the Greek language
over parts of the world that he conquered, all before the
New Testament was written, which was written in Greek, and then
it spread like wildfire. The Roman Empire was raised up,
they paved roads. The roads are still, still around
even today, so that people could travel quickly, Lincoln, President
Lincoln is looked upon as an emancipator of those who were
slaves, and he's looked at as the preserver of the Union. But
Jesus Christ was born for a greater work than any of those men. His mission to this earth was
different from any other man, because Jesus was born to die. He was born to save His people
from their sins. He was born to live a perfect
life that we never could. He was born to honor God's law.
He was born to justify His people. He was born to obtain eternal
salvation for us. All by the shedding of His precious,
precious blood. The purpose of the birth of all
other men is to live a little while. We don't live very long,
do we? to do our little task, fill our little niche in human
affairs, and then die. And in death, we relinquish everything
we have. Can't take nothing with us. Collect all this stuff, and then
it just goes. Goes to somebody else. Brother
Neil was telling me, he said, you know, one day I was considering
buying a chainsaw. I love Neil. I love Neil. He
said, yeah, I was considering buying this chainsaw. And he
says, I got to thinking, Brother Wayne. And he thought, well,
if I buy this chainsaw, I'm going to use it for a few years. And
then somebody else is going to get it. So I'm just going to
use my old chainsaw. My, oh, my. You know? So let us contrast our lives
and death with the death of Christ. It's the supreme task of saving
God's elect. Supreme task. He was sent here
on a supreme mission. And remember, He already was
before He came into this world. He is God, He's God, God the
Word, the second person of the Trinity. ruling over all, angels
falling down and worshiping him. And he humbles himself and becomes
a man to save his people from their sins. Listen to what he says in John
10, verses 17 and 18. He says, therefore doth my father
love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
So he laid down his life willingly. No man taketh it from me. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down to myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Jesus was born to die. He was
born to obtain eternal life. He was born to save a people
who could never save themselves. And he came to give his life
as a ransom. I remember Norm Wells saying,
we're on the slave block of sin, chained up by our sin, sold out
to that slavery. And the great emancipator says,
he's mine. She's mine. He's mine. She's mine. I bought them with
my blood. My, oh my. Even as the Son of
Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom, a payment for many. The wages of sin is
death, right? So Christ dies for us, gives
his life for us. And think of this, he's the great
peacemaker. Do you know this world is just
longing for peace? But there'll never be peace in
this world, because we're a bunch of sinners. Men make temporary
peace treaties, don't they? What happens? They break them
all. They break them all, because
we're a bunch of sinners. But here's the great peacemaker.
And you know who he made peace for? He made peace for his people
with God. Therefore, we have peace with
God. We have peace with God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. The great
peacemakers come to die and make peace with God for his people.
How? By the shedding of his precious,
precious blood, redeeming our eternal souls. Now, this is good
news for sinners. The question is, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Is God showing
you you're a sinner? God's people say, Amen, showing
me I'm a sinner. My, oh, my. Good tidings of great joy, for
unto this day is born in David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord, a Savior, a Redeemer. My, what a Savior he is. My, what a Redeemer He is. My, what great love He has for
sinners. So much so that He gives His
life for them. And we who are the redeemed,
blood-bought Church of God, we're to proclaim this wonderful news
to a lost and dying world that salvation is only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to be saved.
No other way. Not by religion. Not by anything
we do. Not even by a prayer we pray.
Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's in a person. And
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone else has told you salvation's
in something you have to do? That's a lie. That's a lie. Salvation's only in Christ Jesus. Neither is there salvation in
any other except for Christ and Christ alone. There's no salvation
in any specific church. There's no salvation in baptism.
There's no salvation in our works. There's salvation only in the
Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now that's
the words of the God-man, who cannot lie. He cannot lie. God can't lie, can he? You know,
he's telling us the truth in this book. And this book is full of facts.
This book is full of things that are not to be debated. I don't
debate with people anymore. I used to debate with people
over the Word of God. I don't debate anymore. I just say, well,
this is what God's Word says. That's all. It don't matter if
I'm dealing with a religionist or if I'm dealing with someone
who's not saved, because I was both. I remember a friend of mine says,
well, I don't believe in election stuff. And I said, well, God
chose a people. Let's look at this word elect
in the Bible. It means to choose. So you don't have a problem with
me, you have a problem with God's word. And I asked my buddy that one
time, I said, well you claim to me that you believe the whole
Bible. Oh yeah, I believe the whole Bible. Well what about
election? Well, I said, well then you don't
believe the Bible. Oh yeah, I believe the Bible. Now he's come around since. But
see, either you believe the whole thing or you don't believe it
at all. I'll tell you this, I do not understand all this book,
and I never will in my lifetime. But the little I understand,
just that little wee bit that I understand, by God's grace
I believe it. He says, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. By God's grace, I believe that. Praise God. My oh my. Christ was born to save his people
from their sins. Jesus means Jehovah saves. And
this is an appropriate name for one who was on such a mission
as it says he shall save his people from their sins. What
a name for he who is God incarnate in the flesh. There's none, there's
none who can be saved outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do
you know Christ is the most indispensable man of all history? You know
that? If other men had not lived, we
would, we may have been inconvenienced in this life, but if Jesus had
not been born, none of us would be saved. Other men have given us things
useful in this life. Edison gave us the bulb, the
light bulb, right? Marconi gave us the wireless
telegraph. The Wrights gave us our first
airplane. Eliza Howe gave us the first sewing machine. Bell
gave us the telephone. All these things are helpful,
but they can't save one soul. Not one. Can't save one soul. But Jesus
Christ, he's the one needful thing for sinners. He's the one
needful thing for our souls. Christ and Christ alone. And our text there tells us that
he came to save his people from their sins, and he did it. He's
a successful savior. And this is the Father's will
which is sent me, that all of which he had given me." When
did he give him? When was Christ given those people
he came to save in eternity? That I should lose nothing. Now let that sink in your soul.
If you doubt your salvation, if you don't have assurance, Lord, you just told me that you're
not going to lose nothing, and that includes me. Woo! My! Isn't that wonderful? Despite my sinfulness? Despite
our... I'll just lump us all. Despite
our sinfulness? Despite our failings? Right? Despite our like this? Up and
down. Are you like that? I get like
that. Up and down. Some days I'm doing real great.
I'm up in the mountain, and the next day I'm down in the valley.
But despite all that, the Lord says here, I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, God the Father has given Christ power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. Turn, if you would, to John chapter six. John chapter six. My, oh my, here we go. Christ came to save a people.
Those people were given to him by God the Father in eternity.
He was on a specific mission. Even before he was born, the
angel of the Lord said to Joseph, call his name Jesus, Savior.
We who are redeemed are the saved ones, aren't we? We're trophies of his grace.
I still can't get over that. But we are. Look what he says
here in John chapter 6 verses 37 to 40. All that the Father
give me shall come to me. Now look at that word shall.
It's not if they decide to, right? It's not if they pray a prayer.
It's not if they walk an aisle. This is God incarnated in flesh
and he said they shall. And shall there means shall.
They shall come to me. And we were dead in trespasses
and sins, right? We weren't looking for God when
He called us, were we? Sister, we've talked about that,
yeah. He called us by His grace. Just drew us right to Him. And
ever since then, now we're just rejoicing in who He is. And look
at this. In Him, or her, that cometh to
me, I will no wise cast out. There is absolutely no reason
or anything we can do that God will cast us away if we're one
of his people. That's good news for sinners,
isn't it? See, you preach like this and people say, well, then
they're gonna just do whatever they want. No, the love of Christ
constrains us from sin, right? Now, look at this. Where was
Christ before he came to this earth? Well, here's the answer.
For I came down from heaven. Sent. What's the whole reason he came
down from heaven? To save his people from their sins. Go back
to that same verse Brian read. Right? For I come down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, What did he come? He came to honor
God, didn't he? He came to honor God's law, to
magnify it in our room and place. He came to die, to honor God's
glory, to give God all the glory. He said, nevertheless not my
will, but thy will be done, remember? He was in full submission to
the Father while he was on this earth. He was God incarnated
in the flesh. He did all these miracles which
manifested his deity, who he was, he was God. They proved who He was. How He came down. Not to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that what? Sent me. Now think
of that. The Father sent Christ that we
might be saved. We who shook our fist at Him.
Maybe blasphemed His name. My, what love! What love is manifested
here. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that all of which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing. I'm not going to lose one of
them sheep. Well, I'm such a sinner. You don't know what I've done,
Wayne. Oh my gosh, you don't know how bad my sin is. Your
sin qualifies you to be saved. Right? If we weren't sinners,
we wouldn't be qualified. Bruce Crabtree said that a couple
weeks ago. It's so true. That's why Paul said, forgetting
the things of the past. Yes, I'm a sinner. I'm a rotten,
dirty sinner. Forgetting the things of the
past. I press on. I press on to the high calling. Praise God, my sins are forgiven.
I can move forward. So can you, beloved. And look at this. He won't lose
one of us. He'll lose nothing. There's nothing. We can't jump out of his hand,
not that we would want to, but we can't. Do you know we're in
the grip of God? We're in the grip of God. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last age." Do you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ? By faith, have you looked to
him? By God-given faith? Are you born again in the Holy
Spirit of God? Rejoicing? Rejoicing? There's life in a look, right? There's life in the look, isn't
there? What did the Savior say in Isaiah? Look unto me, all
ye ends of the world, and be ye saved. Just a look. There's
life in the look. And we look at things all day
long, don't we? There's life in the look. Just look unto the
Savior. Just look unto Christ. Now here's a sure way to settle
whether you've been given to Christ by God the Father. If
you belong to that number, you will repent of your sins. You
will. If you belong to that number,
you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and
Lord. You're not still in sin, but you become aroused over your
lost condition and trust Christ and Him alone. My, oh my. Christ's people are
both secretly and openly His. They are secretly, by the Father's
choice of them, given to them as a gift to Christ, and they
are openly in praising His mighty name for His mercy and His grace,
which has been bestowed upon them in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul was much discouraged by the opposition in Corinth. He
said, then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision.
Be not afraid, but speak. Hold not thy peace, for I am
with thee, and no man shall sit on thee to hurt thee, for I have
much people in this city. And he continued there a year
and six months, teaching the word of God to them. So before
Paul even preached to them, the Lord said, I got much people
in there. Why are we here? Why are we here in Alma? Because
the gospel's going out from here all over the world, right? All over the world, we know.
And God's using it for his glory and his honor and his praise.
We're here for the gospel to go forth, beloved. And then we
as believers, we get the blessing of being together with people
who love Christ, love one another, love the gospel, and what joy
and peace fills our hearts. Isn't our God so good to us?
Isn't He so great? He's just wonderful. And then
blessings just keep getting better and better and better and better.
My, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, again we thank
Thee for allowing us to gather together. Glory to Your name,
honor and praise to Your name. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming
to this world, for setting aside Your glory, coming down from
heaven, sent by the Father to redeem Your people from all their
sins. Glory to You, Lord Jesus. Thank
you, Father, for sending the Son, sending your only begotten
Son, the Son of your love, sending him here to redeem us from all
our sins. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for
regenerating us, teaching us the things of Christ and illuminating
the Scriptures for us. Oh, Lord, we praise thee and
we thank thee. Glory be to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name, amen.