I invite you to turn to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 3. We don't observe Christmas as
a religious holiday for a lot of reasons. Number one, the Bible does not
teach it. Number two, there's no example
of it in the scriptures. Number three, Christ obviously
was not born this time of the year. And Christmas is just joined
to a pagan holiday that already existed. We have the words of the apostle,
in Colossians, just the opposite of what men say today. Paul writes in Colossians 2,
16, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in
respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath
days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Now he's talking about the Sabbaths
and the holy days that were under the law. So if
that is the case with those days, it surely has to be the case
with man-made holy days. And because we do not celebrate
a Christ mass, we are not Catholics. We do not celebrate the mass. But we do rejoice and we do delight that the Lord
has come. and we rejoice to know to some
degree why he has come. I want you to look with me in
1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. And without controversy, Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up, into glory. Now some believe that this verse
is a part of an early hymn that was sung by the early church. Would to God that we had more
hymns that said as much. I don't know whether it is or
not, but I know it is the inspired word of God. It is an essential part of the gospel
that Paul preached. He begins, and he says, without
controversy. In other words, confessedly. Great not was but is. Great is. The mystery. The mystery. And it seems like mystery in
the Bible has about three different definitions. It means that which was not before
revealed or made manifest but is now. And it means that which isn't
revealed to any but a specific group. And it means that which cannot
be learned by natural means, but which must be divinely revealed. And actually, all three of these
definitions, as they pertain to God's purpose and grace and
salvation in Christ, absolutely apply. Great is the mystery. Christ is described as the secret
of the Lord or the mystery of God. And this is the gospel. According to verse nine, he says,
holding the mystery of the faith. in a pure conscience, the faith
being the gospel, the truth. And that means that it is not
new, that what Paul says here, what is revealed here is not
new. Because this is really the everlasting
gospel. There never has been another
gospel. And this gospel has always been
concerning the Messiah because it's about an everlasting righteousness
that the Messiah would bring in. Paul writes it this way, he says,
now unto him that is of the power to establish you according to
my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the
revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world
began. The whole salvation in Christ
crucified is a mystery in that it is the mystery of how God
can be just and justify sinners. The mystery of godliness, which
is set in contrast to the mystery of iniquity. In other words, it's God's salvation,
it's righteousness, which is equity, in opposition to Satan's
way, which is inequity. And Paul writes, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory." What a wonderful
mystery. And he writes again, he says
this, but as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that loved him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. And then writing again to the
Corinthians, he says, even the mystery which hath been hid from
ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to his saints. God revealing, manifesting, declaring
the great mystery at the coming and the working and doing of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But what does Paul say? when he begins to describe this
mystery. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. You see, all of our salvation
depends upon what the man, Jesus Christ, did in his life and death. But make no mistake about it,
what he did and what he accomplished depends on who he was and is. And this is why the deity of
Jesus Christ is always under assault. It is under assault even in such
days as this. When men and women talk about
Jesus being born, they speak no more of his birth than just
simply another person being born. They do not ascribe to him the
glory that is due the incarnate Son of God. But what Paul and what all the
prophecies and prophets of all the ages had to say concerning
this man bears witness to the fact that he is God. Isaiah, writing, said this. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. Now, we would leave it to the
commentators and so-called scholars of all the ages to sort out what
that word means, Emmanuel. But God did not leave that to
our description and definition because the angel of the Lord,
in speaking to Joseph, bear witness of that which Isaiah said, saying
it like this. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel, which being interpreted." Which being interpreted. is God
with us. That's a marvelous thing and
something that, as one man said, only a fool or a Christian can
believe. Emmanuel, which is another name
for the Lord Jesus Christ, simply means being interpreted by God,
God with us. And we think about that, we think
about God in his eternality. God who is spirit, God who is
infinite, God who is invisible, God who is eternal and preexistent, God the Son does manifest in
the flesh and became man. Now this is the way Isaiah describes
it. Isaiah chapter 9, he says, for
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. In other words, the child that
was born is the son that was not born, but the son that was
given, being the eternally preexisting one. 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 and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform it. So Isaiah, led by the Spirit,
says that he is not only the son given, this child that is
born, this is the name, one of the many names by which he shall
be called the mighty God. And then John tells us this. Turn over to John chapter one. In other words, God declares
things about his son, about the man Christ Jesus, that we cannot
explain, that we cannot define, that we cannot even imagine,
and we only can believe it because God says it. One of those things
is right here. In John chapter 1, verse 1, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Think about that. The Word, whoever
this person is, whoever this figure is in capital letters,
the Word. He was with God, He was in the
beginning with God, and He was God. Alright, look down in verse
14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory The glory as the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth. There is not just a mystery here. But there is a magnificent mystery,
a necessary thing, and it is that the Word which was with
God and was God, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And He is not half God and half
man. He is 100% God, 100% man. And he is so in the flesh, and
Paul describes it to the Colossians in this way. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now that's saying more
than we can imagine in a hundred years. all the fullness of power,
all the fullness of authority, all the fullness of holiness
and grace and love and mercy, and especially all the fullness
of all God has to give all spiritual blessings, they dwell in him
bodily. bodily. So if a man will see God, Moses desired to see Him. Moses and a whole lot of other
people could not look upon God and live. The only way we can
look upon God and live is to look at Jesus Christ. Because here's what he says. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. Now, seeing God is one thing. There are a lot of people who
are going to see God one of these days. See Him as He is on a mighty
throne. Their faces will flee away from
Him and they'll see Him in judgment without any doubt. But to see
the glory of God, you won't find it looking at
a baby's face in a manger. But to see the glory of God,
Paul says it like this, for God, who hath commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, the revelation
of the glory of God, which is a revelation of God in grace. in the face or in the person
of Jesus Christ. Why is God's glory and grace
great in Jesus Christ? Well, all those he saves Paul
tells us in Ephesians 1 several times there, it will be to the
praise of the glory of His grace. And God as God, if you think
about it, has and can do so many things for us in grace and in
mercy from heaven. He can create a world. He can
provide us. He can order the affairs of this
life. He can do everything necessary
for us, all from His throne, from heaven, except one thing. God absolutely considered as
God cannot die. So the matter of the incarnation
of our Lord Jesus Christ is not just simply a saying that we
believe Jesus was born or that we know that he came or anything
like that, but what did he come for? Why did he come and what
did he come to accomplish? And that always boils down to
one thing. He came to accomplish the one
thing that he could not accomplish, being absolutely considered as
God. And that was the one thing necessary
to save us, which was to die. I remember some years ago, long
years ago, I preached a baby's funeral. It was around Christmas
time. And this baby had been born just
to live hours. And I knew that everybody would
be full of the question. I was preaching to a lot of people
I didn't know and in a place that I didn't know. And I knew
that everybody would be wondering, why did these things happen? But the only consolation was
in this, the wisdom and purpose of God. Because in all actuality,
this was a baby born to die. His purpose for coming into this
world was to die. and not some kind of random death,
not some kind of martyr's death, not a mere laying down his life,
but he was coming to die in order to accomplish something for a
people given to him by the Father before the world. And that's why the angel said
to Joseph, He must be called a certain name. You can't name
this child just any kind of name, Tom, Dick, Harry. You just can't. His name must be called Jesus,
which is without a doubt Savior or Jehovah's Savior. And thou
shalt call his name Jesus because or for he shall save his people
from their sin. Well, now, why? Or rather, w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w- details and things, but there
was one thing that Daniel and all the other prophets spoke
of. There's one unanimous message
that they all have, and that was that Messiah would be cut
off. He would die. He would be put
to death. And in order to be put to death,
he would have to have a body. He would have to have a perfect,
sinless body. And in order to do what he had
to do, he would have to come and die. Why? Because the wages of sin is death. Because the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. Because the son, if he saves this people,
must lay down his life for them. God was manifested in the flesh. And as we think about this, we
want to be careful not to fall into a trap that some have here
and have tried to explain and try to think about and try to
contemplate all the eternal God all of human nature and divine
nature and all these different things, you and I cannot figure
that out. And our problem is twofold in
that. We have no concept of the infinite,
immutable holiness and perfection of God. And nor can we imagine
sinless human flesh because we've never seen it. And like those
that did, we wouldn't recognize it as we did. But there before them, 2,000
years ago, was a man. that they hated, that they despised,
that was put to death because of what he did, what he said,
what he was. But he was perfect. He was God
manifest in the flesh. And they showed that the carlmine
is unity against god because they crucify him for no we haven't ever sing perfection
and we cannot imagine god in his infinite holy eternal sale
What we are called upon to do is believe this. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Old John Gill a long time ago
said concerning this, For though Christ is certainly
and really God as well as man. Yet I'm afraid that our abstracted
ideas of him as God and of his generation and of his sonship,
distinct from him as mediator, often lead us into labyrinths
and draw our minds from the principal things that we have in view.
God, having set bounds around his inscrutable and incomprehensible
deity, as being ordered to set about Mount Sinai when He descended
on it, it is not so that we may curiously gaze upon it and perish
it. It seems to be His will that
our saving knowledge of Him and converse with Him and should
all be in and through Christ as the glorious Mediator. In other words, we can spend
a lot of time thinking about how God can be manifest in the
flesh. We can spend a lot of time on
things that really, in the light of eternity, won't matter a hill
of beans. What we need to know is God in
Christ as the mediator. God became a man in order to
be our mediator. In other words, you might say
it like this, we have needs as sinners. And God has needs as
a holy and righteous and just God. How is it that He can be
our Mediator if He is not both God and man in one person, the
Mediator? And that's why the Bible states
it like this. That's why the same apostle states
it like this. There is one Mediator. between God and men. Not man, a generic term. But one mediator between God
and men, a specific group of men. And that mediator is the
man, Christ Jesus. Not a priest. saying mass, not
a priest with hocus pocus, nor a preacher, standing at the front
of the church, praying even for a person. There is one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And he became a
man to redeem his people by the shedding of his blood. Galatians 4. But when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. the writer of Hebrews,
to the Hebrews in 9.26, for then must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And then Hebrews again. For as
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that
is, the devil. in the only way it can be done
by becoming a man, human flesh. As a man, Christ died for man,
for men. As God, his sacrifice was of
such worth that it accomplished their redemption, satisfying
God, putting away all of their sin. And God, has, will, and only will, receive
men and women through this man. The God-man mediator. The one mediator between God
and man. The one who has bridged heaven
and earth. the one majestic, mysterious
person who died and whose death accomplished the salvation of
his people, the man Christ Jesus. Paul, in writing to the Romans
and closing out that book, says now to him, that is of power
to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of
Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which
has kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest
and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to the nations for the
obedience of faith. To God only wise be glory through
Jesus Christ. Amen. To God only be glory through
Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Our mediator is a man. I remember a long time ago, an
old preacher, they set up in Ashland, Kentucky, preached a
message. everybody was just struck by,
but he entitled it, There is a Man in Glory. But he's not just a man. He is
the God-man, Jesus Christ. Our Father, help us to know our Savior right, Help us not to allow the distractions
of this religious world distract us from the knowledge
we have been given concerning Jesus Christ, not only of who
it is that was really born. but what he was born for, what
he did, how he accomplished it, and how he is seated at the right
hand of the majesty on high. Help us to magnify him, believe
on him, worship him. For we pray in his name, amen. Come up just a minute.