A Bible from cover to cover declares
the truth that we're celebrating, that God has come to earth, not
to spy out our sins, but to deliver us from our sins. And so we say,
hallelujah, praise the Lord. What a joyous occasion this is. I've been in this 55 years. And it gets sweeter and more
wonderful, this truth, and salvations by grace. And what a wondrous
God we have, who would do what he's done for us. In John 1,
1, it says this, in the beginning was the word. in the beginning. Do you know
when the beginning was? I'm not talking about the beginning
of creation. I'm talking about the beginning. What an awesome
God he is. In the beginning, self-existent,
eternal, sovereign, omnipotent, awesome God we have. And here's what it says in John
chapter one, in the beginning was the word and the word was
with God, And the Word was God, the same was in the beginning.
And it says everything that was created was created by Him. Isn't
that something? Created by Him. In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in
darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And then it says in the
14th verse, and the Word, you know, the Word that was in the
beginning, the Word that created everything, became flesh. That great Spirit became flesh
and tabernacled among us, lived among us. You know, if you can
get that truth, you will be a theologian, because that's what the Bible
is all about. The Old Testament begins with, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis, right? And then God created Adam and
Eve. God said, let us make man. God,
the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit created Adam
and then saw that it was not good for Adam to dwell alone
and created a female, Mother Eve. And then they messed up. They sinned against God and were
separated from God. There was a separation, no longer
that sweet fellowship. And guess who took the initiative?
You remember Father Adam and Mother Eve, they went and sewed
themselves fig leaf aprons. not good enough for God. They
sinned against God and their fig leaf aprons could not clean
them up. And here's what God said. God
said, I'm going to send one who's going to crush Satan's head and
he's gonna have his heel bruised. So right from the very beginning,
God said this, Somebody's coming. And then all
through the Old Testament, that message was repeated in types
and shadows. In the Passover lamb, in the
book of Exodus, kill a lamb, put the blood on
the two sides of the door, and when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. What's that thing? Somebody's coming. A perfect
lamb. A spotless lamb who's going to be for the remission of your
sins. God said, somebody's coming.
And then all through the Old Testament, the types and shadows
repeated that. And then one day, John the Baptist
is standing around with his boys and Jesus passes by. And here's
what John the Baptist said. Behold, there he is, the perfect
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And tonight
we're celebrating this glorious truth. We don't get as excited
as we should, but we ought to be excited about that. What a
wonder that this God has come to earth for the likes of us. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Made flesh. Can you imagine that? That eternal creating God became
flesh. And then lived a spotless life,
went up on Calvary and died in your roomstead and place. And
because of that, your debt is paid. Isn't that an awesome thing? In your heart. Just you by yourself,
wherever you are. Do appraise God as you contemplate. He came for you. He died for
you. He loves you. What a truth is
that? I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder that he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. Love me so much that he came
to earth to rescue me. And his name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.