Now, for the sake of the children,
I would just like to take a few minutes and speak more directly
to them. I want to mention today the person
who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to give you seven
lessons about Jesus Christ, seven things that we know from the
Bible about the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing is this, that
the Lord Jesus Christ is God. That is something that we always
have to remember. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. Before the Lord Jesus Christ
came to earth as a baby, he was almighty God in heaven. And there he lived. in heaven,
there he ruled in heaven, and there he upheld all things by
the power of his word. And we need to remember that
when we think about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world as a little baby, and that weak little baby, that
delightful little baby, that little baby that looked so vulnerable,
nevertheless, there in that little baby is Almighty God, the creator
of all things, the upholder of all things, the Lord Jesus Christ
is God. He always was God, He is God,
and He always will be God. That's lesson one. Lesson two
is this. The Lord Jesus Christ is also a man. He is a real man. He is a real person, a real human
being, just like you and just like me. Like us, the Lord Jesus
Christ has flesh and blood and bones. The Lord Jesus Christ
got hungry, just like we get hungry and need to eat. The Lord
Jesus Christ knew what it was to be tired and he had to go
and sleep. And the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes
knew what it was to be angry. Like we sometimes get angry. Sometimes he was happy. Sometimes he was sad. He felt pain. He was a child. and he grew to be a man. He knew all the feelings that
we know. And in Hebrews chapter four and
verse 15, we are told that the Lord Jesus Christ was touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. And in all points, he was tempted
like as we are. We have to remember that the
Lord Jesus Christ is almighty God, but he is also a man with
the same bodies as we have. The third lesson is this, that
the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect man. So while he had feelings
like we have feelings, the Bible tells us that he never did anything
wrong. He never said anything wrong. The things that he said are true
and dependable. He never thought anything wrong. We really find that part of the
Lord Jesus Christ's nature and person more difficult to understand
probably than anything else because we have sinned in our bodies. And we can't do anything apart
from there being sin in our life and in our experience. But the
Lord Jesus Christ was perfect. And even as a child, through
all his life, he never sinned or did anything wrong. The Bible
calls him holy, blameless, and undefiled. He is God, he is a
man, he is a perfect man. And the Lord Jesus Christ died
on the cross. Though he never did anything
wrong, the Lord Jesus Christ, because of who he was, was taken
and crucified on the cross by wicked men. What these men did
not know was that his father, God his father, had planned to
use that death, that terrible crime that was perpetrated against
the Lord Jesus, that God the father had planned to use that
terrible crime to save his people, the people whom he loved, from
their sins. In fact, Jesus' name means Savior. And when the angels came and
told about the Saviour's birth, they said, call His name Jesus
because He will save His people from their sin. And even in those
very earliest days of the announcement of Jesus' birth, already the
plan was in place that Jesus would die on the cross. to redeem
and to save his people from their sins. And that's exactly what
he did when he died. So here is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the perfect man, dying on the cross. But that wasn't the end
of the story because the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the grave. He rose from the dead. We don't
worship a dead man, we worship the living God-man. He who is God and he who is man,
he who has saved his people is risen from the dead and he is
alive today. Because Jesus was both God and
man, the grave couldn't hold him. He rose from the dead and
he rules over death. And he gives us the promise that
we shall never die. Oh, we might have to lay down
this old body and that'll be a good thing. But we are going
to live with him in heaven forever if we believe in him. In Acts
chapter three, verse 15, we read, they killed the prince of life,
whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. The sixth thing that we know
about the Lord Jesus Christ is this, that he returned to heaven. So not only did he die and was
buried, but he rose again and returned back to heaven. There he sat down beside his
Father, and there he speaks to his Father about us. He speaks to God his Father about
us. So we can think of the Lord Jesus
Christ in heaven like this. He is our friend. in heaven, who is speaking to
God on our behalf. And the last thing I want to
tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ is this, not only did
he go to heaven, but he is coming back from heaven. And the Lord's
people are excited about the fact that soon, very soon, the
Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. Someday soon, we don't know exactly
when, but we do know that it won't be long. When he comes
back, it will be the end of this world. He will judge men and
women, and he will bring this world to an end. He will take
his friends back to heaven with him, and he will send his enemies
to hell. The Lord Jesus Christ is taught
about in the Bible, and all through the Bible we can read about the
Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, what he has done and what he
is going to do, all the things that he has achieved, and the
fact that he is God and that he is perfect and true. The Lord
Jesus Christ is a wonderful person. He is worthy of our love. He is worthy of our trust and
our confidence. And it is my prayer today that
he will teach you to love and trust him and give you a good
hope of eternal life with him in heaven when he comes again. Thank you for listening.