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No Christ = No Christmas
Luke 19:9,10 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
This is the time of year that our world looks at the Coming of Jesus to the earth more than any other time.
-he came as a baby but he was the Son of God
-for the Bible says: The HG or the Spirit of God is the one that
pregnanted or overshadowed Mary
-he looked and acted like a normal child but he was the Son of Man
-he got his human body from the genes of his mother Mary
Lk. 19:10 sums up the entire Christmas story in one sentence.
The reason why God wrapped himself in flesh and came to this earth was
“to seek and save the lost”
We don’t know how much he weighed that day but if he was around 7 lbs, you could say he was “7 lbs of salvation.”
He was a 7 lb Messiah
Not very big but he took on the biggest job ever assigned to a human being in history of mankind.
He had the responsibility to redeem me and you.
“ “ “ “ to purchase our salvation with his own life.
Its hard for us to comprehend the complete picture of the Incarnation of God
Dict. Incarnation def. “the embodiment of a deity or spirit in an earthly form. The union of divine and human natures in Jesus Christ”
We don’t fully grasp the whole meaning because we have nothing to compare it to. God had never done this before!
John 4:24 tells us God is a Spirit!
And this Spirit decided to come to earth as a man and I Tim. 3:16 tells us:
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.
The Apostle John tried to help us understand what God did in the manger in
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,…….
Jesus Christ the eternal God and creator of this world became flesh for one reason: to save our souls!
God Almighty , mixed his divine nature with human nature to become the sacrifice for our sins… he paid the price for my soul!
Folks! W/O Jesus Christ, there would be no Christmas!
This time of the year would be just like any other time of the year.
-just another month of the yr; just another day on the calendar
There would be no special SS program or banquets
There would be no lights on houses or decorated trees
There would be no wrapped presents under the tree or manger scenes in our living rooms.
W/O Christ there would be no “eggnog” or caroling from house to house.
W/O Christ, Dec. 25th would be just like March 15th or Aug. 12th, nothing special to most people!
I realize Jesus was not born on Dec. 25th, it was more than likely in late Sept or early October but Dec. 25th is a unique day in our hearts because we remember, he was born for our sakes.
- He was born for our salvation.
- He came to “seek and to save the lost” of this earth.
Think about Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
There would have been no Acts 4:12 if God had not come in the flesh for our salvation. -W/O Christ, we’d just be born, live for awhile and then die
-it would all be over with, possibly no eternity
-no hope, no mansions in glory, no eternal rewards
But because of Jesus Christ, I have the chance to be saved.
I have the opportunity to spend eternity with him.
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Charles Wesley would have never pinned the word to “Hark, the Herald Angel sing” w/O Christ.
“O Little town of Bethlehem” or “The First Noel” would be meaningless.
O Come ye Faithful and Joy to the World wouldn’t make any sense.
How can we sing about “Away in the manger” if there was no baby?
Certainly songs like “Silent Night” or “When we all get to Heaven” would have never been written w/o Jesus Christ being born.
W/O Christ, we have no salvation!
“ “ “ “ no hope of glory!
“ “ “ “ no reason to celebrate!
Just think! If you took the name of Jesus out of the Bible and the story of the Incarnation out of the Word of God, what would you have left?
- Nice stories, some history and some words of encouragement
- But it would read like any other novel
God wrapping himself in flesh and coming as a babe in the manger for our salvation makes the Bible different than any other book written.
- The Word washed me when I read or hear it
- The Word gives me strength and direction
- The Word tells me how to overcome sin and how to be saved
But W/O Jesus, it couldn’t do that!
W/O Jesus= we have nothing worthwhile!
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It got my attention when there has been a systematic effort to remove the word “Christ” out of our vocabulary this year.
They made us stop praying publicly in our schools an few years ago, and now in the Indiana State house, you can pray but you can’t mention the name of Jesus. -you have to pray generic prays about God or Lord but
you can’t mention Jesus Christ!
As I heard someone say: When you are praying, you are talking to someone.
You have to say “Jesus” or you aren’t praying to anybody!
-just talking to the wind
The world wants us to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”.
The world advertises “get your holiday trees” and your “holiday lights” instead of Christmas Tress or Christmas lights.
They want to remove Jesus Christ out of our hearts and minds and make this time of the year just like any other time.
The very word “Christian” means to be Christ-like
W/O Christ, there would be no Christians! -we would all just be sinners!
Paul writes the church in Ephesus and he describes what we would be like W/o Christ. Eph.2:2-4,12
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
But because God did come and was born as a man on this earth, we can read vs.13,14, 19
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us];
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
W/O Jesus Christ we’d just live in houses but W/Christ we are part of the household of God. -what a difference Jesus makes!
W/o Christ= No salvation
“ “ No hope of Glory!
“ “ No peace, no joy, no rejoicing.
“ “ No celebration or healing
“ “ No deliverance from addictions and carnal spirits
“ “ No songs, no worship, no godliness
“ “ Water baptisms, no HG infillings, No speaking in tongues
But with Christ, we have it all!!!!
Why would be baptize people if it weren’t for the name of Jesus Christ?
I would have to say “I now baptize you in the name of whoever might be listening to my prayer for the remission of your sins”
-how effective would that be?
John 3:16-19 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
The world wants to remove Christ out of Christmas because they are living in darkness and evil and they feel condemned every time they think of Jesus.
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Luke 2:8-14 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I want to teach us a little something this morning and not to make something out of nothing but why do you think the devil inspires people not to think about Jesus Christ?
Why doesn’t he want us to sing about Jesus, talk about him or worship him?
Actually the scripture does not say “The angels sang” at the birth of Jesus.
No time during the Lords ministry on earth does it record the Angels as singing. -the only two times they sang was once at Creation and once in
Heaven with the redeemed saints of God. (Job 38 and Rev. 5)
The 1st time they sang was when Lucifer was still in Heaven and he led the angelic choir. -Lucifer was in charge of worship.
But after Lucifer rebelled and was kicked out of Heaven, the angels had no choir director! -the Bible never records they ever sang again until the
redeemed are called home to glory in new Jerusalem.
God leaves the singing up to us!!!
Ps. 100:1,2 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Ps. 27:6 “…….I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
Ps. 47:6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing
praises.
Ps. 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Ps. 40:2,3 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, [even] praise unto our God:…..
Eph. 5:18,19 “…..be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Since the fall of Lucifer, every place in the Bile it records worship, it has to do with our redemption. -it has to do with Jesus saving our souls!!!
The Devil viciously opposes you and I in our worship and the very mention of Jesus Christ because you are taking his place when you do so!
-we have become the worship leaders
-we have become the ones who lift up the Lord
-we have been promised homes in glory
The entire story of Christmas is the story of our redemption!
W/O Christ we have no hope, no redemption, no salvation
but W/ Christ we have it all!
The angels did not sing at the 1st coming Of Jesus Christ but they will at his 2nd coming.
Until we get to Heaven, and lead the choir, all the angels can do is
“talk about it” and repeat it but until we get there as the redeemed and sing about it, they have no one to lead the way.
I think it would be great this morning if we could stand to our feet and exercise our right to sing and worship Jesus Christ.
Let’s make the angels jealous right now with our worship!
They wish they could be redeemed like you and I have.
They wish they could be filled with God’s presence like we have.
With Christ we have it all but w/o him we have nothing!
