The Significance of Christ’s Birth

Transcript

GRM 1130
12/21/2014
The Significance of Christ's Birth
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I appreciate very much your honoring us the way you do. And for me to be here 45 years is a testimony of God's love and grace manifested to Marilyn and me through you as a congregation. Not many pastors have the privilege of being treated so well and cared for so well and encouraged so much as we have had. When I came 45 years ago I shared then with the people that I had but one commitment that we will go wherever the Word takes us and sometimes that has taken us to places we may not have expected. But you have been faithful and always encouraged me to be faithful in the Word, supported me in the ministry of the Word and that has made my ministry a blessing to me, that I could enjoy ministering the Word to a people so responsive and encouraging and greatly appreciated it. And I've appreciated that I have not been compared to other pastors. That has been a great help. There are strengths, there are weaknesses and I appreciate you've chosen to overlook and fill in for my weaknesses, and that has enabled us to have a ministry together.

Let's have a word of prayer before we look into the Word. Lord, You are a God of great grace, great blessing. You have brought us to Yourself, You have cleansed us and made us new, You have brought us together as your family in this place. You have blessed me with the privilege of ministering Your Word here over the many years, You have blessed me with a family of believers who is responsive and receptive to the Word. Lord, a family where we can grow together, serve together and Lord, be a testimony of Your grace in our lives. And we give You praise. As we look into the Word today, Lord, again encourage our hearts, thrill our hearts as we are reminded of the significance of the birth of Your Son, what happened 2,000 years ago. It is of the utmost importance to each one of us, Lord, as Your children we can rejoice as we are reminded again of the gift of Your Son to be our Savior. We pray in His name, amen.

Highlighting those things connected to the incarnation of Jesus Christ today. I want to start in Job 9. We think of Job for his suffering, for the trials that God brought into his life and through it he grew and came to appreciate God and His work in a new and fuller way than he had before. But there were frustrations along the way. And in Job 9, Job begins. As you know there is a back and forth with those individuals we call his friends who came to comfort him. And the chapter opens up, “Then Job answered, in truth I know this is so,” what they had just talked about. “But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to dispute with Him, he could not answer Him once in a thousand times. Wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has defied Him without harm? He is the God who removes mountains, He overturns them in His anger, He shakes the earth.” And he goes on to talk about the greatness of God. That brings a frustration to Job's life. I need help. And so down in Job 9:32 he says, “For He is not a man as I am that I may answer him, that we now go to court together. There is no umpire between us who may lay his hand upon us both.” Job says, oh for someone who could stand between God and me. He is so great, so awesome, so powerful and I am so weak, a failure in many ways. I need someone who can stand between us.” I love the way he puts it, “put their hand between us, on me and on him,” a go-between.

When we get to Isaiah, Job goes back a long ways. Job would have been somewhere around the time of Abraham—2,000 or 2,100 years before Christ, before the Mosaic Law. He would be functioning in a different realm without nearly the fullness of revelation from God that we have. But he had this strong desire.

You come over to Isaiah, and Isaiah would be some 1500 years after Job. And we have that great anticipation, prophecy given in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Immanuel.” And in Matthew 1, the events associated with the birth of Christ, we are told He would fulfill this prophecy. And you see here, we have an indication of what Job desired, an umpire, someone who could stand between us because a virgin will conceive and bear a son. A human woman would give birth to a human son, but his name would be Immanuel, which means God with us. And an indication of the uniqueness of what would take place at the birth of Christ when God became a man. God would be born into the human race, a mystery with depths we can never comprehend. He is one person with two natures—He is God, He is man. He is not any less God, He is not any less man. He is fully God, fully man, two natures in one person. It's true. We believe it because God says it. It does not amaze me I cannot understand all that God does, but the truth of it is clear.

Come over to the New Testament to 1 Timothy 2, you read verse 5, “For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” And Job's longing is now satisfied. Oh that there was an umpire between God and me, one who can mediate between us. And in a way that only God could bring about, He provided that one to stand between God and me, one who is both God and man so He can be the perfect mediator. There is one God and one mediator also between God and men. And the stress here is on the man Christ Jesus because God became a man so He could be the One to stand between God and me, to bring us together and faithfully represent God to us and us to God.

So I want to look at several reasons for the incarnation of Christ. These are not unique and some of them could be lumped together. I think it's helpful to break out and just look at some specific things said about Christ and His incarnation. Incarnation is a word that just means “in flesh.” He became human. The vehicle for accomplishing that was the virgin birth where a human woman was caused to conceive by an act of the Spirit of God that brought about the conception of a baby who was both God and man. As we saw in a previous study, Colossians says “all the fullness of deity dwells in Him in bodily form.” Remarkable, amazing, there is nothing comparable because there is nothing like it that has ever taken place in all creation—God and man joined together as one person. I have seven reasons for the incarnation. These don't exhaust it, but they give us an example and hopefully cause us to appreciate more fully what it means that God became a man.

We'll start at the beginning. Everything we know objectively about God and even our subjective experiences with God have to be understood in light of the Word of God. So the first reason for the incarnation that I put down is to confirm God's promises. To confirm God's promises. Turn to Romans, and we will be moving around to a variety of verses today, Romans 15. Paul is writing to the church at Rome, a Gentile church that would have Jews as part of it, but it is in a Gentile city and would be primarily Gentiles. And you note what he says in verse 8, “For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision.” Here He is born and becomes a man, He did it to be a servant to the Jews, the circumcision, “on behalf of the truth of God,” note, “to confirm the promises given to the fathers. And for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy.” The Gentiles get brought into this, but it's part and parcel of what He would do for the Jews to confirm the promises of God, because you'll note how he goes on. “It is written,” where is it written? It is written in the promises given through the Old Testament. You can see those quotes from the Old Testament in verses 9, 10, 11, 12, those capital letters. And if you look in your margin, it tells you where they are drawn from in the Old Testament, that it would not only confirm promises given to the Jews, but it would confirm and enable the promises given to Gentiles, which was something the Jews would struggle with coming to grips with. Gentiles can be saved, the Old Testament promised it. “It is written.” And it is confirmed with the coming of Christ. And all the promises that are given in the Old Testament find their foundation and confirmation in Jesus Christ. That's true for the Jews, that's true for the Gentiles.

Turn over to 2 Corinthians. If you regularly attend here at Indian Hills we've started a study of 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul is explaining how sure and settled the Word of God is, the promises of God. And you'll note what he says in 2 Corinthians 1:20 and verse 19 for the context, “The Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us was not yes and no but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God in Him, Christ, they are yes. Therefore also through Him is our amen to the glory of God through us.” You see in Christ all the promises of God are sure and settled. There is no failure, there is no change, they are sure, they are settled. And what we see with the coming of Christ, His birth into the human race is the confirmation and settling for sure of all the promises of God because they are realized in Christ. They are not all fulfilled yet as we will see, but it is settled. They are confirmed as sure and thus Christ's incarnation, the very foundation is to confirm God's promises. We can go to the Old Testament and we could spend a series of sermons looking at the promises of God in the Old Testament and they come to be confirmed in Christ. And apart from Him nothing would be settled.

So that's the first one because it is foundational. If God's Word were not trustworthy, not sure, what do we have? Always have people coming up with ideas about religious activity, about worship, about church, about a relationship with God. But the Word of God is sure, it is trustworthy, it has been confirmed with the incarnation of Christ.

The second reason for the incarnation—to reveal God the Father and thus reveal God with a fullness that had not been seen before. Come back to Matthew 11:25, Christ has been going through His earthly ministry now for some time and the message concerning Him has not been accepted broadly among the Jews where He focused His attention. So He warned them of judgment. Verse 22, “It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.” Verse 24, “It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” Sodom and Gomorrah, infamous for their vile wickedness. Jesus said it would be more tolerable. Why? Because there is a greater light present, God is present in human form and they have rejected a fuller revelation than Sodom and Gomorrah ever experienced. “At that time,” verse 25, “Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” The only way to know God is through Jesus Christ. Now that's all the way we know. Everything we need to know about God is found in Jesus Christ, but there is no knowledge of the true and living God apart from Him. So He came to reveal the Father. That doesn't mean Old Testament believers were not saved, but the fullness of revelation regarding God and all that He had promised and made known in His Word now comes with a clarity and a fullness not before given. You and I are greatly blessed, I would rather live today than the day of Abraham, or Isaiah, or Daniel. We have a fullness of revelation that has come with the coming of the Son of God that they did not have before.

Turn over to John 1. Remarkable this chapter opens up, “In the beginning was the Word.” referring to Jesus Christ, “the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Our Bibles begin, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But He was already there, with God the Father. Then verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Verse 18, “No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father,” the position of intimacy and closeness, “He has explained Him.” As we noted on other occasions this Greek word translated explained, we carry over into English as exegesis. He has exegeted Him, He has explained Him, made Him known with understanding. No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He is the One who has made Him known, explained Him. Remarkable.

Come over to John 14, this is the night where Jesus is meeting with His disciples and will climax with the betrayal of Christ in the Garden and His crucifixion. Verse 7, Jesus said, “If you had known Me You would have known My Father also. From now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know me Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father?” That does not mean Jesus is the Father, He clearly distinguishes Himself from the Father, but in His very essence and nature and being He is God. And when you have seen God, you have seen God, whether it is the Son of God, God the Father or God the Spirit, the three persons comprising the one true God. But they all are of the same essence, the same nature, the same being. So it's not a matter of seeing a physical form. You have seen the very nature and character of God manifested and expressed to you. Awesome that that man walking in Israel 2,000 years ago was God in the flesh. All the fullness of deity dwells in Him in bodily form. He came to reveal the Father, to reveal God, and make Him known with a fullness and a clarity. We say, that would have been wonderful if we could have been there. It would have been, but it's wonderful that we have a completed Word from God that further explains and unfolds the truth concerning Him, that gives us a greater depth of understanding.

So the significance of that incarnation to reveal the Father and make God known in a fuller and clearer way was not just for that period of time when He walked the earth. He brought that clarity for us and now with a completed New Testament that the Spirit has guided in the writing, we have a fullness and clarity in explaining and making known these truths concerning God.

Turn over to John 17:25, “Oh righteous Father, although the world has not known you yet I have known you, and these have known that you sent Me. I have made your name known to them.” Your name is an expression of your person, your character, your nature. “I have made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love with which you loved Me may be in them and I in them.” You see God has made the Father known in a way that He could not be known before, with a fullness that could not be known. And so that we could be brought into an intimate relationship with God on a level and a depth that could not be known apart from Christ. “So that the love with which you loved Me may be in them and I in them.” Verse 22, “The glory which you have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one.” He has brought us, we talk about into the family of God. He is our Father. Peter can write, we have become partakers of the divine nature, not that we have become deity but His very character is being developed in us, which we see in the fruit of the Spirit as God the Spirit develops the character of God in us. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and said, as we are beholding in a mirror, the mirror of the Word of God, we are beholding the image of the glory of Christ. We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Christ came to reveal the Father with a fullness and clarity and so that the character of the living God might be produced and developed in us. Keep that in mind as we move through some other points. He came to reveal the Father.

Thirdly, He came to be a faithful high priest. This and the next point are closely joined together, but I have separated them out. He came to be a faithful high priest. Turn over to Hebrews, we had the privilege of studying Hebrews together recently. Hebrews 2. Christ came to be a faithful high priest is one of the reasons for the incarnation. And Hebrews 2:14, “Therefore since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same.” Then come down to verse 17, we'll come back to the other part of this in a moment. “Therefore He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.” The incarnation was absolutely necessary for Christ to become our high priest. You'll note what verse 16 says, “For assuredly He does not give help to angels.” He does not function as high priest on behalf of angels. He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. He entered the human race, He did not take upon Himself angelic beings, He took upon Himself humanity. He did not become an angel, He became a man.

So you understand there is no salvation for angels who sinned. God is not obligated to show mercy, but as consistency with His character demands, He must be just and show justice. The angels will experience justice but they will not receive saving mercy. They have no high priest. Christ became a man so He could become our high priest, a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. So He had to be made like His brethren, those who would be redeemed.

Turn over to Hebrews 4:14, “Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” His high priestly ministry continues and in Hebrews 7:25 we are told that we have the confidence that we are saved forever because He ever lives to make intercession for us. He carries on His high priestly ministry down to this very day. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted or tested in all things as we are, yet without sin. You see He became a man. Job said, such power and He can remove mountains, He can shake the earth, He can do all this, but I am weak and frail. Now we have a high priest who had the frailty of humanity. He walked this earth, He knew suffering, He knew pain, He knew hardship, He never sinned. But He had to endure the weaknesses of being human. Remember on the cross He said, I thirst. The weakness, the frailty, the suffering, the pain, yet without sin.

Well we have a high priest, He can identify with me. I'm but a man, a human being. How do I connect and relate to Almighty, all powerful God? We have a high priest, He's a man, He's also God. So He can connect. We are back to Job, oh that there were an umpire between us who can lay His hand on God and on me to make that connection. And we have it, we have the high priest. He became a man so He could be our faithful high priest.

And I've separated it as point 4, He became a man to put away sin. This is obviously part of His high priestly ministry. The main part of a high priest's ministry is sacrifice for sin. But that high priestly ministry connected to His humanity. And so turn over to Hebrews 9, then we'll come back to Hebrews 2. Hebrews 9:26, here he is contrasting the high priestly ministry of Christ with the ministry of the high priest in the Old Testament under the Mosaic Law. That high priest had to offer that sacrifice every year on the Day of Atonement. But Christ has offered a sacrifice with finality to it. “If not,” verse 26, “otherwise He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the consummation of the ages.” All that had been prophesied and anticipated now is going to focus in on the coming of Christ. That's why it is the consummation of the ages, but it's not the final realization of all that is promised. But without His being manifested, taking to Himself humanity to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, the other promises could not be realized. But there is still a future to be realized dimension, and he talks about that in verse 28 when He will come again in power and great glory, which we will talk about in a moment.

So He has been manifested. What does that mean? God became man and now God is manifested. We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him, exegeted Him, made Him known with fullness and clarity. He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That's why He had to become a man. He had to die as mankind's representative.

Back in Hebrews 2:17, “He was made like His brethren in all things so He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” The word propitiation simply means satisfaction. He had to satisfy the demands and requirements of a holy God and justice. The wages of sin is death, how are we going to pay that? The penalty for sin is death, how are we going to pay it? Sadly some people think it's by being baptized, joining a church, punishing their physical body. We have all kinds of ideas in the religious realm, they are foolish. The wages of sin is death. That's why God had to become a man. We were all conceived in sin, David said, in sin did my mother conceive me. That means we were born sinners because we are descendants of Adam and Eve and their fallen sinful nature corrupted humanity. That is passed on, passed on. So we are all born in sin. And the wages of sin is death. So how are we going to escape? That includes physical, spiritual and eternal death. The only answer is God has to intervene and do something we could not do for ourselves. I can't offer a sacrifice for you, no one else can do it. There is only one high priest who offered a sacrifice.

Come back to Matthew 20:28, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.” Give His life a ransom for many, the sacrifice of Christ. That's why He came. The eternal Son of God who created all things, who sustains all things came not to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many, do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Come back to 1 Timothy 2. We are to pray for all peoples at all levels—kings, those in authority and so on. “This is good,” 1 Timothy 2:3, “and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” God is our Savior and all three persons of the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—are involved in our salvation. “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth? For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” With “the many” and “the all” we saw in Matthew 20:28, “give Himself a ransom for the many,” that sometimes is referred to as a Hebreism for all. Used that way in Romans 5 and so on. Here He is a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. He came, He died, His salvation is a provision. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” He came to give Himself a ransom for all, to deal with sin, to pay the penalty for sin. 1 John 3:5, same statement. We think of this right at the heart. Why was Christ born in Bethlehem? “Unto you this day in the city of David is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” This is the heart, I have it as our fourth reason here, puts it right at the heart of these seven because it is central to everything.

But a fifth reason for the incarnation is He came to destroy the works of the devil. Come back to Hebrews 2 again. You see how connected these are because we've read parts of a verse to break it out into different reasons, but they are all inter-related and inter-connected. He came to destroy the works of the devil. In Hebrews 2:14, we read the first part of the verse, “therefore since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same.” Why? “That through death,” relates to the necessity of Him being born a man to die, “He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Might render powerless, broke the power of the devil. If you have become a believer in Jesus Christ, you know what it is to be free. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed; free from slavery to sin, free from slavery to the devil, free from the fear of death because just as our Savior has victory over death in His resurrection, some day He will call our physical bodies to enjoy His presence forever.

He came to render powerless, katargeo, to break the power, to render inoperative in that sense. Doesn't mean the devil doesn't try to assert himself, but his power over me as a believer is broken, over you as a believer is broken. Understand the whole world lies in the evil one. Jesus told the most religious people of his day, the Jews, “you are of your father the devil and you always do his will.” Terrible thing to be, lost and enslaved to sin and Satan. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

Come over to 1 John 3:8, “The one who practices sin is of the devil, the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” Break his power, destroy his works, bring judgment on him. In John 12:31 Jesus said, “Now is judgment upon the devil,” as He anticipates His crucifixion. In Christ his power is broken and ultimately he will be destroyed in an eternal hell in connection with the Second Coming of Christ which we will mention in a moment.

The sixth reason Christ came was to give us an example of a holy life. You have to be careful with some of these. People take them out of context and twist them. You cannot be saved and try to live a holy life, you cannot be saved like trying to live like Christ lived. But those who have been redeemed by Christ now are to manifest His character in the way they live. So come back to 1 Peter 2, in this context he is talking about our conduct. Verse 11, “Remember what you are, aliens and strangers. Keep your behavior among the Gentiles” and so on. “Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution,” and he goes on to talk about the responsibility we have to live in the order God has placed us, to be obedient to the authority over us. If it's the king, if it's governors, whatever, this is the will of God, verse 15. We have been set free in Christ but don't use your freedom as a covering for evil, use it as a slave of God, and as a slave of God I do what He tells me. So I don't say, I'm not enslaved to man so I don't have to obey the President or the governor or the mayor or whoever, in our anti-authoritative state of mind these days. No, I'm a slave of God so I do what He wants. “Servants be submissive to your masters, not only those who are good and gentle but those who are unreasonable,” twisted, vile. This finds favor. If when you do good and people pat you on the back but when you do good and you are mistreated, now you have a chance to manifest the character of Christ. The end of verse 20, “If when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose since Christ suffered for you leaving you an example,” not of how to be saved but how to live as a saved person. “He committed no sin nor was any deceit found in His mouth. While being reviled He did not revile in return; while suffering He uttered no threats, He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously.” That went to the point of suffering the horrific death of crucifixion on the cross, and even on the cross as He is hanging there in all that agony He said, “Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing.”

Now I have a lesson to learn. I like to talk about the coming of Christ and yes, I've understood and believed in Him. Then I come here and find out that's not so pleasant. You don't understand what they did to me. You don't understand how I've been treated. You don't understand how unfair it is. But I don't have to understand it, someone else doesn't have to understand it. Christ understands it. What did He do? “He entrusted Himself,” the end of verse 23, “to Him who judges righteously.” My life is in His hands. This slave being mistreated by a twisted master who is perverse doesn't have to lash out, doesn't have to threaten. My God is in control of my life, He has put me here. I honor Him, show that I serve Him by my obedience, by the manifestation of the character of my Savior who suffered far more than I could ever suffer. And yet He did it graciously, He did it with respect. When He talked to Pilate the Roman governor, He did not thunder threats against him, He simply told him how it is.

It all comes down, sometimes even we as believers like to talk about the coming of Christ and we can tell the unbeliever He came to take away sin. And all that is true, but He came to show me how to live. That ought to be evident in all my relationships. A little harder to put that into practice, but He came to be an example, leaving you an example to follow. I handled this like Christ would have. It was not right, but I leave that in the hands of God. I have to function as I should function to please my Savior.

Come over to Philippians 2. And the example here, “You do nothing,” verse 3, “from selfishness, empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourself. Don't look out for your own personal interests but for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” So indeed Christ is to be my example. What did He do? He humbled Himself. He wasn't conceited, He wasn't self-centered, He wasn't looking out for what was best for Him. He was looking at how He could faithfully serve and carry out the will of God. So have this attitude in yourself. He humbled Himself and became obedient, even to the point of death. We follow His example.

It solves things, doesn't it? It helps us as a body to function together, doesn't it. We keep thinking how gracious God is, how wonderful this person is, that person is. And I appreciate God has brought them into my life, and they do things. And I say, how could they be so unthoughtful? How could they be so ungracious? And I say, Lord, you have been so kind to me. My Savior endured so much and my life is in your hands. Help me to function as I should, to learn from this as I should, to grow, to be like my Savior who came to give us an example of a holy life.

And last but not least, and we're just going to mention it because I intend to elaborate on this in the next sermon, to prepare for the Second Advent. It's not over. The foundation has been laid, the work is being carried out, but you remember the One who was born at Bethlehem was born king of the Jews. And later when the magi from the East came, where is He who has been born King of the Jews? We have come to worship Him. The prophecies said He would rule and reign, but He had to first suffer and die so there would be a redeemed people who could reign with Him over a redeemed creation. So He came to prepare the way for the Second Advent. He could not come and establish a kingdom for the righteous if He did not first come and provide righteousness by His death on the cross.

The birth of Jesus Christ to the virgin at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago is an awesome event. And why it had to occur should be impressed on our hearts and minds. It shapes the way we live and enables us to know God; above all it enables us to belong to God, to know what forgiveness really is, to know the love of God as manifested in Christ. Born to die so that we might live.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your Son. And, Lord, it is a great blessing in these days when so much of the attention of the world is taken up with Christmas. Lord, it provides a wonderful opportunity for us to talk to people. It is an event worth celebrating, it is an event that is a cause of great joy, it is an event that is to bring peace to the hearts and minds of troubled people. It is the coming to earth of the One who would be the Savior. Lord, may the truth of the incarnation grip our hearts and minds. I pray for any who are here who don't know this wonderful Savior, that this may be a day when they turn to Him from their sin, trust in His death and resurrection as payment in full, and come to know you in a way they have never known before. Lord, may we who have trusted in Him take to heart the truth of the incarnation and what it means for us day by day as we live for you. Thank You for all Your blessings. Bless the rest of this day, we pray in Christ's name, amen.