A Savior for the Nations | The Gift

Merry Christmas, church family. I know it's a

few days beforehand, but we can still say it.

It's all good. It is so good to sing those Christmas

hymns together, right? I said it last week, I'll

say it again. They are chock full of good biblical

theology. When you look at them, they are full

of good theology. We often sing them out of memory

from childhood or tradition, but it's good to

really look and to see what we're singing. And

anytime we come together and sing as a church

family, sing good theology, not only is it a

blessing to us, but it's a pleasing sound before

the Lord. Now that last song that Micah and the

worship team led us in, O Come All Ye Faithful,

that is definitely a classic. It was written

back in the year 1743. And it's wonderful. It

even makes reference to language in the Nicene

Creed. Can you believe that? God of God, light

of light, begotten, not... So honestly, that

is a song that we could sing any time of the

year, not just at Christmas. Now, there's another

song that I'm a huge fan of with a very similar

title that we also sing here at Oak Hill. It's

called O Come All You What? Unfaithful. Obviously,

a take on the classic hymn. And I remember when

that song first came out back in 2020, I had

to do a double take on the title because I thought

it was a typo. I thought somebody made a mistake.

But then Bob Coughlin explained how the title

and the lyrics of that song came about. And basically

what he said was, I was looking for Christmas

songs that had two things connected to it. First

of all, carrying the proper spirit of celebration

that goes with Christmas time, with the birth

of Christ. But then he said also lyrics that

would speak to the hearts of those who are struggling

to enter into the joy of the season because of...

Things like pain or loss. Or because of simply

feeling unworthy of God's love. And Coughlin

said this. He said, I wanted those folks to know

that Christ was born for them. That Christ was

born for them. So you hear in his song these

lyrics. Oh, come all you unfaithful. Come, know

that you're not alone. See what your God has

done. What an important statement. Now compare

those lyrics with the 18th century hymn that

declares, with great positivity, O come all ye

faithful, joyful, and triumphant. Great positivity.

Now, is there a disconnect between those two

songs? Not at all. Any of us who are found in

Christ this morning can shout that truth. I am

joyful. I am triumphant, even in the midst of

pain and struggle. Why? Because if we're found

in Christ positionally, That's what we actually

are because of what God has done for us. So again,

we can say those things, right? We can talk about

being joyful and triumphant because positionally

in Christ, that's actually what we are. but only

because of what God has done for us in Christ.

So those two songs fit beautifully together.

And that is what we want to celebrate this morning

here in our final service of the Advent season,

our Christmas service, if you will. We want to

celebrate what our God has done for us in giving

us the gift of his son. It is a gift, listen

now, that none of us deserved, but everyone in

this room needed. None of us deserve, but we

all need it. And let's just go ahead and get

this straight before we go any further. Think

about this. God the Father did not send us just

an idea or a concept to be rationalized and understood.

God the Father didn't send us just a doctrine

to be believed. He sent His one and only Son

in person, in the flesh and blood of humanity,

born into the drama of human history. The Creator...

who spoke galaxies into existence, willingly

chose to empty himself and to draw near to the

creatures that he himself made. That's why we

call it the greatest story ever told. There's

nothing like it in all of human history. Try

to grasp the level of humility that that choice

that God the Son made in order to come to earth.

Divinity taking on humanity. Do we understand

what a step down that is? Limiting himself. The

infinite becoming finite. The unbreakable suddenly

fragile. The eternal one stepping into time.

Omnipotence becoming dependent. The almighty

choosing weakness. The beloved now experiencing

hate. His glory subjected to shame from a throne

to a cross. The eternal immortal God experiencing

earthly suffering and physical death. Honestly,

it's beyond human comprehension. And yet each

year, this holiday that we call Christmas demands

that we do everything we can within our power

to try to grasp and understand the immensity

of God's love in this. That should be a regular

practice of ours. Had the word not become flesh,

there would be no salvation. Had the word not

become flesh, you and I would still be in our

sins. We would have no hope in this life or in

the next. So what a gift. What a gift we've been

given. And by the way, this is the entire reason

why we give gifts to one another at Christmas.

So parents in particular, if you've forgotten

that, recapture that. that concept of giving

gifts because of the great gift that's been given

to us. Amen? All right. You got John 1 open?

Oh, look at this. I'm going to keep going. Here

we go. John 1. Here we go. Now, you've already

heard this passage read this morning in our call

to worship. We're going to do it again. Repetition

is one of the most important parts of Bible study.

So we're going to read it again. This is a well

-known passage, and rightfully so, because it

is so chock -full of theology, essential theology.

And also, as we go through it, listen to all

of the little nuggets about the wonder of Christmas

in this passage. John 1, verse 1. In the beginning

John 1:1

was the Word, and the Word was with God, and

the Word was God. He was in the beginning with

God. All things, how many things? All things

came into being through him. And in case you

didn't quite understand what John's saying, he

goes on. And apart from him, nothing came into

being that has come into being. Which is a great

proof that Jesus was not created. He's eternal.

Because everything that came into being came

into being through him. Nothing else was possible

because he himself is the creator. Verse 4, in

him was life and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness

did not comprehend it. There came a man sent

from God whose name was John. That's John the

Baptist. He came as a witness to testify about

the light so that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but he came to testify

about the light. There was the true light which

coming into the world enlightens every man. He

was in the world and the world was made through

him and the world did not know him. He came to

his own, right? The Jewish people and those who

were his own did not receive him. But as many

as received him, praise God for that, right?

To them he gave the right to become children

of God, even to those who believe in his name.

Who were born, not of blood, nor the will of

the flesh, nor the will of man, but born of God.

Here's the key section we'll focus on this morning.

Verse 14. And the word became, sarx in the Greek,

became flesh. And dwelt among us. And we saw

his glory. Glory as of the only begotten from

the Father, full of both grace and truth. John

testified about him and cried out. saying, this

was he of whom I said, he who comes after me

has a higher rank than I, for he existed before

me. For of his fullness we have all received,

and grace upon grace. For the law was given through

Moses, grace and truth were realized through

Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time,

the only begotten God, let me say that again,

the only begotten God. who is in the bosom of

the Father, he has explained him. Now, more than

anything else in that last section, I want you

to look at verse 18. Jesus Christ, the word,

has explained God to us. Some translations say

he has revealed God to us or he has made God

known to us. Do we realize the importance of

that statement? Do we realize it? Think about

this. How can a finite creature like you or me

understand an infinite being like God? How is

that even possible? How can we know anything

about such a glorious being who is outside of

our world, outside of time and space, beyond

it, transcend it? How could we know anything?

And the answer is God would have to make himself

known. That's it. That's the only way. He would

have to take the initiative to make himself known

to us. And by stepping into time, by taking on

flesh, by dwelling among us, Jesus has both revealed

God to us and explained him to us in the most

personal way possible. So there'd be no confusion.

This is who God is. Now, in celebration of Christmas,

I want to... take some time today to note something

very powerful about these last five verses, verses

14 to 18. After years of studying this chapter,

and it is one of the key chapters in all of Scripture,

I am convinced that John is subtly but intentionally

making a connection between what he says here

and some of the most important chapters in the

entire Hebrew Old Testament. And friends, listen,

this is one of the great proofs of the inspiration

of Scripture that Two writings thousands of years

apart can see these themes run through them from

Old to New Testament to see all these connections

being made. This is one of the great proofs of

the inspiration of Scripture. These verses in

chapter 1 of John's Gospel make a series of allusions

to one of the most important sections of the

Torah. In Exodus 32, 33, and 34. Now, I'm going

to summarize this story for you. Many of you

know it. You're familiar with it. But I'll summarize

what's going on, and then we'll come back to

John 1 and make some observations. In Exodus

32, remember, Moses has gone up on Mount Sinai

to receive the law and to meet with Yahweh. And

while he's gone, the people down below at the

base of the mountain, they grow impatient, don't

they? They're not even sure Moses is ever coming

back. What if he just dies up there? What are

we going to do? So the restless mob at the base

of the mountain begins to talk about going down

a different path of worship. Maybe we need to

find a new God, they think to themselves. And

as we read the story, to our absolute shock and

surprise, they recruit Aaron, of all people,

to help them in their rebellion. And being weak

and unable to stand up to the people, or maybe

he's just afraid of the demands that the mob

is making, Aaron suggests that everybody throw

in their gold bits all into one pot, and they'll

fashion a golden image that can be worshipped.

And they throw all their gold into the fire,

and from that fire, they come out with this golden

calf to worship, insisting now, well, this calf

now represents the true gods who have brought

us out of Egypt. Can you imagine that? Of course,

Moses does finally come down from the mountain,

right? As he's descending, he hears the sound

of what? Singing and dancing in the camp. And

then he sees this horrific golden idol. Now remember,

he's just been in the presence of Yahweh. And

now he sees this false image. And you can imagine

how enraged he would be by this absolute blasphemy.

But Moses' rage is nothing compared to God's

righteous anger. The Lord says to Moses, basically,

he says, Moses, get out of the way. I'm going

to destroy this people completely. But Moses,

and I would highly recommend you read this, beautifully

intercedes for his people before the throne of

grace. And God in his sovereignty relents. He

decides not to destroy them entirely, although

he does pour out his wrath, doesn't he? 3 ,000

Israelites are executed by the sword that day.

The rest of the guilty are struck by a plague.

In the following chapter, then chapter 33, Moses

meets with God face -to -face outside of the

camp in a place that the Bible calls the tent

of meeting. It's the precursor to the tabernacle,

which will soon be built. And in this tent of

meeting, we actually get to hear Moses' petition

before God. In effect, here's what he asks. He

says, Lord, these are your people. These are

your people. You chose them. You brought them

out of Egypt. You called me to lead them, and

yet you haven't told me yet whom you will send

with me to lead and deliver them. And I think

what's going on here is pretty simple. Remember,

Aaron had once gone with Moses, been his mouthpiece

when they went to confront Pharaoh, right? But

guess what? Aaron is completely compromised now.

by this grave sin. And so Moses is before the

Lord now feeling very alone in his leadership

of this rebellious people. So he continues in

prayer, Lord, if you're pleased with me, show

me your ways so that I will know how I can continue

to find favor with you. In other words, make

it clear to me what your plan is, God, so that

I can lead these people. I can walk in your paths

and make you love this people more. And Yahweh

graciously responds to Moses' request. I love

this. God could easily have judged Moses, oh,

you of little faith, right? But he's gracious

to Moses, and he says, my presence will go with

you, Moses, and I will give you rest. And that's

great, but then Moses asks for even more assurance.

He very bluntly says to Yahweh, look, if your

presence doesn't go with us, please don't take

us up from here. Don't take us anywhere away

from this mountain. If you won't go with me,

I don't want to go. And again, God could be very

harsh on Moses and say, did you not hear what

I just said? But he responds graciously again.

He says, I will do the very thing that you've

asked, Moses. Because I am pleased with you and

I do know you by name. Now, had I been Moses

in that moment, I would have said amen and amen

and I would have moved forward. That's enough

for me, Lord. But Moses has one more request.

And I guess because he just heard the God of

the universe say, I know you by name and I'm

pleased with you, he's going to push the envelope.

What does he say? He says, please show me your

glory. Wow, what a request. And I think that

is so instructive for us. In that moment, Moses

doesn't ask for some self -serving miracle, right?

He doesn't ask for more comfort or for more material

things like, hey, we could use some more food

or easier access to water. None of those things.

What he asks for is a greater manifestation of

God. a greater understanding of him, to somehow

see and know the Lord to a greater degree than

he already has. And you get a sense that Moses

knows that if I'm going to lead this rebellious

people, that's the thing I need more than anything

else is to see your glory. So a third time, Yahweh

is gracious to this man. He says, I will make

all of my goodness pass before you. He says,

okay, you want to see my glory? I will make all

of my goodness pass before you. Now, to me, that's

wild. When God thinks of his own glory in relation

to us, he thinks of his goodness. That's why

we talk about it a lot at Oak Hill. And then

God adds this, and I will proclaim before you

my name. Yahweh, I am. And so Moses, I will do

those two things. I will make my goodness pass

before you. I will proclaim my name before you.

And in doing so, you will gain a sense of my

infinite, eternal nature and glory. And then

the famous scene that we probably all know, it

comes to pass. Moses goes up on the mountain

and he hides in the cleft of a rock formation.

And try to imagine in your mind's eye what this

must have been like. Appearing as what we call

a theophany, In some kind of visible form, God

descends in the cloud and he says he stands on

the mountain. And he somehow covers Moses' eyes

as he passes by. And as he passes by, he then

removes his hands so that Moses can just see

the trailing edge of the afterglow of his glory.

What a sight. Man, I hope somehow in heaven we

get to see this, right? That same image. And

what are the words that God then speaks as he

passes by? He describes himself. He says, Yahweh,

Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow

to anger and abounding in steadfast love and

faithfulness. What a scene. What a scene. Now,

come back to John's gospel. What if I told you

that the Christmas story has elements in it that

are parallel to the story we just walked through?

And that John intentionally, subtly for sure,

but intentionally is pointing us back to those

things and making this connection between Old

and New Testament. I'm going to give you four

ways that I think that that is true. Look at

verse 14 again. John 1, 14. The word became flesh

and dwelt among us. Now, the word there, and

you may know this if you've studied this particular

verse, really doesn't speak of a dwelling. That's

not the best word. It actually speaks of a tabernacle.

The Greek verb there, skenao, literally means

to set a tabernacle. And what's interesting about

this word is it's only found five times in the

New Testament, here in John, and then four times

in the book of Revelation. And in those four

times, it is always referring to the place of

God's glorious presence in the heavenly realms.

Think about that. It's always describing... God's

glorious throne in the heavenly realms, but here

it talks about the tabernacle of Jesus on earth.

So catch what John is saying. At the birth of

Christ, a concentrated manifestation of the very

tabernacle of almighty God came down from heaven

to earth. That's wild. That is absolutely wild.

A divine place was established on earth where

mankind could meet with God face to face, just

as Moses met face to face with Yahweh in the

temple of unattentive meeting. Wow. Now, the

form of it was quite different between Old and

New Testament, right? In the Old Testament, God

appeared as this massively intimidating pillar

of cloud. Here in the gospel accounts, Jesus

appears. wait for it, as an infant. That's wild.

You couldn't make this story up, right? And then,

of course, later as a very real adult human being.

And yet, in that adult human being, we know that

even in that familiar form, that was God the

Son tabernacling with us on the earth. Do you

remember what Jesus said to the Jews in the temple

courts in John 2 when he's... turns over the

tables. He says, destroy this temple and in three

days I will raise it again. And everybody laughed.

Do you not know how long it took to build this

thing? Obviously he wasn't talking about the

physical structure he was standing in. He was

referring to his own body. So where is the meeting

place that we have with God today? It's at the

throne of grace mediated by Christ. Where's the

place of sacrifice and reconciliation? Today,

it's found in Christ alone and finished in his

once -for -all sacrifice. Where is the locus

of God's people today? In his body, the church.

Just as the tabernacle was the place where God

dwelt among his people, where he manifested his

glory, so now we have Jesus who is Emmanuel,

God with us. God with us. And just as the tabernacle

was at the center of Israel's camp, so Christ

is at the center of the church today. And just

as the sacrifices and worship were offered at

the tabernacle, so Jesus is our complete and

final sacrifice and we worship God through him.

It all comes back to Christ, doesn't it? Spurgeon

once said this, he said, if God has come to dwell

among men by the word made flesh, Well, then

let's pitch our tents around this central tabernacle.

Do not let us live as if God were a long way

off because he isn't. When I step back and I

look at the incarnation, to me, one of the things

that amazes me the most is that almighty God

desires to come close to his people. He wants

to be close to his people. He didn't say, hey,

I'm up here and you got to search for me. He

came to us. He took the initiative. That's a

mind -blowing concept. John Piper once wrote

this. He said, if you come into a community and

you build a huge palace with a wall around it,

that says something about your desire to be with

the people. But if you pitch a tent in my backyard,

you will probably use my bathroom and eat at

my table. He says, this is why God became human.

He came to pitch a tent in our human backyard

so that we would have a lot of dealings with

him. There's a lot of truth in that. Second thing

to see here between Exodus and John's gospel.

Again, recall Moses' grandiose request of God.

Show me your glory, Lord. And he did. But we

think that's a one -time event, right? That could

never happen again. That's too big. God wouldn't

give anybody but Moses the opportunity to see

his glory, right? But he actually did. He actually

did. John declares it right there in verse 14.

He says, we saw his glory. We had the same opportunity

as Moses. Now he's speaking on behalf of himself

and the apostles, those who walk with Jesus on

the earth. He says, we have seen his glory. We

beheld him, says the old King James. We carefully

observed everything that he said, everything

that he did, and the story of Jesus' earthly

ministry is glory. Glory in his life, glory in

his words, glory in his teaching, glory in his

miracles, and yes, glory in the cross. Glory

in the cross. In spite of the misery and the

shame and the violence of his suffering and execution.

Listen. Oh, man. Get emotional about this. More

than any other place, it's on the cross where

God the Son says to us, watch, I will let my

goodness pass before you. He did that on the

cross. Look to the cross. My goodness will pass

before you in the midst of that awful scene that

we hate to picture in our minds. That is the

goodness of God. Have you taken note of that

goodness? Have you heard his voice in the gospels?

Jesus, Jesus, the compassionate and gracious

God. Jesus, slow to anger. Jesus, abounding in

steadfast love and faithfulness. Just like the

Exodus account. Third thing, look at verse 16.

From his fullness we have all received. Grace

upon grace. Now, if you've ever done a word study

on that phrase, you'll understand it's not actually

the most, it's not the best translation. The

Greek word in the middle of the two graces there

is enti. It's a preposition that's used to describe

a contrast. It's usually translated as instead

of or in place of. And this is really what I

believe John's getting at in verse 16. In Christ,

he says, we have all received grace in place

of grace. Grace in place of grace. Now, what

could he mean by that? Well, the next verse tells

us, verse 17. For the law was given through Moses.

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Do

you see this? John is connecting the incarnation

with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Now,

he's not saying there was no grace under Moses

and it's all grace under Jesus. In fact, what

he's trying to communicate is this. The law was

a gracious gift to the Israelites. The law was

a gracious gift. Paul confirms that in Romans

7. He says the law is holy, righteous, and good.

But always remember the purpose of the law. It

was given as a tutor, as a teacher, to lead us

to Christ, to lead us to justification by faith

alone. So that was a gracious act on behalf of

Yahweh to reveal his law to his people through

Moses. And now, as the new covenant people of

God, you ready? We've received grace in place

of that grace. In fact, even greater grace in

the place of the grace of God's law given to

Moses. John's making that connection there for

us. It's always been grace. But in Christ, we

have even greater grace. Isn't that awesome?

Finally, the fourth observation. We're told in

Exodus 33 that nobody can see the face of God

and live. Very clearly. That's why Moses had

to be hidden in the cleft of the rock. That's

why his eyes had to be covered. But now look

at John 1, verse 18. Again, no one has seen God

John 1:18

at any time, John says. But the only begotten

God, some translations say, God the only son,

who's in the bosom of the father, who's at the

father's side, he has explained him. He has made

him known. Hallelujah, right? That's what humanity

needed above all else, to have God made known

to us. And because the son is the eternal word,

the eternal word, who was with God in the beginning

and who is God himself, who better to explain

God? He can explain God perfectly because he

himself is God. As we're told in Colossians 1

and Hebrews 1, the son is the image of the invisible

God, his absolute icon. He's the radiance of

God's glory, the exact representation of his

being in nature. There's no question about what

the New Testament says about the attributes of

the son. And just as a word explains an unseen

thought, so Jesus the word explains the nature

of the unseen God to us so that we no longer

have to wonder what God is like. The only way

you can see the face of God and live is by looking

at his son and God has made that possible through

the gift of Christmas. You see the immensity

of this truth? What Christmas really is, I know

the stockings and the lights and I get it. As

Grant said earlier, those are graces that we

can enjoy. Guys, this story is so big and so

awesome. And so as we wrap up the Christmas season,

let me remind you, let me remind you of the why.

The why behind Christmas. What was God's motive

in all this? You really want to be grateful this

Christmas? Ask the question. What was the motive?

And the why behind the incarnation is very simple.

It's love. And not the love that we produce,

the fallible love that we think of when we think

of love. This is a different love. This is divine

love. Something that this side of heaven we can't

really process, but we should try. This is perfect

love. This is merciful love. This is saving love.

This is redeeming love. This is reconciling love.

It's adopting love. And we need every bit of

it because without God's love in Christ, every

one of us would be overwhelmed by slavery to

sin and we'd all be destined to eternal condemnation.

We'd be moving each and every day, not towards

God, but away from him towards decay and death.

That is the stark contrast of Christmas or no

Christmas. But here's the good news. This is

the gospel. We just read about it in John 1.

God loved humanity too much to just let us go

down that path. The great church father, Athanasius,

used this analogy in his brilliant work. If you

don't know, Athanasius wrote a book called On

the Incarnation. Highly recommend it. Fourth

century, amazing theology. And he says, imagine

this. Imagine a city has been captured by bandits.

Would not any king go and liberate that city?

Driving the bandits out? Would not any king do

that? Of course, you would think. But in this

case, he says, there is no human king with an

army that has enough firepower to drive away

the bandits of sin. Its hold on the city is too

strong. Therefore, God couldn't just give the

mission to a human king. God himself had to liberate

that city. God had to do it himself. That is

true. No other king could free you. No other

king but Jesus could free you. No other being

but God himself could be your substitute. able

to pay the eternal debt for your sin. No other

being but a perfect man could be your substitute

to represent your imperfect humanity on the cross.

Only the divine word can do all that. True God

and true man, the one through whom all things

were made, he alone can repair and recreate what

has fallen into corruption. Because he's the

creator, he can recreate. If you're here this

morning and you don't know him, you haven't submitted

your life to him, can I just say that the remedy

for that is stunningly simple and yet eternally

profound. Repent of your past sins. Repent of

your past sins. All of those idols that you've

been chasing in vain to fulfill your wants and

desires, but they never actually get you anywhere.

They never fulfill those wants and desires. All

of those things that you've been chasing to make

yourself happy, repent. Turn away from them and

then turn to Christ alone. Put your life in his

hands. Let his goodness pass before you and then

follow after him. It's that simple and yet so

profound, so life -changing for all eternity.

This is what the angels marvel at, you guys.

This is what they long to look into, the incarnation

and the cross and the empty tomb. They are amazed

at the gift of salvation that Christ has given

to us. And that's the message of Advent 2025,

the gift. Focus on the gift, Jesus Christ, a

savior for the nations, Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles,

all who would believe in his name. Wherever you

find yourself at the end of 2025, and I know

for some of us it's been so challenging, wherever

you find yourself today, remember that a Savior

has been born for you. Come and see what your

God has done. Amen? Let's pray together. God,

we stand in awe of you this morning. We stand

in awe, Lord, at the gift that you've given us,

so undeserved and so needed. And we stand here

this morning as a people who are so grateful,

striving to fully understand what it means to

receive this gift of salvation. And maybe, Lord,

for some of us here who haven't yet bowed their

knee, God, would you change that this morning

by your power? You're the only one that can do

it, God. Jesus, you created all things. You can

recreate. You can bring us to life. You can cause

us to be born again. And so I pray according

to your perfect will, Lord, that you might save

anyone here this morning who doesn't know you.

That's my plea, God. Father, thank you for working

in and through this church. Thank you for the

opportunity, the privilege we have to gather

to talk about this amazing story, the greatest

story ever told. And Lord, to sing praises to

your name. Help us to do that well now as we

close out our service. Talking about the light

of the world and lighting candles to your glory.

Help us to do that well now, Lord. Thank you

for all of this in the name of our Savior, Jesus

Christ, the Lord.