A gift worth understanding

Want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

You say, man, I've never heard of a Christmas story out of Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

Well, you are this morning.

By the way, yesterday was our Christmas parade, and boy, I love doing the Chelsea Christmas parade.

Brett back there was driving the truck yesterday.

And Ben and his sweet sister, by the way, Leikness is with us.

Where's she's where are there?

You are.

I want you to stand.

I know you're gonna get mad at me.

I want you to stand.

She's here.

Uh amen.

Likeness is beautiful.

And I'm excited.

She's her first semester, you know, in America.

She's uh in Missouri, is that right?

Going to school and uh scholarship.

And uh we know Ben is finishing up.

This will be his last semester at Montevala.

And uh so yesterday I was talking to both of them and asking them about their grades.

You realize Susan and I, she's still a professor.

I was a professor for almost 60, oh, 20 years.

So we always ask, what how'd you do with your grades?

Well, likeness beat Ben a few points.

Oh, sorry, Ben.

Uh I know it, I know it, but uh, but we're proud of Ben too.

And I can't wait uh his graduation in May.

So he's worked, and let me tell you what he told me yesterday that I'm really proud of.

Where's Ben?

Did he leave?

Transition?

But well, good, maybe he doesn't need to hear this.

Uh but uh I told Ben I'm so proud of him because not only is he graduating in May.

Are you ready for this?

Very few people do this.

He's graduating with his school bill totally paid.

Let's give God a hand.

Amen.

That's unheard of.

So that shows you how diligent Ben's been in working hard and just, and that takes a lot of discipline, folks, to graduate with honors and have your bill paid for, and you did it yourself through the help and the grace of God.

That is, that shows me a man that's got determination, he's got discipline, and God's gonna use him in a great way.

So thank God for Ben Delema and his family, and we're glad likeness is here spending the holidays with Ben and us.

So welcome.

But we gave out 1,100 pieces of ice cream yesterday.

Give God a hand.

Amen.

We gave out.

It was so fun to watch those kids.

And let me tell you, hey, the kids, hey, when they saw the ice cream truck, they forgot running after the candy.

They all started saying, I want ice cream, I want ice cream.

So don't tell me ice cream's not good in the wintertime.

Amen.

In fact, that Fud sickle's good anytime, and that little ice cream sandwich is good anytime.

I know I eat some.

Yeah, only 100 calories.

That's a good diet snack.

Hebrews.

If you only eat one.

Yes.

Amen.

Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

It's gonna be a great new year.

First Sunday in January.

Make a promise to the Lord that you don't want to miss the first Sunday in the new year.

Because it's very important that you start a habit.

And that first Sunday in the new year, be in church and say, Lord, by the grace of God and your help, I want to be in my church as much and as faithful as I can be this year so that I can be a major part in what God wants to do through you and our church.

Every one of you have a place.

Every one of you, you have a gift.

And let me tell you, and here's what I get all the time from people if God wants something done, he's gonna do it whether I'm involved or not.

That's not biblical.

What you just said is not biblical.

God says that we are co-laborers with him.

Every born-again Christian is a laborer with God.

And he has a place for you in the body of Christ for you, so that you can use your gifts and be very important in doing what God wants you to do in your community.

And we're all to be involved in our community, and that's what our church is all about.

And they saw that yesterday with the ice cream truck.

Being a blessing to people.

That's what we do here.

So do that.

And uh, it's gonna be a beautiful service.

We're gonna have the Lord's Supper that that morning to kick off the new year in remembrance of Him and remembering the old year, but bringing in the new year.

And God gave me a special message for us for the new year.

It was in my quiet time.

I wasn't studying to preach.

God just spoke.

I told Rick about a month ago, I said, God's really laying something strong on my heart on that first Sunday with the Lord's Supper to connect it, and it's gonna be connected with the Lord's Supper.

It fits perfectly.

It's in John 11 where Lazarus was raised from the dead.

So, we're gonna look at six lessons we learned from Lazarus.

Lessons from Lazarus.

Oh, that first Sunday with the Lord's supper.

It's gonna be awful.

We're gonna build it.

We're doing a building for the reason for a reach and more people in government, through the preaching, the teaching of the word, for sports ministers, and all of that.

All of that.

So it's gonna be very important that we understand if we're gonna do what God wants us to do, what is Christianity in my life?

What I mean by that is how do I live out my Christianity every day in my community?

It's gonna be awesome.

It's gonna be everyday Christianity in you, everyday Christianity in the work arena, everyday Christianity in your home, everyday Christianity in the community, everyday Christianity in the school.

It's gonna be about six to eight messages on everyday Christianity, us living out that Christianity for this community.

So God has strongly laid this series, all I've just given to you.

And you know, normally I don't do that, but this is so strong.

I mean, I'll tell you what's coming next, but each one fits a purpose.

And I want you to be a part of that.

It's gonna be revolutionizing for us as a church.

I really believe that.

God has told me that, I believe that strongly, and I'm excited about it because next year is gonna be a great year here.

And I want every one of us to be a part.

And let me tell you, it won't be a great year if you and I don't do our part.

Amen.

And we all have a part.

You got a part.

You got a position, and you need to fulfill that position.

Whether it's whether it's Darren and and and Jesse and the guys, I know they're back there listening, that that that cook, whether it's John and his team taking care of us, I meant making sure we're secure.

Folks, let me say something.

When you walk in this building, let me just tell you something.

You don't have to worry about your children and you being taken care of.

We got it.

Amen.

And they love you, and then we're we're taking care of your kids and watching after them when they're down there.

So we do everything we can to make sure that you're loved and protected.

And so, but guess what?

You got a part, whether it's taking care of those bed babies, right now, whoever's taking care of the bed babies, that children's church is just as important as anything that I'm doing or we're doing up here.

Just as important.

And I really believe that with all my heart.

I really do.

So thank you.

Thank you.

So, Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

We all grew up in church with the verse John 3, 16.

All right, I want you to quote it with me.

Ready?

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.

Now, in Hebrews chapter 2, where we are, the Hebrew writer does say a great job helping us to understand the humanity of Christ.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

The question this morning is the title of the message, A Gift Worth Understanding, and really the propositional verse is John 3.16, and then the question from John 3.16 is, and I love this, what is Christmas really all about?

What is understanding Christmas?

And that's what we're going to deal with this morning, and it's so important to us because Hebrews chapter 2 is probably one of the best books and teaches us the best things about the humanity of Christ.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

And a lot of times people get a little confused with Hebrews, but you if you understand the whole book in the context of bringing the gospel, I happen to believe that Paul's the writer of Hebrews.

Now, we're not sure.

Some think it's Luke, uh, others believe uh Mark, some believe Mark, some believe Luke, but I believe it was Paul.

But in the context, if Paul, I really believe, he's bringing the gospel to the Jews.

And him being a Jew himself, the greatest of the greatest, the best of the best Jew.

So it's in the context, kind of, of being a letter specifically geared toward the Jews for the purpose of them understanding that Jesus is the Messiah.

And they understood a lot.

The Jewish people understand what was needed when they start talking about, you know, Christianity.

Uh, and and they they understood it in the context of a high priest.

They knew what a high priest was because they were used to that.

And so this morning in the introduction, I want you to see why when we understand the gift of Christmas, we understand Jesus having to become man, having to be a man so that he could intercede and be our immediate or as well as our high priest.

Jesus is mankind's high priest.

And you need to know that.

So to understand the gift on Christmas, you understand that Jesus was our high priest.

Say that with me.

Jesus is my high priest.

Say it, church.

Jesus is my high priest.

And with that said, let's look.

Jesus met the qualifications for our high priest.

Get ready.

Here they are in your outline.

Number one, in order to be the high priest, you had to be one of the people.

The high priest must be one of the people.

He had to be a Jew and had to be living with them.

He had to know them well, just as Jesus Christ became one of us.

In fact, Philippians 2, 7 says, He made himself of no reputation, but he took on himself the form of a servant and made in the likeness of man.

And in verse 14 in Hebrews 2, we see he was, hey, he was the partaker of our flesh and blood, just like me and you.

And verse 17 says, He was made in the likeness of the brethren.

But secondly, as a high priest, he was faithful in ministry.

Verse 17 says that he's the faithful high priest.

He was faithful to the ministry of God.

John 4 34, Jesus said, My meet is to do the will of him that sent me to finish his work, God's work.

So he was faithful in ministry.

Number three, another qualification for a high priest was he was appointed by God.

Hebrews 5 4 says he was appointed by God.

The high priest wasn't something randomly or democratically chosen.

The high priest was appointed by God.

Jesus was appointed by God.

And then number four, he cleansed us from all our sins.

The high priest must be cleansed from all sin because one of his chief functions was to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

I love 2 Corinthians 5.21.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God through him.

Man, that's good.

Jesus Christ became man to be the high priest for all of us and fulfills all four of these qualifications.

He fulfills all four of these qualifications.

That's why you and I can say that Jesus Christ is our high priest.

Say it again, church.

Jesus Christ is our high priest.

And with that said, there's four reasons we're going to look at this morning.

Why Jesus came into this world.

Four reasons.

This is the understanding of why Christmas came.

Number one, to recapture our destiny.

To recapture our destiny.

Now this is going to be a little good.

It's going to be a little educational for you.

Because, see, God had a plan for man from the very beginning.

You believe that?

Say amen.

He had a great plan.

And if you go to Genesis chapter 1, you see that plan.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God had planned for Adam and Eve.

He made Adam and Eve, and He had plans for them to rule the whole world.

I meant, by the way, He had plans for them to never die.

He had a great plan for mankind.

He really did.

In fact, here, look at verse 5 through 9.

And it explains it.

And let's go, we'll say 5 through 9 are the key verses here.

For unto the angels hath he said, He not put in subjection the world to come, wherefore we speak, but one in a certain place testifies, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou visited him?

Thou madeest him a little lower than the angels.

Thou crowns him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.

Now he's talking about man, not God.

The Son of Man there does not mean God.

Now, a lot of times in the New Testament, Son of Man meant God.

But in the Old Testament, in fact, in Ezekiel alone, 80 times the Son of Man was referred to Ezekiel.

So in the Old Testament, Son of Man a lot of times meant humans.

And this son of man here means humans.

So that way you don't confuse verse 7 when he says, in him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands.

In other words, God set Adam and Eve over all his works in the Garden of Eden.

That was God's plan from the very beginning.

And then verse 8, thou hast put all things in subjection under man's feet.

For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him, but now we see not, yet all things put under him.

In other words, when he speaks, he's talking about Adam and Eve, and we as men.

And this comes from Psalms 8, too.

But here we see God, he says to us, and I love this, in Genesis 1.28, he says, have dominion over the fish, over the sea, over the fowl, the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

But when Adam and Eve sinned, okay, when they sinned, they lost that dominion, that power, that position.

Man after the fall was not what he was intended to be when God created him to be dominant over everything on the earth.

So here we have God's plan.

Man is going to rule the earth under God's guidance, and we're going to live happily ever after.

But then sin enters into the world, and Adam and Eve choose to sin.

And then look at verse 9.

Here it is.

Now the story begins to change as the Hebrew writer says.

Look what he says.

But we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because he suffered death, crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Now, here's, we've got man's purpose.

Man messes up.

Now God has got to, hey, intercede.

Because God does not want man to lose his destiny and to lose what God really had planned for him.

So now God says, I got to intercede.

Man's messed up.

So I've got to intercede and I've got to send my son.

Now you got man in verse 8.

Now you got Jesus in verse 9.

Man's in verse 8, 5 through 8.

Now Jesus comes on the seat in verse 9 and look at it.

Into the situation, God sent Jesus.

Adam and Eve fell.

Were, hey, they were not what they were designed and created to become and lost their position.

They lost their privilege.

They lost their power.

But now Jesus comes into the situation and to the world to restore us back to the original position.

Observations.

Here we go.

Look at this.

A man was created to have dominion over all things.

B through hey, through sin instead of dominion, they suffered defeat.

For the wage of sin is death.

Defeat.

Romans 6 23.

See, into this defeat enters Jesus and his purpose for coming.

So man messes up God's plan.

And now God's got a, hey, if God plans to do something, it's going to take place.

Can I get an amen?

So man messes up.

Now can I just pause right here and say, we mess it up every time?

Can you say that with me?

We mess it up every time.

That's why we need God.

That's why we need Christ.

That's why we need the person of the Holy Spirit of God.

I was telling the crew this morning in the kitchen, I said, if man, if we leave it to man, we mess it up every time.

Every time.

Not sometime, but every time.

Without the help and the leadership and the person of the Holy Spirit, we mess it up.

So now we've messed, man's messed it up.

Now God's got to intercede.

That's where God becomes our mediator.

Can I get an amen?

He has to.

One God, one mediator between man and God, and that's the man Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2, 5.

I mean, excuse me, 2 Timothy 2.5.

So, with that said, we see Jesus now comes on the scene, and I love this.

Which brings me to the second point.

Jesus came into the world to recapture our lost destiny.

Now, how does he do that?

Number two, he has to hey, experience what man experiences.

Wow.

In order to restore us, he has to become like us.

Is that not amazing?

Think about that.

He has to hey to experience our trials.

By the way, this is good.

When you go, and we will to Hebrews 4.15.

We see in Hebrews 4.15 it says that Christ has experienced the infirmities of all of us.

He became man so that he could experience everything that you and I experienced.

I said everything.

Everything you have gone through, everything that you are going through right now, everything that you're going to go through in the future, he's already been through it.

He came to earth personally and went through it.

Everything.

Is that not good?

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

So, watch this.

Look at verse 10 now.

This is so good.

For it was fitting for him.

In other words, it was logical.

It seemed right for him, for whom are all things, and through him are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, bringing many people to salvation.

Or in bringing us back, here's an even better way.

Now think about this.

This is good.

This is where theology comes in.

Or bringing us back to the reason we were created.

Jesus came not just to save us, but to restore us to the purpose that he called us to way back in Genesis.

I know that may be getting a little deep in theology, but do you understand that?

Not at me, please.

That is exciting.

That's why Christmas came.

To restore us to our purpose.

Man, that's good.

And so we see that right here perfectly.

In fact, the word captain there in the King James, or if you got another version, it probably has the word author.

The Greek word there is Arhagos.

And it means the author or it means a pioneer.

That's what the word means.

So when he speaks of the captain or author of their salvation here in the Word, he's speaking of God.

The word author or captain is a great word in the Greek, and it really means to blaze a trail.

That's what it means.

To be the first to go through a wilderness so that you and I who come behind can have direction and with confidence proceed onward.

Wow.

God sent his son to blaze the trail of life and to experience everything that you and I are going to experience so that by God's grace and his person and the person of the Holy Spirit could carry us through everything.

He was the first to blaze the trail.

Romans 8:31.

Romans 8:31

The Roman, yes.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

So now what's this?

And then look at the next word, through suffering.

In fact, here it is.

Oh, I wrote this down, put a scar, and said, Lord, I've never seen it in this context, but thank you for this truth.

In fact, it's the trail of his blood that forgives us of our sins and blazes the trail for us to be the sons of God.

Wow.

Wow.

That's good.

Boy, that's good.

Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through him.

We're gonna be saved from the wrath, hey, of damnation through Christ.

We are I hear it.

Okay, I'm okay.

I did not fall.

So look, look at this, folks.

Look at this.

Jesus did this.

Look at how he did this.

He did it through three things.

Here's how he did it.

One, identification.

Hey.

God would identify with us by becoming man.

That's what he had to do.

That totally, now listen to this.

That was totally opposite of the Greek thinking during this time.

Totally opposite.

In fact, the Greeks believe that God was totally separated from man.

Totally separated.

All their gods were totally separated from man.

But here we see the entirely opposite.

The Greeks thought of God as a detached from mankind out there somewhere in the cosmos.

But with Christianity, instead of detachment, we experience identification and oneness together with God.

So he had to come and identify with us.

How could he identify with Danny Lovett?

He had to become like me.

How does he identify with you?

He had to become like you.

He had to literally become a real man, a real person.

Man, that's awesome.

Secondly, and by the way, we see that identification in Hebrews 2, verse 11, for both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, what's this, are all one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

Hebrews 2:11

He's one of us.

He came to identify with us.

Then secondly, verse 17, we see the compassion.

Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.

It behooves Jesus to be a God to make his son like us, that he might, I like this, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest.

There he is, in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

He came to what?

Restore us back to the place and the purpose God had for us in the very beginning.

Wow.

Boy, does that not bring on a new purpose for Christmas?

His compassion for us.

And then see, verse 17, reconciliation is salvation.

There had to be a high priest to pay for our sins.

The only way it could be paid was through Jesus Christ, not only coming into this world, but dying for our sins.

And the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus said, remember in Matthew, what was it, 26?

I think 39, he said, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me.

If there be any other way.

But you know what God said?

God said, No, it's impossible for this cup to pass.

It has to be like this.

You've got to identify with Adam and Eve.

You've got to identify with every lost soul.

There was no way you and I could be saved except through Jesus Christ.

Jesus, say it with me.

You know the verse.

If you do, quote it with me.

John 14, 6.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, the life.

No man cometh unto the Father what?

Except by me.

Except by me.

That's it, church.

What a beautiful picture.

What a beautiful picture.

Now, the ancient mind, they thought the mediators would be angels.

Now, here's a good thought if you read the book of Hebrews.

The word angel is used probably more in Hebrews than any other New Testament book.

Because to a lot of the Jews, they thought the angels would be the mediator.

But he couldn't.

You know why he couldn't?

Because he didn't become like us.

He wasn't man.

That's why you see the word angel a lot in the book of Hebrews.

So, with that said, it brings us to the kinds of suffering I want us to look at.

He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

And the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we're filled.

Now, there's basically three kinds of suffering.

Are you ready for this?

This is good.

This is this is you when you fill these in, you want to keep these because next time you're going through a hard time, you'll be reminded through the power of the Holy Spirit of what we learned this morning.

First of all, there's the kind of suffering that we can avoid.

Especially through making right choices.

We've all suffered things that, hey, we did not need to because we made wrong choices.

Can I get an O me?

Is that not true?

Oh man, I I when I was working on this passage, I got to thinking about some of those choices, and I thought, ooh, that was stupid.

In fact, I was dumb.

And you know what?

I believe the Lord, I didn't hear it, but I think up in heaven he probably said, Amen.

So be it, preacher.

That was dumb.

But I love you anyway.

That's why I said, my son, preacher.

He knows what you're going through.

He knew you were going to make that bad decision.

God knew Adam was going to make that bad decision.

Adam, I meant, God knew Eve was going to make that bad decision.

Then she led Adam astray.

I'm waiting on Susan.

Susan says, that's not true.

Adam had to make the choice himself.

She tempted him.

Is that a good way to say it, maybe?

He still had a choice, Daniel.

He did.

He had a choice.

So, be not deceived.

God is not mocked.

Whatsoever man soweth, say it with me.

That shall he read.

Galatians 6, 7.

That's why Daniel purposed in his heart.

Ooh, I love this.

Thank you.

Daniel purposed in his heart, Daniel 1.8, that he would not defile himself with the king's meat.

In other words, he had already made, hey, a covenant with God that he was not going to make the wrong choices of those temptations when they came.

We have to make a covenant now, and we have to, in order to not be tempted, make a covenant, we're not even going to put ourselves in those positions to be tempted.

Can I get an amen?

B.

The kind of suffering that we cannot avoid.

That's the suffering that's not because we made wrong choices.

It's because life is life.

And we become a victim.

We were minding our own business, maybe serving God, maybe even praying and disaster struck.

There was no rhyme or reason to it.

There are times we'll suffer when we don't understand.

And hey, not because we didn't make wrong, not because we made a wrong choice.

We didn't make a wrong choice, but maybe we end up being the victim of somebody else that made a wrong choice.

Or it's just a storm.

And then we're going to see that in the next one in a minute.

And storms come for a purpose.

So you've got to understand that that kind of there's some kind of storms we just cannot avoid.

But with that said, this is where the verse that we've you've heard me preach and quote so many times is so powerful for us.

Romans 8.28.

Right?

We what?

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

Now we don't understand it all.

Come on, say it.

Say it with me.

We don't understand.

We don't understand all of it.

Romans 11.33, his ways and directions and judgments are past finding out.

And then verse 34 and Romans 11.33 and then verse 34 says, Who can know the mind of Christ?

Can't know it.

Okay?

That's important.

And then thirdly, the kind of suffering we must not avoid.

And that's what I want to bring to our attention this morning.

The suffering that we must not avoid is the kind that will make us better.

It's good for us.

It's character development to round us out, to be all that we need to be.

It's the suffering and the trials that James and Peter talk about that would make us more precious than gold when we go through it.

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials.

Amen.

But then there's one more.

When I was, I'd already turned this outline.

But then there's one more.

And it's not there.

You gotta write this one down.

There's one more.

And I've I titled it this.

There's one more suffering that we must accept.

And that's the suffering of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago on Calvary.

Who his own self bears sins in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we're healed.

1 Peter 2, 24.

Yes.

We must accept that suffering.

In order to allow him to bridge the gap between us and God to restore us back to our destiny.

That's good.

That's good.

And with that said, it brings me to point number three.

Recapturing our destiny, experiencing our trials, and then number three, why did he come?

To release us from bondage.

Look at verse 14 and 15.

In Hebrews 2.

This bondage is not only sin, but the ultimate result of sin.

Death.

Death.

For the wages of sin is death.

Look at what he says.

Verse 14 and 15.

Since then the children shared in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might.

Now I love this next phrase.

Render powerless him who has the power of death.

That is the devil.

That word render there powerless is in the past tense, which means it's done.

When Jesus died for a sin, Satan was stripped of his power over death.

And look at this, it's in the present and future tense.

It's, hey, hey, this is so good.

It is not in the present or future tense.

I'm sorry.

It's in the past.

In other words, Satan's lost his power of death and his threat and fear that he placed on mankind.

In other words, when Jesus Christ came up out of that grave, he literally ripped the power of Satan away that he had used as a hammer to beat us up and to destroy what God had planned to do in the book of Genesis.

And that's what he's what he meant in Genesis 3.15.

When he would crush the head of the serpent, he meant he would literally rip the power of death away from him.

See, you can't threaten us anymore with death.

Folks, let me give you one of the greatest comforting news for Christmas you'll ever have.

If you are a born-again Christian, listen to me, really know Christ.

You're never gonna die.

You say, now wait a minute, I've been to a lot of funerals.

You've just been too awake.

All you did was go and pay your last respects to the family, to the person's shell that's there.

He's not there, she's not there.

Miss Betsy's brother died, and we were talking, I was ministering to her these last few days, and she said, He's with my mom, my dad, my son, and I and I just started shouting with her.

Yes, to be absent from the bodies to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5.8.

Think about that.

Jesus came and died so that we can live forever with him.

With God.

He ripped the keys of hell right out of his hands.

Oh, Revelation 1.18, behold, I'm he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore.

And behold, I hold the keys of death.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Wow, that's good, honey.

Satan lost his power of death and his threat and fear that he placed on mankind.

Now that, folks, is Christmas.

Jesus died not only for our sins, but he also stripped the devil of his power.

The wages of sin is death.

How did Satan get that power?

When you go back to Genesis, you read the account of what when the devil talked to Eve about the forbidden tree and the fruit.

Remember what he said?

Genesis 3, verse 3.

Genesis 3:3

Watch this.

The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden, we may eat.

But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die.

When God set the game rules for Adam and Eve, he said, if you take of this fruit of this tree, you're gonna die.

Now watch this.

Now what does Satan do?

He says, You sure, hey, you are surely not going to die.

God really didn't mean what he said.

When they partook, we know the story.

One of the things that happened in the fall of man was that death came into this world, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, death by sin.

I meant death by sin.

Yeah, because Adam's sin, sin entered into the world.

We're part of Adam's lineage.

So because of Adam, we're all sinners.

Because he chose to sin.

David put it this way in Psalms 51.5.

Behold, I was formed in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalms 51.5.

So we see all this going on.

So we're born in sin.

But now, watch this.

How was the devil rendered powerless then?

Jesus laid down his life.

And I give you four things.

Ready?

Here's something that we can be assured of.

Christians know four things about death.

This is put a big star in your notes, put it, plaster it somewhere, because the next time you go to a funeral, I want you to pull this out.

I want you to look at it.

If it's a funeral of a Christian, and here they are.

Number one, A.

Sin, the sting of death has been removed.

Oh, the sting of death has been removed.

Oh sting, where hey, oh death, where's our sting?

Oh grave, where is our victory?

Thanks be unto God who gives us victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15, 56 and 57.

B.

The judgment beyond death need not be feared.

The judgment beyond death need not be feared.

Think about Brother Steve back there and Miss Christie.

A couple weeks ago we were at his mother's funeral.

Beautiful funeral.

And and Steve was sad, but yet I could tell he was glad too.

He knew where his mother was.

98?

98, Steve?

She lived a long life.

And I remember when I visited with her two or three months ago before she did go to be with the Lord, she's such a sweet spirit and such a confidence.

Amen.

Amen.

The judgment beyond death need not be feared, folks.

God's not given a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind, 2 Timothy 1.7.

And C, Christ's resurrection guarantees ours.

Woo! Oh, thanks be unto God who gives us victory.

Because of Christ's resurrection guarantees ours.

Is that not good?

And then D, the devil cannot touch you.

Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, 1 John 4, 4.

The devil cannot touch you.

He cannot take you to hell.

He cannot destroy you.

And that leads me to my last point.

Is that not good, folks?

In fact, Revelation 12, 10, let me read this to you.

I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of Christ for the accuser of the brethren is now last down, which, hey, accounted the temptation before.

In other words, brethren is, hey, he's through with, it's over, which he was the one who accused the brethren.

His power's been stripped, he's finished with, it's done, it's over.

When Jesus came out of that grave.

And that's good.

And last thing, the fourth reason he came, not only to recapture our lost destiny, to experience our trials, to release us from bondage, but lastly, to restore us from defeat.

He came into the world for defeated mankind.

We were lost.

We were battered.

We were bruised.

He came to restore us from defeat.

Now look at verse 17.

Now in verse 17, it's Godward.

Verse 18 is manward.

But look at verse 17 first.

This is so good.

And I told you that earlier, but you need to see it again.

Wherefore, in all things it behooves him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and fearful high priest.

There's that high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

And then, but in verse 18, we see that he came for man.

For since he himself was tempted in that which he was suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Every time you and I, I love this, are tempted, have trials or go through difficult times.

Look at what he says.

God, who's walking alongside of us.

Yes, I know what he's, God says, I know what you're going through.

I understand what you're going through.

2 Peter 2, 9, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment.

Wow.

So this Christmas.

What a present.

What a savior.

What a Christ.

Let me have your pen, honey.

Let me let me illustrate something this morning.

Don't you fall, Pen.

On this Christmas, there's a lot of people here that believe in God.

But here's the question this morning for the invitation.

Do you really know God?

That I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformed unto his image.

Philippians 3 10.

Watch this.

Come here, honey.

I'll use you.

I was gonna use Rick, but he come on, I'll use it.

Okay.

This is my pen.

I own this pen.

Okay.

My pen.

Well, it's really her pen.

She gave it to me.

I was bad as a slater and saying, okay, what's it?

All right.

This is my pen.

Susan believes that this is my pen.

Not after she gave it to me, right?

No, but this is my pen.

She believes I that's my pen.

Now, in order for her to have this pen, I've got to give this pen to her.

And she must receive the pen.

Now, if I say, Susan, I'm gonna give you this pen.

Now guess what?

She believes that.

You and I believe that God's real.

You and I believe that Jesus died on a cross 2,000 years ago.

He was buried on the third day.

And I mean, buried, and then on the third day he rose from the dead.

We believe that.

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4.

We believe that.

But until Susan takes this pin.

It's not hers.

I could leave it right there.

Still not hers.

Right?

She's got a what?

She's gotta get it, receive it.

Now it's hers.

Did that make sense?

And I'm afraid, I'm afraid there's a lot of people in church today that believe in God.

Yes.

They know what he's done, they believe what he's done, but they've never received him.

They've never opened their hearts and minds to Christ and given.

Here's the key.

We talked about this a while back.

See, I believe salvation, I think it's head knowledge.

I do.

I think it's feelings, emotionalism, yes.

But it's also giving your will.

See, she can be excited about that pen.

She can know, she can know that that pen's gonna be hers.

She can be excitedly and emotionally excited about I'm gonna get that pen.

But until she willfully reaches out, takes the pen, and puts it in her pocket or her purse, it's not hers.

Even though she's excited about it, she believes it.

Good example.

This present can be yours.

Dave Roper.

Wow, Dave, you got a present here.

But I'm gonna just leave it right here.

You gotta come, grab that gift, and then you gotta open it and receive it.

So this Christmas, this Christmas, folks, Jesus Christ two thousand years ago, brought you a gift.

And it was in the form of a little baby in a manger.

And he said to the world, I God love you so much that I've given you my only begotten son, my only son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

But that believing is an action verb, means you do something.

You gotta receive him, you gotta take it, you gotta mean it.