The Warrior Baby | Pastor Chris Kouba

Hey, grab your Bibles, open them up.

Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

I do want to take the opportunity just to welcome.

We got folks that are joining us in correctional facilities, which still just blows my mind that that's the case, that we have the opportunity to go into places where people can't come to us to be able to bring them the gospel.

We've got folks that are joining us online.

We've got some homebound folks that join us.

Maybe you're a guest and you're kind of just like checking out United City Church out and you're watching us online.

I do want to know we're we don't bite.

You can come in the room and it's all good here too.

We'd love to have you here.

We're just really grateful, though, to have the opportunity to connect with so many different people.

I want you to consider and think about this with me today.

There is nothing in my mind more satisfying and just gratifying and just of joy to watch than seeing someone who has tons of potential, who has like all of the gifts that seemingly were placed in their lap, and then they actually live that potential out.

Of course, we know this is such a great thing to watch and observe because we know also the opposite of that.

Whenever you see someone who's got all the privileges, you see someone who's got all the advantages, you see someone that's got all the background and all of the uh things in place that you would think would make them great, whether it's a sports team, whether it is an academic setting, whether it is in a work setting, and you're thinking, man, they're gonna really do amazing, and then they squander it, they waste it, they don't put in the work to meet the potential, and it doesn't ever materialize.

I want to throw a name out there that is the complete opposite of that.

A guy who had all the advantages, but actually lived up to it.

Michael Phelps.

Michael Phelps is somebody who, genetically speaking, was made to be a dominant swimmer.

Michael Phelps has a wingspan that is longer than he is tall.

Michael Phelps has an extraordinarily long torso.

Michael Phelps also has incredibly, extraordinarily flexible ankles.

His lung capacity is twice the size of mine and twice the size of yours.

Scientists did some study and research on him and said this.

This guy is scientifically engineered to dominate in the pool.

But here's the thing just having potential doesn't make you great.

You gotta put in the work.

And Michael Phelps showed up at the pool every single day at 5 a.m.

He swam lap after after lap after lap after lap, grinding, pushing through setbacks, finding himself having to compete against the best athletes in the world.

And what was the outcome when all of that potential met all of that hard work?

You ended up with the greatest Olympian of all time.

Michael Phelps has 28 medals.

23 of them are gold.

It is beautiful to see someone live out the purpose for which they were born.

We're in a sermon series.

We started last week, and we're gonna look at this entire Christmas called Born for a Purpose, and we're trying to discover this.

Why was Jesus born?

What was the purpose of him coming to this earth?

What I want us to consider is this is that Jesus came for a very specific reason to accomplish something that we needed, which is why we can celebrate Christmas.

Last week we're gonna look, uh, we saw Jason led us through the idea that Jesus was born to preach the good news.

That he literally came to herald to tell everybody else, not only about his coming, but ultimately about what he would ultimately do.

And it should lead and inspire us this Christmas season to do something so powerful by giving a simple invitation to somebody else so that they can hear the same good news that we've heard.

This morning it's gonna be a little more cosmic.

It's gonna be this idea that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

But here's what I want you to see is that the question I want us to consider, really the question that comes up at Christmas, is okay, why did he have to be born in order to do that?

Like if God is the creator, if he's sovereign over all things from his perch up in heaven, couldn't he have just gone down there and said, Hey, I want you guys to fix this.

Satan, you're not allowed to have any influence and done it all right there.

We're gonna see today that it wasn't that simple.

That instead Jesus had to put on human flesh, the manger had to be a reality.

I want us to look at a passage in Hebrews chapter two.

We're gonna be all over the Bible today, though, looking at the theology of why Christmas exists.

Look with me in Hebrews chapter 2, beginning in verse 14.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

It says, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

And deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

I got three things I want to show you today.

One, I want to show you the problem, the enemy that we couldn't defeat.

I want to show you the solution, the warrior who took on flesh, and I want to show you the result, the freedom that we get to live in.

Let's break these down one by one.

First, the problem.

I want you to know the problem.

Look again at verse 14.

In the middle of it, it says, the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

We think about Christmas usually as something that's nice and happy and joyous, and all of those things are true, but we need to understand this foundational thing.

You cannot have Christmas with all of the good news unless you first realize what the bad news is.

Before there could be a rescue, there had to be danger.

The whole story of Christmas begins with this sobering reality.

Humanity faced an enemy that we could not defeat.

You know, whenever you think about the devil, it mentions that there in verse 14.

A lot of times, when it comes to this idea of demonic forces or it comes to spiritual warfare and those types of things, most people have one of two extremes, is how they react.

One, the devil's in everything.

And so no matter what happens, we should be constantly afraid and scared because the devil is this way.

The other hand, it's like spiritual warfare is like superstition.

That stuff's not necessarily real.

The Bible has a third way, which says that we are aware of the danger, but we aren't paranoid by it.

1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8 says this be sober-minded, be watchful.

1 Peter 5:8

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

It doesn't say don't live your life, but it does say live your life looking around, waking up to the reality that there is danger in our midst.

You don't walk around scared 24-7, but you also don't pretend like evil is not real.

You live aware and watchful because Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 says, the enemy has the power of death.

Hebrews 2:14

Don't mistake this by thinking that somehow Satan controls when you die.

God is sovereign and God is the author and the taker of life.

That being said, though, we know Satan constantly uses death as a weapon.

Death is the ultimate threat against us.

Romans chapter 6, verse 23 says this, for the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23

If you don't believe that death is something that puts terror in the lives of all of us, just wait until you get a diagnosis, and then all of a sudden you begin to be told you only have so many months to live, how immediately your life begins to get put in perspective.

Death has this haunting reality over us.

Sin entered the world in Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 3, and death came with it, and Satan has been using death as a weapon ever since.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

First John chapter 3, verse 8 says, Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

1 John 3:8

For the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works.

Notice that is plural, the works, many different works of the devil.

He has a full playbook, and he's not afraid to use them.

He uses deception.

John chapter 8, verse 44 says he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

Has the devil been lying to you at all lately?

He's the chief accuser.

Revelation chapter 12, verse 10 says he accuses them day and night before our God.

Revelation 12:10

Every single time you begin to think, I'm gonna make some changes in my life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm gonna go and improve my marriage.

What does the accuser say?

Hey, you're not good enough to do that.

Your life is over.

You know that, right?

He just lies to us and accuses us.

Luke chapter 13, verse 16 tells us that he keeps his people in bondage.

Luke 13:16

Satan has someone bound for 18 years.

Let me make this a little more personal.

Every lie that you believe about yourself, every accusation that you walked into this service with that haunts you at 2 a.m.

Every addiction that's got you in chains, every fear that controls your decisions.

It's just the devil work.

It's just working in the background, working in your life, working right in front of your face, trying to tell you this.

You are not worth it.

The results of all this works, look at Hebrews chapter 2, verse 15.

Hebrews 2:15

It says, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

This shows us that we're not just victims, we're captives.

We are slaves.

Here's how the fear of death works: it's not just about being afraid of dying, but that fear of death creates this domino effect where other fears begin to show up.

Stuff like the fear of failure, meaning that I'm gonna die and have accomplished nothing.

The fear of rejection, I'm gonna die alone and unloved.

The fear of meaninglessness, what if my life doesn't matter?

The fear of loss where everything is taken away.

Fear is a slave master.

It makes you do things that you don't want to do, it keeps you from doing things that you should do, it controls your decisions, it shapes your relationships, it robs you of your joy.

That's slavery.

So the question is: what do you do when you're facing an enemy that you can't defeat?

When you got a problem that is bigger than you, when you're enslaved and you can't break free, you need someone stronger to help you.

You need a warrior, you need a champion.

But here's the catch, and this is where it gets brilliant.

The warrior had to be one of us in order to defeat this enemy.

Look at verse 14 again.

I've told you what the problem is.

The second thing I want you to see from this passage is what the solution is.

There's a problem, but he also tells you the solution.

Verse 14, there it says the word likewise, likewise means this the exact same, not similar, exactly the same.

Jesus didn't appear human, he didn't put on a costume, he didn't go into AI, and it looks really so real that you can't really tell the difference between whether it's real or not.

He didn't become an avatar.

Instead, he became human flesh.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 7.

Philippians 2:7

This is speaking of Jesus, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the same Greek word, likeness, exactness, sameness of men.

This is the incarnation.

This is the story of Christmas.

When God became human flesh, when the creator became the creation, when the infinite became finite and an infant, when the eternal one entered into time.

Why?

Because the battle required it.

Look in Genesis chapter 3, the very beginning of your Bible.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

If you go all the way back, when the serpent shows up, what you see is this story where Adam and Eve are told, hey, you can do anything you want, you can enjoy everything you've got.

There's just this one tree, don't eat from that.

And what do they do?

They're like, oh, wet paint, don't touch, let's go right over there towards it, right?

And they go right over there and they eat of that tree.

And God begins to judge them as a result of that.

And we see some judgments that are pronounced upon Adam, and then we see some judgments that are pronounced upon Eve.

But we also see a judgment that is pronounced upon the serpent who was the tempter in the story.

And what I want you to see in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, is this beautiful verse that if you not really know what's going on, you might miss it.

Genesis 3:15

It's actually the first glimmer of hope in the midst of judgment when all of the world was changed.

Look at what it says in Genesis 3.15.

It says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Here's what this is saying.

God says, one day a descendant of the woman, meaning a human being, is going to crush the serpent.

It's giving you a glimmer in the midst of judgment that one day I'm gonna fix this.

Because somebody who's gonna be from a human is gonna come and they're going to be the one who crushes the head, crushes the serpent, and that is gonna bring the freedom that we so desire.

Now, why is it important that it's a human?

Because humanity lost the fight, so humanity has to be the one that wins it back.

You see, think about the ancient practice of champion warfare.

The most vivid description of this would be David and Goliath, where basically you have two competing armies that are against each other, and instead of them just fighting in the middle, what you instead have is that this army over here has a representative, and this army has a representative, and they fight winner take all, whoever wins, the whole country wins.

If you remember, that was the story of the Philistines and the Israelites.

The Philistines was Goliath, this large, massive man who stood up and taunted the people of Israel.

And then Israel, it was David, who was the least candidate of all of them, who steps up and he defeats Goliath.

And as a result of that one battle of champion warfare, all of the Israelites ended up winning the victory.

Folks, what I want you to know is that that exact same thing took place whenever it came to the champion who represented you, which was Jesus.

What I need you to know this about champion warfare is that you can't hire a mercenary, somebody from another country, to stand in and represent you.

That wouldn't count.

Instead, the person who represents you has to be one of you, has to be like you.

That's why Jesus had to be human.

Because humanity was in this fight, and we needed a champion who could represent us, who was fully and truly one of us.

Look down with me at Hebrews chapter 2, verse 17.

Hebrews 2:17

It says, Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation.

That's a Bible word that means this paid the penalty for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus didn't just look like us, he experienced what we experienced.

He was tempted, he experienced suffering and ultimately he died.

Why?

Because the mission that he was on required it.

And here was his strategy.

Look at Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14.

Hebrews 2:14

It says, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

Don't miss this, folks.

Jesus wasn't born to live, he was born to die.

The manger leads to a cross.

Every single breath from Bethlehem moved him toward Galgotha.

Christmas and Easter are two chapters from the same story.

And here's where it gets crazy.

Satan's greatest weapon was death.

So what did Jesus do?

He used death to defeat Satan.

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 54 and 55 says, When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

You ever played chess before?

And you're playing against somebody who's really good, you know you've got to constantly be watching because they're they're really smart and they're you you kind of know all along they're setting you up for a trap.

There's the famous painting that it exists that talks about how basically the the devil played his chess move and he thought that he had a checkmate.

And what he didn't realize is that the entire time when he was doing all of his moves and all of his things and all of the plays, he was actually setting himself up because Jesus had the final say, and ultimately what the devil thought was winning was actually leading him into the place of being defeated.

And that's exactly what happened in the person of Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem.

Every single day of his life was gearing himself up for that one day when he would die on the cross, and the enemy and the devil and the works of the devil in that moment assumed we are winning.

We have won.

Checkmate, it is over.

But what happened was three days later, what appeared to be the ultimate defeat ended up becoming the ultimate victory when Jesus was raised from the dead and showed that all that he did in Bethlehem led to all that he did in this resurrection, and ultimately, mic drop game over.

Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 through 15, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

Colossians 2:13–15

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

The cross canceled our debt.

The cross silenced the accuser.

The cross broke Satan's power.

And then when Jesus rode from the dead, it showed that death no longer had dominion over him.

Hear this Easter proves that Christmas worked.

And even though Satan hasn't been completely removed, he will one day, at the final day, we know that he has been rendered powerless.

He's been rendered ineffective.

So what does this mean for us?

Look at verse 15.

It says, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

I've told you about the problem.

I've told you about the solution.

The last thing I want to tell you about is the result.

I want you to see the result.

What does this mean for us?

If Jesus destroyed the devil's works, how does this change our lives today?

We're delivered from fear.

Jesus came to set us free from fear, especially the fear of death, which is at the root of all other fears.

Listen to this verse, Romans 8, 38 and 39.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, or anything else you want to put on the list, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

What if it doesn't work?

What if we can find it?

What if it falls flat?

And I got all these excuses.

In the midst of my preparation this week, the Lord was like, Am I real or not?

Like, am I legit in your life?

Are you just gonna preach about the big stuff, but it's not gonna apply to the little things that you're walking through?

What I found is whenever I begin to realize that Christmas led to Easter, it means that those things where I just get stuck, I'm guessing I'm not the only one in this room that's felt that.

Where you're just stuck.

You know what to do, you just need the courage to do it.

I'm right there with you.

But if this miss true, if the Christmas story is real, what this means is this I may be facing a very uncertain future, and the devil has wrecked havoc in my life and in my marriage and in my family and all these situations that maybe you're dealing with.

Let me just remind you of this.

He doesn't get the last word.

And so, because of that, I may not know how it's all gonna work out, but I can know this.

I don't have to fear.

Nothing, nothing will separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

You can also join his mission.

1 John chapter 3, verse 8 says, Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

1 John 3:8

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus destroyed the works of the devil.

Now we get to continue dismantling them.

How?

By speaking truth to lies.

Satan, this isn't true about me.

This isn't true about them.

I declare God's truth over the situation.

This isn't some naming and claiming stuff, but it is sitting firmly and deeply in the promises of our God.

One of our core values at United City is that the Bible would speak because we want to let God speak louder in your life than anything the enemy's accusing you of.

After this service, we're gonna have a time calling it the Fellowship of Comfort.

We recognize that at this time of year it's very difficult if you've walked through a loss in your family, a loss in your life.

A lot of times the holidays are some of the toughest, most difficult times, and we just want to set aside some time, basically, just to pray with you, just to come alongside of you.

But if that person that you love and that person that you are grieving, someone who's experienced the life-changing message of Jesus Christ, you still walk in grief, but here's what I want you to see: you don't walk in grief without hope.

We want to come alongside of you and be the one that simply tells you this we can know nothing to replace the loss that is in your heart, but I can tell you the one who can, that's Jesus.

He'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you.

Where's God calling you to destroy the devil's works in your family, in your workplace, in our city?

Romans 16, verse 20 says, The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Romans 16:20

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Notice under your feet, we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory.

Jesus has already won.

Michael Phelps was born with the tools to dominate swimming.

But he still had to do the work.

Jesus was different.

He didn't just have the tools, he became the tool.

God took on flesh and blood because that's what the mission required.

He had to be human to fight our battle.

He had to die to defeat death.

He had to rise to prove the victory, and he did it all.

Christmas is a war story.

The baby in the manger was the champion entering the ring.

The swaddling clothes foreshadowed the burial cloths.

The feeding trough pointed to the cross where the lamb would ultimately be slain.

And God couldn't defeat Satan from heaven.

The battle required a human champion, so he became one.

And when the shepherds looked into that feeding trough in Bethlehem, they didn't just see a baby.

They were looking at the champion who was going to crush the serpent.

They were looking at the warrior who would destroy the works of the devil.

They were looking at the only one who could set humanity free.

This is what Christmas is.

This is who Jesus is.

This is why he was born.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes with me all across this room?

I'm gonna ask our men to go ahead and get in their places and get the elements of the communion and the Lord's Supper to prepare to take and receive.

One is through the testimony of baptism.

We got to experience that already, this service.

Literally, the act of baptism not only tells their story, but tell God's story.

We are to do likewise.

The very act of taking the cup and very act of taking the bread is a reminder to us.

One, so that we can look and see what it costs Jesus to pay for our sins, but also during this Christmas season, it's so appropriate that we take it together because it reminds us of the victory that he accomplished.

Easter proves Christmas worked.

We'll do them all together, we'll actually take them together, but I ask that you reflect.

Reflect on the warrior baby.

Came, who lived, who died for you, so that you can have life.

Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that you would allow our hearts to be stirred and moved in these moments as we reflect on what you have done for us.

As we take of the bread, as we take of the cup, Lord, may our hearts be full.

Because they have every reason to be, because of what you've done for us.

May we live and walk and meditate on that today.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 11 30, or Espanol at 1 o'clock.