Christmas Eve Service

Chapter 2. Sorry, Matthew, Chapter one.

Matthew, Chapter one. We're going to read a Christmas

Passage. Matthew, chapter one and verse

18. I'm going to read to you through

25 now. The birth of Jesus Christ took

place in this way. When his mother Mary had been

betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to

be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put

her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Why did he resolve to divorce her quietly?

Well, because she's pregnant. So we're supposed to be getting

married. We're engaged, you're supposed

to be faithful, and you're supposed to be a virgin.

So we're we're looking forward to getting married.

But now she's pregnant. OK, Joseph being a righteous

man, a just man, he's got that option, he says.

You know what, I don't want to continue.

But he also doesn't want to put her to public shame.

So being a just man and also unwilling to put her to shame,

he resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as he considered these things, behold, an Angel of the

Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do

not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is

conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for

he will save his people from their sins.

All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken

by the prophet. Behold, the Virgin shall

conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name

Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the Angel of the Lord

commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her,

but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

And he called his name Jesus. Heavenly Father, your word is

true. Your word is powerful.

Your word is going to do and perform exactly what you sent it

out to do. And perform bring light and

bring revelation. Right now as your word is

preached. And God, I pray that it would be

preached, that would be proclaimed under the anointing,

under your direction, all in worship and honor to your name.

In Jesus name. Everybody said, Amen, a familiar

passage. That's one of the risks, the one

of the risks we run with, with Christmas time, with Easter with

other times that we should celebrate, that we should honor

as the body of Christ, as Christians.

Maybe, maybe you're not even a Christian, yet you're saying I'm

interested in Christian things. I pay attention to the Christian

message, But wherever you stand in the faith, it's still easy to

become accustomed to the message to the point where it really

doesn't bear the weight that it should for you anymore.

I'm familiar with it. I've heard it a million times.

I get it. I heard it, I know it.

But it's important to recognize what's happening in this

passage. All of this passage is

emphasizing the fact that Jesus is born from a virgin.

But why? Why did that matter?

I'm convinced that most people don't know.

I'm convinced that most Christians don't even know.

Why did it matter so much? We might say, well, because it

was prophesied. So everything that's been

prophesied in the past by the prophets that has to take place.

And that's absolutely true. Everything that's prophesied in

the past had to take place. All of this would come to

fruition. And Matthew continues, continues

to show that through the Gospels.

Remember the gospel? Matthew was written to Jews.

So he's writing to Jews and he's saying, hey, remember this

prophecy about the Messiah. And they're like, yeah, yeah.

And he says Jesus fulfilled that one.

And like, oh, interesting. Well, he does that all through

the book of Matthew over and over and over and over again.

He shows, you know, this prophecy.

You know, how it was said that this would happen in the

Messiah, The savior of the world will do this and goes, yeah,

yeah, Matthew goes this guy, Jesus of Nazareth.

Nazareth. He did that.

And they go, interesting over and over and over.

Christ Jesus. Jesus is Christ.

He fulfills it all. So yes, prophecy matters.

Prophecy has to be fulfilled. But why was it even prophesied?

Why was it ever prophesied? Is it just because the Lord

wanted to put some Christmas magic around the Christmas

story? Hey, I can do anything I want.

So poof, there's some magical stuff.

Babies come from virgins. That's not what's happening.

There's something bigger and there's something deeper going

on. And it all goes back to the

Garden of Eden, all the way back in the garden, when Adam sinned

against God, when Adam disobeyed, when Adam ate from

the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And that moment all of humanity was plunged Into Darkness.

And from that moment forward, everybody born from Adam is born

in sin, are precious babies. We think of them as innocent.

And in a large sense, they are compared to us and what we've

walked through and all the sin we've committed.

And yet they are not. They're not.

No one is sinless when they're born.

Well, that doesn't seem fair, except that it is, because

everybody comes from the fallen, sinful human race.

And Adam, being our head, is the one who plunged us into that

darkness. So all of our sin comes from

Adam. The Scripture makes us plain in

the New Testament through one if through one man's sin we would

be plunged Into Darkness and into all of us become sinners.

Through one man. The good news, through one man's

righteousness, we can also all be rescued.

So through one man's sin we got into this mess.

Well, I don't think that's fair. Well, it doesn't matter what you

and I think. It matters what God says and how

it works. So headship is a thing and we

come under Adam's headship. But but there's better news.

You can opt out of Adam's head shift and and opt into to to the

greater Adam whose name is Jesus who comes to rescue his people

from their sins. So why was Jesus born from a

virgin? Because the sin travels through

Adam the head, into another man into the Father's.

So sin travels through the bloodline of the Father.

This is why it's significant that Joseph was not Jesus's

father, but that God was Jesus's father.

So Jesus being born of Mary makes him not not a Sinner

anymore. And some people could mistake

that and go, ah, so Mary or women are sinless?

No, not at all, because Mary also had a what?

A father. So all people are born into sin.

Mary was a a sinful human just like everybody else, but

certainly chosen and separated, just like many people chosen and

separated for the purposes of God.

So we we thank God for her faithfulness, we thank God for

her obedience. We thank God for Joseph's

faithfulness and Joseph's obedience.

But we recognize the weight of why Jesus had to be born from a

virgin. So Jesus being born from a

virgin, he is now born without sin.

He is born from the Holy Spirit, but he's also got to be a man.

He also has to be a human being. He can't just be God himself

visiting the earth. He has to be God made flesh.

He has to come from human beings.

A human got us into this mess. A human has to get us out.

And Jesus fits the need perfectly, Which is why we say

this, this theological conundrum.

We say he was 100% man and he was 100% God.

This is good news that he was born from a virgin because now

he can be the Savior, but he had to be sinless.

But he also has to live out his life without sin, which the

scripture proves and shows over and over that Jesus never

sinned. So this so this is good news.

This is powerful news, but this is news that also makes us face

a reality about ourselves. Right out of the gate.

Right out of the gate. This, this makes me face the

mirror. You'll notice we have a lot of

mirrors in our church, right? Plenty of places to look at.

The source of most of my problems, right?

But this is where the Scripture takes us over and over and over,

the way God talks about humanity, the way God recognizes

people outside of Christ. When describing people, God uses

words like darkness. God uses words like dead.

God uses words like lost. This is why the Christmas

message and the gospel message are good news, because it's

taking for granted that you know that there's bad news to start

with. The gospel message is not the

message of, hey, you're doing great, you're doing really well,

you're a, you're a wonderful bowl of ice cream.

But Jesus is going to be the sprinkles on top.

That is not the gospel message. And we rejected entirely.

That is a wicked message that totally misses out on an

important piece. So what what I want to show you

is in Isaiah Now turn to Isaiah Chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

It's still good news, but it's only good news if you understand

the whole story. So Isaiah in the Old Testament,

written 700 years before the birth of Christ in Chapter 9.

This is prophecy of Christ. I'm going to read to you verses

2 through 7. The people who walked in

darkness, that's us, have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness.

On them, light has shown right away.

We got the dichotomy there. I'm walking in darkness.

That doesn't sound very good. Hey, it's not.

But there's good news. God doesn't leave you.

He doesn't just tell you. I'm just going to shine a light.

Hey, you're you already got the lights on, and I'm going to make

it even brighter. That's not the message of the

cross. That's not the message of the

Manger. That's not the message of the

gospel. And it's also not the message

that we would just be left in darkness.

Those people who walked in darkness have seen a great

light, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness.

On them light has shown. You have multiplied the nation,

you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with

joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil

for the yoke of his burden, and for the staff, and the staff for

his shoulder the rod of his oppressor.

You have broken, as on the day of Midian, For every boot of the

tramping warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled

in blood, will be burned as fuel for the fire.

Why? Why will all these good things

happen? For unto us a child is born, to

us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his

shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase

of his government, and of Peace. There will be no end on the

throne of David, and over his Kingdom, to establish it, and to

uphold it with justice and with righteousness.

From this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.

This is good news, and people are supposed to understand that

automatically. We need to emphasize this,

though. We've got to recognize our

moment. We've got to recognize the

cultural moment that we live in. And it's easy for us to forget

this piece. It's easy for people, and we see

it often. People want to take Jesus on to

their life as an additive, as an addition instead of the

everything. And he never left that option to

us. He never left it as a Hey you

can you can add me on to what you already have going.

I'm an attachment that you can put on.

You know, you've already got a great truck.

I'm just an accessory that you might want to add to it.

This is not the message of the gospel.

The message of the gospel is much harsher towards the human

ego. And I would challenge you to say

that if your if your ego has not been crushed by the cross, then

you haven't yet received the the message of the cross.

Because the message of the cross carries with it the message that

crushes the human ego and says you're not good.

This is why the scripture calls us things like dead, but he

doesn't leave us there. He tells us that we can also now

be alive. The message of the cross makes

Christ the hero. So the truth is, we're not a mix

of good and bad. We're not some some yin and

Yang. We're just.

I don't know which one's the bad one.

We're just the bad one though, whichever one that is.

Romans 118 says it this way. The wrath of God is being

revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of

people. Are you going to leave me there?

No, absolutely not. The gospel doesn't leave us

there. The gospel is good news to our

soul, but only after we know the bad news.

That we're not righteous, that we're not holy, that we are not

enough. So we should run from messages

that stroke our ego and comfort us in our sin, because those are

messages from hell. We should run from messengers

who make deep devotion to King Jesus sound optional because

they are messengers from hell. Anyone who makes deep devotion

to King Jesus sound like an optional thing, or make it sound

like that's extremism Christianity, or that's

fundamental fundamentalism or that's right wing, all of that,

we reject it. We bow down to literally worship

King Jesus. That's what wise men did from

the beginning. If you're wise, you'll build

your whole life around going to worship a 2 year old.

Because that's probably when the wise men arrived, not at his

birth. So Can you imagine worshipping a

toddler? No, you can't.

But that's exactly what they did.

They came and they bowed down before a 2 year old.

Why? Because I understood who he was.

He was God, the Word made flesh. He hadn't even accomplished yet

everything he was going to accomplish.

He goes all the way to the cross sinlessly and perfectly, because

he loves us and he is worthy. And now he is the one who sits

on the thrane and his government.

There will be no end. He is ruling and reigning right

now. He answers to no one and

everyone does answer to him, Is this good news or bad news?

Well, it depends. It's it's good news.

It's good news, friends. It's good news as long as you

bend the knee and kiss the ring of the Lord Jesus Christ because

he welcomes you to do so. He says, I love you and I want

to bring you in. You're dead.

I want to make you alive. This is good news unless you're

prideful. If you have pride, you reject

all of this and you bristle against it even as you're

hearing it now. Maybe you're listening on the

podcast. Maybe you're listening.

You're alive. If you're bristling against this

message, all you're getting is explicit scripture.

You're just getting explicit scripture.

I haven't added any John Michaelisms into this thing.

I've done my best not to, but this is the message of the

gospel. The human ego is crushed and

then the glory of the Lord brings something new out of it.

This is called resurrection, he says.

Old things pass away and all things become new.

So God doesn't come and God doesn't look at you, Michael,

and go man, you're you're pretty awesome.

I just want to put a new coat of paint on you.

God says you're so bad you have to die and then I'll raise you

into new life. This is what baptism is.

Saints. I died with Christ, and I've

been raised to new life in him. My sin was crucified on the

tree, and through the beautiful substitution of the Lord Jesus

Christ, now I run to him. We also run from the messages

and the messengers that tell us how awful we are, only to leave

us in the dark. That's also a message from hell.

You're awful. You're doomed.

You're condemned with no hope. Is there no hope?

That's a message from hell that we reject entirely.

Why? Because it doesn't tell the

whole story. So both of these are extremes.

The whole You're fine, just as you are.

Crowd is a liar from hell and also the You're doomed crowd.

And there's no hope that is also a lie from hell.

You're not OK as you are, and you're also not doomed without

hope. Both of those messages leave out

some part of the story, but the whole truth is glorious and

overwhelmingly good. Jesus had to die, and if you and

I were good enough on our own, or if we can accomplish anything

on our own, then the death of Christ is meaningless.

And of course the death of Christ is not meaningless.

God wouldn't sacrifice his Son for no reason.

So if anything, if any other world religion, if any other

philosophy could have gotten it done, then the Lord would have

allowed for that. But He wasn't going to spend his

only Son who he loved for no reason whatsoever.

So the whole truth is presented here by Isaiah again, 700 years

before it comes to pass. We were in darkness, but we've

seen a great light, for unto us a child is born, a son is given.

Jesus plainly confirms this in the famous passage in John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, when he says, For God so loved the world that he gave

his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not

perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son

into the world to condemn the world.

That's good news. But in order that the world

might be saved through him, whoever believes in him is not

condemned. But whoever does not believe in

him is condemned already, because he has not believed in

the name of the only Son of God. So Jesus there is the one who

taught that I'm already condemned.

My default setting out of the womb was condemned.

Oh, that doesn't that doesn't seem like it's fair.

Again, it's very good that God rescues us.

This is the goodness of God. This is why he's the hero of the

story. What does it mean to be

condemned? It means I'm sentenced.

It means I've already been judged.

It's already been assessed. It's already that's my default

setting. My destination is set.

Except that by the grace of God, through faith in Christ, it can

all be changed. So to be condemned or to be

sentenced, it isn't something that's going to happen in the

future. It is my current state if I'm

outside of Christ. And this is what the real Jesus

teaches. The real Jesus is polarizing.

You meet Jesus. If you meet Jesus you will move

towards God or you will move away from God.

If you come face to face with Christ in his word.

The real Jesus will not compel you to do nothing.

Nobody ever came to Christ and listened to his teachings and

said, I'm not sure what to make of this.

I guess I'll just kind of hang around the hang around the

perimeter. People were either repelled by

him and said how dare you? I can't believe he would say

that. Or people say you have the words

of life. Where else would I go?

Those are the responses that the real Christ creates.

A lot of times in our culture, we don't see those two responses

anymore because there isn't a clear gospel being preached.

It is a muddy message. It is a message of confusion

instead of the message of the baby in the Manger.

I just love Christmas. It's so sweet.

And maybe that's what you're thinking, man.

Preacher. I just wanted to feel good

sermon today, friend. There is no better feeling than

being right with God, than having your sins washed away and

being made a new creation with an entire new life.

When you enjoy God as the wonderful counselor, your mighty

God, your everlasting father, your Prince of peace, it

doesn't. There's nothing better.

There's nothing better. There's nothing warmer.

The baby in the Manger is meant to evoke the whole message,

because the baby in the Manger is the same one who goes to the

cross. Why?

For the sins of the whole world, yeah, but for the sins of me.

For the sins of me, Not just the vague sins of the world, but the

stuff that I've done, the person who I've been, the things I'm

guilty of. I'm just talking about me.

Because it makes you a little bit more comfortable, right?

I'll keep pointing the finger this way when I point it that

way. The things you've done, we're

all in the same boat, except that Jesus is a great rescuer

and he loves us. Simeon prophesied this about

him. That he would bring this

polarizing response in the world.

So Simeon was was an old man who worshipped into the temple

regularly. And when they went to circumcise

Jesus and dedicate Jesus into the in the temple, Simeon had

been told by the Holy Spirit ahead of time that he would not

die until he saw the Lord's Messiah.

So it's just a personal message that the Holy Spirit told him.

He said you're going to get to see the Messiah.

So Joseph and Mary, just a just a family, just another baby

being brought in to be to be circumcised, to be brought in,

to be taken care of by the priest.

Just another one. Happens all the time.

Here's another one. And Simeon sees him, The Holy

Spirit says the Simeon, There he is.

Can you imagine? I can't.

But Simeon, an old man goes and takes the baby and holds him up

and begins to prophecy over him. And thanks God, he says, now I

can die. I can die.

Like he's here, It's happening. What a joy, what a privilege,

what a, what a pleasure. And Mary and Joseph, they're

going another confirmation, another reassurance from the

Lord, Simeon said. This child is destined to cause

the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign

that will be spoken against so that the heart, so that the

hearts of many will be revealed. Jesus reveals your heart.

He reveals it. And in the work of the the

gospel itself accomplishes what the Lord intended for it to

accomplish. But the Word always comes forth

and always cuts everybody to the heart.

You and I are both even being cut to the heart.

Did you know preachers even cut to the heart as they preach the

word of God. So it's a joy to receive the

Word even as you preach it. So even as we're cut, even as

we're all cut to the heart, we have responses that we can

choose. In the New Testament, in the

book of Acts, you see when the after Christ has been

resurrected and after he has ascended into heaven, the gospel

is preached to one group. And you see they, it says they

gnashed their teeth and they stoned him to death.

They were cut to the heart and then they killed the preacher.

It was Stephen. They killed him.

And then there's another time it says they were cut to the heart

and it was Peter who had preached and they said what must

we do to be saved? Those are the responses that

Jesus brings out of people. Why?

Because both of those messages, if you doubt, if you think that

this was, if you think this was an explicitly strong or you

think this this message has any John Michaelisms in it, I dare

you. Go read Peter's sermon.

Go read Stephen's sermon. It was not seeker friendly in in

the middle of his sermon. He's just telling the story.

And then they turn the corner and he goes in this Christ who

you crucified like tone it down, you're going to get yourself

killed. Now I got to tell the truth and

the whole truth. Why?

Because the King is worthy and the message matters.

And it's not a game. Life is not light.

It is meant to be lived for the glory of God.

And if it's not, it's pointless, it's empty, and it's fruitless.

So this is all good news. It's all good news that God

reached down for us because we could not reach up to him.

There's nothing I could do. There was nowhere I could go.

So Christmas is that reminder. It was the beginning of the

mission in our minds anyway. He had been beginning the

mission. Back in the garden.

He prophesied in the garden to Eve.

He said, your seed talking about Jesus.

This is the first preaching of the gospel that we know of.

God did it in the garden. Your seed is going to crush the

head of the serpent. The serpent will bruise his

heel, but he will bruise his head.

So Jesus takes the bruise on the heel.

The the wound. That's that's not damning.

And he crushes the head of the serpent.

So this is good news, because we weren't innocent even when we

were born. But Christ comes to give us the

gift of his righteousness, making us right with God and

making us alive and making us whole for the very first time.

It is a real thing to walk with Christ.

It is a real thing to be made a new creature.

It is a real thing to have a new life and to have a new identity

inside of you. You didn't earn it.

You don't deserve it. And it does not induce pride.

It induces humility. It induces fear of God.

It induces love for others. That's the first thing that

shows up when a person comes to Christ.

They have a love for God's people, and they have a love for

those who aren't God's people. They just have a love.

They say, I realize what I've just been given.

I can't shut up about it. Oh, you're careful.

Bob just went off the deep end. He found religion.

You better thank God that Bob did.

You better thank God that he did.

Because now he's loving you. Now he's praying for you.

Now he's caring for you. This is the normal response when

somebody has met Jesus and walked with him.

That's why he was the baby in the Manger, and that's why he

was the man on the cross, to be the one who is our substitute.

The Manger is beautiful and joyful because the baby

eventually accomplishes the mission to be the sinless

sacrifice. They didn't make room for him in

Bethlehem, they didn't have any room.

In the end, the king comes into the earth, not the way everybody

expected him to. That's why they didn't recognize

him. Jesus only shows up to the

people who have him, who can host a king, anyone who will

welcome him. But the whole world wouldn't do

it. And he says, I'm going to come

in to those who nobody cares about.

I'm going to come in to this young girl, come in to this

young guy. I'm going to meet those

shepherds over there in the field.

Why? Because they're not prideful.

Because they're not. They're not prideful.

They will humble themselves. They heard the news and they

rush down into Bethlehem. Let's go worship him.

The angels. 100 million angels show up to men in a field one

night. What a joy.

What a privilege, what an honor to be a part of that.

You know where the angels didn't show up?

They didn't show up in the synagogue, They didn't show up

in the temple. They didn't show up where Herod

lived. They didn't show up where Caesar

was in Rome. They didn't say, hey, kings, the

real king is here. He showed up in the Far East to

some magi and gave them a star that they would follow for a few

years. Humble people follow Jesus.

Prideful people can't, and therefore God's judgment is even

on them in their pride because God opposes the proud and he

gives grace to the humble. Why does God require such

humility? Because God is so humble.

He became a baby. He lived inside a woman's body

for nine months. God did that to himself, So our

pride in in his sight is disgusting.

It's so out of place. It's so absurd.

It's so ironic that we would ever be prideful towards him

when he has been so humble towards us.

He became flesh, He became a human being.

And we're sitting here trying to make ourselves like God.

And he says, I would have elevated you.

I want to elevate you and seat you beside me in heavenly

places. But you've got to become lowly.

You've got to become lowly in heart.

You've got to become broken in spirit.

And then I will heal you. Then I will restore you.

Who can host Christ? Who can have Christ?

The humble Jesus said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in

and eat with him and he with me. Jesus laid down his life.

He surrendered to the Father, and we must do the same at

Christmas and all year long, all life long, because we don't have

a Savior who requires something that he didn't do himself.

Worthy is the Lamb who came. Worthy is the Lamb when he's

when he's in the Manger. Worthy is the Lamb when he's 12

years old. Worthy is the Lamb when he was

on the cross. Worthy is the Lamb when he was

in the tomb. Worthy was the Lamb when he was

resurrected and walked on the earth for 40 days living,

preaching, teaching. Worthy was the Lamb when he

ascended into heaven. Worthy is the Lamb seated on the

throne right now. Worthy is the Lamb who is coming

back to judge the living and the dead church.

Let him make you alive, friends. Let him let him make you alive.

God loves you. This is the message of

Christmas. God is good.

He is better than you think. He has paid a great price to be

with you. Christmas is all about Jesus.

Let's give him glory. God, we thank you so much for

the love of Christ. Nothing can separate his people

from his love. No height, no depth, no breadth,

no demon in hell, no Angel in heaven.

Nothing shall separate us from your love.

And yet still you require that we participate in our salvation.

Not to earn it, not to accomplish it, but to respond by

faith with what you've done. By your grace.

What a magnificent gift. Lord, you said that whoever

would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved.

So we call in humility, in weakness and brokenness, in

smallness. We come to the baby in the

Manger because we understand who he is.

We come to the baby in the Manger not for sentimentality,

not for tradition, but for truth, for worship, for

salvation, to have our sins washed away, and to have a

substitute given. Thank you so much, God, for your

love. Thank you so much for your

magnificent care. Why?

Why? Why would you do it?

Why wouldn't you just crush us all and and start over?

Why create people to begin with? But all these things are

expressions of your love and who you are.

God, I pray that you would bless these people today.

I pray that you would bless them here at this Christmas season.

I ask that you would pour out your spirit upon them all.

That they would receive your nearness.

That they would receive your blessing.

That their hearts would be open to the grace and the

transformation that you offer. That you would take out Stony

hearts, and that you would place.

That you would replace them with soft hearts of flesh tender

towards you, devoted in obedience and wanting to love

you and worship you. Well.

God be glorified among us in Jesus name.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine down upon you and be gracious to

you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name.

Amen. You are dismissed.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.