Born
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BORN
BORN
INTRODUCTION
We come to a special time of year, where we have a unique celebration.
This time of year with all the hustle and bussel of work, finaces, shopping, gifts, family, loved ones, I pray we stop and reflect of what this time of year is truly about.
As for some, this time of year is simply about the perfect gift, the perfect party, the perfect clothing, the who can out top out spend out gift who. For some this time of year is about the food, turkey, school being out, time off from work, travel, sitting around and eating what has been baked. For some, this time of year is hard, because of loved ones that have left this world.
For select few, this time of year is not about any of that. This time of year is about forgiveness, joy, reflecting on a promise, grace, mercy, divineness, Jesus.
This morning I would like to start off with you of what it meant for Jesus to be BORN. What His birth intelled. What truly took place; in heaven, on earth, and through individuals. What all of this truly meant for you and I.
This morning I would like to start off with you of what it meant for Jesus to be BORN
There are five unique understandings I want you to know, grasp, understand, hold on to, cherrish this Christmas, inside your hearts and to others. Within these five understanings, I will inform you on doctrines that we must affirm and believe.
What all of this truly meant for you and I. There are five unique understandings I want you to know, grasp, understand, hold on to, cherrish this Christmas, inside your hearts and to others.
I. A Unique Announcement:
A. Spoken by God
B. Announced through Prophets
C. Instructed by an Angel
E. Activated soley on Grace
A. Spoken by God (Date: Everlasting)
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Genesis 3:14-15
Here God Himself spoke to His creation, man and woman, and to Satan himself, exactly what He would do with everything.
For man, God would curse, yet offer redemption
For woman, God would curse, yet illustrate His mercy
For humanity, God would curse, yet give way to life
For creation, God would curse, yet at His appointed time, make everything new.
For Satan, God would remind him of his casting down, and promise that Satan would be crushed once and for all.
B. Announced through Prophets
The Prophets who would be selected to announce the coming birth of Jesus were:
Moses
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.
2 Samuel
Isaiah
Isaiah
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
; ; , ; ; ; ; ; ;
Chapter 53; 55:1; 57:15; 59:1; 61:1-3
Jeremiah
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
“In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The Lord our righteousness.’
Jeremiah
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:
Ezekiel
; ;
Micah
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”
Zechariah
; , ; ; ; ,
Malachi
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.
“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
“He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.
“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Malachi
C. Instructed by an Angel
Gabriel
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Gabriel the Archangel
GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL (גַּבְרִיאֵל, gavri'el). One of two angels named in the Bible (the other being Michael). Gabriel interpreted Daniel’s vision (Dan 8:16), gave Daniel the prophecy of 70 weeks (Dan 9:21), and announced the births of John the Baptist (Luke 1:19) and Jesus (Luke 1:26). Identified as an archangel with specific duties in Second Temple Jewish literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Gabriel in the Gospels
Gabriel in the Gospels
Gabriel is best known for his role in the birth narrative of the Gospel of Luke, where he announces the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah (Luke 1:11–20). In that account, Gabriel identifies himself as one who stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19). Six months after this announcement, Gabriel announces the coming birth of the Messiah to Mary (Luke 1:26–35). The church father Cyprian suggested that Gabriel is also the angel who speaks to Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew, though the text does not specifically name him (Treatises of Cyprian, XII.2.7).
Charles Spurgeon: “Not only when we were born into the world did Christ love us, but His delight were with people before there were any of them.”
The announcement started with God and ended with an angel sent from God.
So as you can see, we have a Unique Announcement of the coming birth of Jesus Christ. All given by God, through men, and one Angel. This is Doctrine itself. Undeniable facts.
II. A Unique Transition (Doctrine of Incarnation):
Here we have something quite remarkable. Quite uncomprehensible. Something quite overlooked, unspoken of.
We often only come to the surface of Scripture, Joseph, Mary, the manger, the barn, the shepherds, wise men, baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. We only look at this from a earthly mindset. We must though look at it from the heavenly perspective. What was happening in heaven? To Jesus?
A. The Trinity at Hand
B. The Son of God Revealed
C. The Self-Emptying of Jesus
A. The Trinity at Hand
What do I mean by the Trinity at hand? Simply this; if we cannot believe in the Trinity, there is no way to believe in the incarnation of Jesus. If we cannot believe in the incarnation of Jesus, you cannot believe in the Trinity. Everything works through the Trinity and not one thing is done without the Trinity; The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit. If you cannot believe these truths, you cannot be a Christian!
Where are we seeing this?
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:30-
B. The Son of God Revealed
We have the Son of God fully revealed to us, not only within the Trinity, but He has been since everlasting.
3 Strong false heretic statements we must be clear on:
1. Jesus was only a man (Good, moral) Gnotsticism
2. Triune God came in the flesh
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
3. Jesus changed into a Man
Again I take you back to
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
Jesus truly came in the flesh, as a baby, and still the same second person in the Trinity. Jesus never changed into a man, He took on flesh.
Jesus was not just
C. The Self-Emptying of Jesus (kenosis)
Here we find 5 truths that took place
What do we mean by the self-emptying of Jesus? How is Jesus empty if He is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God?
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-
I want us this morning to understand again the veiw from heaven right before the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and the power of The Most High overshadows her. We see a transition take place, what the Greek calls morphe (form).
How do we grasp this word and definition?
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians
When Jesus was a grown man, he was seen as a man, (“Is this not the son of Joseph”) but He was still God, still the second person within the Trinity.
There are 5 truths of what took place in heaven with Jesus:
That said, as this formation took place, Jesus, as He stepped down from glory, He (go back to Philippian text)
i. “Did not regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped”
What does this mean? He stepped away, abandoned, left His soverign position in heaven.
Now why is this important to measure? Because of the beginning of verse 6 “although He existed (being) in the form of God.....”
Jesus, first of all, did not have to grab being God. He was God! He didnt need to be equal with God, He was God. Meaning this, Jesus was not fighting to hang on, but willingly, as God, emptied Himself.
By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.
ii. “Emptied Himself”
What does this statement mean? That Jesus, poured Himself out. He gave up everything; heavenly riches, heavenly glories, mainly though, Himself. Jesus emptied Himself of His very nature.
Understand something, before we continue. Jesus never gave up His diety. Therefore what exactly did He give up with His nature?
His Glory
“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
b. His Riches
b. His Riches
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians
c. His Beauty
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
d. His Relationship with The Father
At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
iii. “the form of a bond-servant”
Though Jesus never lost His attributes as God, He was fully submitted as a servant to The Father.
“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters;
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
John 6:
saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
iv. He became one of us “being made in the likeness of men”
From Majesty to man. Do you see the grace here? A Holy God comes to not only be with sinful people, walk with sinful people, live in a sinful world, and yet, does so, so that for you and I, He would become the sin offering, peace with God.
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
3. Jesus appeared as man
4. Jesus
Micah