WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:06.000 To take your Bible and turn with me over to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John chapter 1. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:14.880 This morning for Christmas Eve, I want us to turn over there and to look at the prologue of the Gospel of John. 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.800 The prologue, which is the first 18 verses of John chapter 1, is a masterpiece of literature. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:33.439 And here at the beginning of the Gospel, John handles some very deep and complex ideas, and he handles these matters of profound importance with the greatest ability. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.560 He discusses divinity and humanity. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:39.920 He discusses pre-existence and incarnation. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:44.399 He discusses revelation and sacrifice all with poetic ease. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:49.920 In fact, some people have said that this might even itself have been a hymn. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:57.439 For this morning, I want to draw our attention just to one verse out of these 18 verses in the prologue, and that's verse 14. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:04.239 It says this the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:12.480 We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:22.959 Within those few short words are two concepts that would have startled and stunned the whole world, whether you were a Jew or a Gentile. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:33.040 For the Greeks, finding the idea of a divine logos being brought into human existence would have been impossible for them to comprehend. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:45.359 And for the Jewish people to hear these words about the glory of God being seen in a human, not in the temple, would have shocked and astounded them. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:58.879 But here Paul or John makes this bold and shocking declaration that not only was the divine word made flesh, but he was also the visible expression of the glory of God. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:04.079 And so this morning I want us to draw our attention to this passage in just two ways. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:10.159 I want us, first of all, to see the Christmas miracle, and then to understand the Christmas message. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:15.439 The Christmas miracle is wrapped up in those things that John says here. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.960 He said, the word became flesh. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:23.919 Well, we have to ask ourselves, who is this word that becomes flesh? 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:34.159 Was he some prophet, some designated voice from God, some messenger who is going to bring God's word to us? 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:37.840 Yes, but more than that. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:42.400 Was he some being, maybe more than a man? 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:53.199 Um, someone who was created just for the purpose of being a messenger of God, to declare God's will and authority to us better than any of us as humans could do? 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:55.840 He's more than that. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:04.159 Was the word some great angel, a dweller in the secret places of God on high? 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:07.520 Was it Gabriel who stood in the presence of the Lord? 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.919 Was it Michael who was the prince of the angels? 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:15.199 Was it one of the seraphim who surrounded the throne and cried out, holy, holy, holy? 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.560 No, more than that. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.840 Was it some specially created heavenly being? 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:28.319 Something higher than all the angels, even the archangels? 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:35.759 Um, was it one created almost from eternity, a companion of the Godhead on his eternal throne? 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:43.599 Is this one just a created being by whom God created all things, a revealer and utterer of the mind of God? 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:45.120 No, more than that. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:46.639 More than that. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:49.280 Who is this word? 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.599 John tells us. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:53.840 Right at the very beginning. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.159 In the beginning was the word. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:04.719 He says, at the very start of his gospel, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.520 The word was God. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:16.399 This is he of whom it is said in verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:24.399 This is why Carl Barth said that Christmas can only be understood as a wonder. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:26.319 And this is why C.S. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:29.040 Lewis called it the grand miracle. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:36.079 This is the mystery and majesty of Christmas, the incarnation. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:42.079 Incarnation is a word maybe you haven't heard or perhaps hear very little. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:43.920 What does it mean? 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.240 Well, we understand what being carnal means. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:49.680 It means to be fleshly. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:55.759 And if an animal, for instance, is carnivorous, they're a flesh-eating animal. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:04.079 And so we can see that to be incarnate means for God to be clothed in flesh. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:08.560 This is Jesus Christ. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:19.360 This is the one where, speaking of the day he was born, his mother brought him forth and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.920 This is God in a basket. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:53.439 The Son of God, the only begotten, equal to the Father, ever with the Father, by whom he made the worlds, as we say in our creedle statements, God of gods, light of lights, very God of very God, of which the scriptures say the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, in human flesh. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:06:01.759 This word is not named among the angels, because the angels were made by him, and the angels worship him. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:14.240 Paul said that he is far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world which is to come. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.879 Then you have to grasp this Christmas miracle that he's nothing other than God. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.160 That's why we call it a Christmas miracle. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:46.959 God has taken on human nature. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:52.399 I love what Augustine said many, many centuries ago. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:59.040 He said, The word of the Father by whom all time was created was made flesh and born in time for us. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:08.480 He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, desired to have one day for his human birth. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:21.439 In the bosom of his father he existed before all the cycles of the ages, but now, born of an earthly mother, has entered into the course of years on this day. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:08:19.360 The maker of man became a man, that the ruler of the stars might be nourished at his mother's breast, that he the bread might experience hunger, that he the fountain might thirst, that he the light might sleep, that he the way might be wearied on the journey, that he the truth might be accused by false witnesses, that he, the judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial before a mortal judge, that he justice might be condemned by the unjust, that he who is disciplined might be scourged with whips, that he who is the foundation might be suspended on a cross, that he who is courage might be weakened, he who is security might be wounded, that he who is life might die. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.439 This is the Christmas miracle. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:33.919 That he who existed before all ages without a beginning consented to become a man on a day. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.879 And he did this for our sake. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:46.639 And this is the second part of this glorious Christmas story that John tells us in John chapter 1 and verse 14. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:58.320 Not just the Christmas miracle and the word became flesh, but it also tells us here that he came to reveal, reveal something to us. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:02.559 This is why John calls him the word, after all. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:09.679 He calls him the word because it's a special way of saying that Jesus is the one that makes God known. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:14.399 Do you want to know what God is like? 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.840 Then have a good long look at Jesus, and you'll know. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.879 You know, by our words we make ourselves known. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:31.759 By our words, we express our thoughts, we express our desires, we we reveal our will. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:44.720 And similarly, the word is God expressing himself, the God of heaven coming into relationship with us, created things, and revealing himself. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:56.000 And so all of humanity, instead of wishing for a God who understood, now comes before a God who has made himself known to us. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:09:59.919 And Jesus does that. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:05.279 Because only he knows the secret thoughts of God, because he is God. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:07.840 He is one with the Father. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.840 He has seen the Father and makes the Father known. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:16.399 He dwelt in the glory with the Father before the world ever began. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:21.440 John later in verse 18 says, No one has ever seen God. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.360 The one and only Son who is himself God is at the Father's side. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.279 He has revealed him. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:42.720 And so from the glory in the bosom of the Father, the word comes, born in Bethlehem, the city of David, and he's come to reveal God to us. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:45.519 But what is it that he's revealing to us? 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.840 There's several things that are deep and precious in his revelation to us. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:55.840 And one of the things that he reveals is God's desired intimacy with humanity. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.960 There was a time when God freely communed with humanity. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.320 Adam and Eve were created and put into the Garden of Eden. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:09.679 And the scriptures tell us that the Lord was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the evening. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:14.240 It would have been nothing for them to spend time together. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:24.480 God communing with humanity freely, without hesitation, without barrier, perfect unity, perfect communication. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.679 With unfallen humanity, that communion was sweet and intimate indeed. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:34.559 But then we rebelled. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:42.399 Sin entered this world, and it destroyed not only that idyllic garden, but it also destroyed our interaction with God. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:54.480 And a great gulf opened up between us rebels and God, who is infinitely pure and our creator, leaving us with a dilemma. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:09.279 And the rest of Scripture begins to show not God in the garden with us, but we banished from the garden to a place of thorns and sweat and death and God above. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:23.519 And the rest of the beginning chapters of Genesis show God looking down on humanity and bringing a flood and looking down on humanity and destroying the Tower of Babel. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:29.279 We're no longer with God, we're separate from God. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:43.360 And if it weren't for the amazing goodness of God, all of our rights would be as nothing, and we would only rightfully be banished forever from his presence. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:53.519 But the scriptures reveal that God's design and desire is to recapture that intimacy with humanity. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:00.080 And so he made a promise to Abraham and to his children and to his children. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:06.639 And for generations they held on to the promises of the fathers until a deliverer, Moses, rose up. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:15.759 And instructions were given to Moses and to the people as they came out of Egypt to build a tent, to make a tabernacle. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:22.639 And there God would put his presence, even call the tabernacle a place of meeting. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.000 And he put it into the very center, the heart of the camp. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:33.360 And so the people would be able to see the tent from every angle. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.159 They would see its curtains of goat's hair. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.200 They would understand it in the center of their encampment. 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:43.840 Nearly all of them couldn't look inside of it. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:55.519 But they could imagine its splendor as they heard the revelation of how it was to be built, luxuriously manufactured with precious wood and pure gold and tapestries of many colors. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:07.759 And within it, in that sacred spot, would be a light shining between the wings of the cherubim, a symbol of the presence of the Lord, once again among humanity. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:12.799 And though they couldn't look inside the tent, they could look above it. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.240 And when they looked above it, they would see a cloud arising from the top of the tent. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:27.840 And it would expand like a vast tree covering over the people of God to protect them from the burning sun of the desert. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:37.200 And when the sun went down, that same cloud would become luminous and would guard them from the darkness and whatever there might be out there. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:45.840 The Lord said to this nation and only to this nation, I will place my residence among you. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.919 I will not reject you. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:55.200 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people, Leviticus 26, 11 and 12. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:01.039 The day of the tabernacle is over. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:08.879 The day of the shadow, the day of the type, the day of the figure that that tabernacle was and the temple was is over. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:16.559 The day when God would say only to one nation, I will be your God and you will be my people, is over. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:24.240 Because God does not restrict Himself just to one dwelling place and one people any longer. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:37.360 The Lord Jesus said to the woman of the well in a few chapters beyond where we've just read in John 1, believe me, an hour is coming when you'll worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:44.320 An hour is coming and now is here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:49.519 Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:59.600 You see, there still is a place, and there still are a people, but it's not one place and one people. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:09.440 It's all peoples who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because there is one dwelling place of God for humanity. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.799 There's one real temple to meet him in. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:16.879 There's one living abode for us as a place of meeting. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:20.720 And that place is Jesus Himself. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:28.240 The place is the person of the Lord Jesus in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:35.519 You see, Christ is the fulfillment of that tent of meeting in the center of the camp. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:43.919 Because God is in Christ, and Christ is in God, and in his blessed person, God meets with us. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:52.480 The word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.559 That's exactly the word John uses. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:02.960 This is a direct reference back to the tabernacle temple of the Old Testament. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.839 The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:10.000 He dwelt with us. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:19.359 He dwells with us as closely, more closely, than he might have dwelt in that sanctuary in the midst of the camp of the people. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:26.400 That tabernacle was a tent to which people would go if they were to meet with God. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.519 But now Christ is that tabernacle. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:35.599 And it's in Christ that God meets with us, and we meet with the Father. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:42.480 This is why Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.160 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:56.960 This is why Peter stood up in the middle of Jerusalem and said, There's no other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:03.119 I know in our pluralistic age that grates on the ears of all of us. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.480 How could we say this singular way to God? 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:11.519 Because he is the meeting place of God. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.480 He is the designated spot. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:20.799 If any of the nations were to meet with God, they would have to come to the nation of Israel. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.920 They would have to come into the center of the camp. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:27.200 They would have to go through rites and sacrifices. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:35.519 And then only then would someone go on their behalf into the presence of God once a year. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:43.359 But now all peoples, everywhere in Jesus Christ, have a meeting place with God. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.599 This is what he came to reveal. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:53.279 He came to reveal God's desired intimacy with humanity. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.279 But he also came to reveal God's divine majesty to humanity. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:02.319 Listen to John 1.14 again. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.759 The word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:14.880 We observed his glory, the glory as of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:27.920 John is not just haphazardly choosing words that somehow align with the meaning of the tabernacle and the glory of the tabernacle. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:58.000 He is making express declaration that Jesus is the fulfillment that the tabernacle was just a sign of that he has been made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory just like the people in Israel's time would have seen the glory of the Lord over the tent and over the temple. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:13.599 When Solomon made his dedicatory prayer of the temple that was built in replacement of the tabernacle, the scriptures tell us that fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:19.920 And it says this, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:29.359 John is telling us here that God's glory has come to earth in all of its fullness in Jesus Christ. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:41.359 What is he saying here? 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:45.519 The Old Testament was good. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.359 The law was good. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:52.319 Moses was good, but Jesus is better. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:59.759 Moses asked to see God's glory, and God told him, You cannot see it or you will die. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.920 John tells us here, no one's ever seen God. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:15.039 The only, but Jesus, the one and only Son who is Himself God, He has made Him known. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:17.279 He has revealed Him. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:29.759 See, not only has Jesus told us of God's desired intimacy with humanity, He is the manifestation of God's glory to humanity. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:40.720 John tells us in the rest of his gospel of what God is like as he unfolds the sayings and signs of God through Jesus Christ. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:46.640 There we're receiving a declaration of all of God's glory, full of grace and truth. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:51.519 This is why John said, and we we observed his glory. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:54.000 We saw his glory. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.519 But in this room, sitting perhaps next to you. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.799 Is someone who has also observed his glory. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:18.880 Now, your friend, or perhaps your loved one, has never seen Jesus raise the dead, has never seen him cast out devils, has never seen him hush the winds and calm the waves. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:30.319 But your beloved one sitting among you in these pews has seen through the written testimony of the apostles the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:40.559 Your loved one is seen with the eye of faith, Christ's spotless holiness and his boundless love and his superlative truth and his wonderful, wondrous heavenliness. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:46.319 He's seen, she's seen, the fullness of grace and truth. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:56.400 We rejoice in the fact that tabernacling among us is God Himself in Christ. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:09.599 And among us is a real manifestation of the glory of God, more glorious than all the brilliance of light and the glow of flame that hovered over the tent of meeting. 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:21.200 Because the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is not just an outward appearance to be held with our eyes, but it is more than the pillar of cloud and fire. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:28.799 It's the abiding, steady luster, the holy, gracious, truthful character of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:45.119 This is why Paul said, For God who said, Let there be light, has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 4. 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:52.079 You see, the glory of Christ is more glorious than the pillar of cloud. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.960 And our Lord's self-sacrifice is more excellent than the pillar of fire. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:06.799 And when we think of those mysteries of the Old Testament, we think of this cloud covering the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord covering the tabernacle. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:11.279 We see something better in Jesus Christ. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:16.240 You see, the glory of the God in the sanctuary was not seen. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:22.640 Only manifestations that gave it some idea that the presence was there. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:28.319 The glory of God and the face of Christ is seen by all of us who believe. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:34.240 The glory that the high priest would understand was seen once a year. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:50.000 But we behold in a mirror, face to face, the glory of God in Christ, and we are transformed into that image from glory to glory, Paul said. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.160 What has Jesus come to do? 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:59.119 What is this beautiful Christmas message? 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:03.759 He's come to reveal the Father's desired intimacy. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:08.079 He's come to reveal the Father's divine majesty. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:13.680 But he's also come to reveal God's determined interest in us, humans. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:17.759 The word became flesh. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:29.680 Not to govern us as a ruler, not for us to see him as high and lifted up, but he came meek and lowly and called himself a servant. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:39.599 He doesn't capture our attention with startling power, he captures our attention with his loneliness. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.359 And he didn't just assume a body as though he took on a shell. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.319 The mystery goes far deeper than that. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:54.799 The great wonder is that God became human in every way that we are. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:26:06.240 The writer of Hebrews said, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:26.160 We can sort of get our words around it, but to express it perfectly, I'm not sure we can. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:36.480 But these words that are written in the Word of God tell us that the Lord has truly come, really, as a man. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:37.839 Why? 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:44.079 He became like us to be close to us. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.519 Here on earth, the word faced a whole range of new experiences. 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:53.440 Taking on a human body, he experienced human pain. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:59.519 He experienced human temptations, he experienced human poverty and loneliness and humiliation. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:01.680 He experienced death. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:10.079 Our Lord came into this world with all of its hardships, with all of its sweat, with all of its trouble. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:13.680 He came into the sphere of sorrow and suffering. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:22.559 He submitted himself to travel through the terrain of temptation and to feel the burden of the oppressed. 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:32.240 He walked among us as we lived and as we loved and as we lost one another in a death-enslaved humanity. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:35.680 All of this he bore on his shoulders. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.319 He came why? 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:52.319 So he could understand our sufferings, our sorrows, our pain, our anguish, our darkness, our emptiness, our sadness. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:28:01.359 He witnessed with human eyes and was touched with human emotions the things we experience. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:12.160 He came and gave himself the title and the experience, the man of sorrows, so that he might be acquainted with grief. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:15.279 Why? 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:22.799 Prior to the incarnation, Christ knew, of course, as a divine person, our condition on earth. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:26.000 And he not only knew it, he knew it with tenderness. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:30.240 The Old Testament is filled with statements of the compassion of God. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:35.519 But it's one thing to look on suffering and to feel compassion for it. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.079 It's another thing to suffer. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:54.000 Christ not only pitied us in our misery, but he came down and took his abode among us, and clothed himself with our nature, and lived among us, and felt with us, and wept with us, and suffered with us, sin accepted. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:29:06.240 And in so doing, he acquired a new experience, which saturated the infinite compassion of the Godhead with the glow of human tenderness. 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.440 Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:27.359 The children, 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. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:32.079 For surely it's not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:36.240 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.119 Why? 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:45.440 So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest and the servants of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:52.880 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:23.200 He knew the state of humanity under the fall, but he made himself as one of humanity in a fallen world, to qualify himself to be a merciful and faithful high priest, to enable him to know the experiences that we experience, to know the weariness and the disappointments and the misunderstandings and the pain of life. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:28.960 What a wonderful Savior this is. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:51.680 This Christmas miracle comes with a message to all of us that God has come in Christ to express his desired intimacy with us, to express his divine glory to us, full of grace and truth, to express his earnest interest in us. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:02.079 But one last thing, to accomplish and to reveal God's undeserved generosity to sinners. 00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:23.680 When the Apostle Paul urged the Corinthians to be generous in their giving and show the sincerity of their love, he wrote these words in 2 Corinthians 8 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:33.920 Jesus came to accomplish and to reveal the undeserved generosity of God to sinners. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:56.880 And when you read the prologue of John's gospel here, you will see a pattern that's a pattern picked up from the Old Testament, where the main point sits in the center. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:07.279 And you pick up in verse 6 a statement about John, and then you look at the end of his prologue and you see a statement about John. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:13.680 Then you see a statement about Christ a little deeper at the front end, about the light who is Jesus. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:18.799 And then you see something a little bit near the end of it about the glory who is in Jesus. 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:23.759 And in this sandwich of words are two main points. 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:29.279 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:36.000 But juxtaposed to that, in contrast, are these words, the center of the prologue. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:50.640 All who receive him, he gave them the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural descent or the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. 00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:55.279 Christ is come to give life. 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:13.920 This is God's heart seen in the heart of a man. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:16.400 This is true love. 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:18.160 What kind of love? 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:29.119 A love to traitorous people, a love to those who could never repay the debt of their rebellion, to those who crucified the Lord of glory. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:35.839 Paul said, While we were still enemies, Christ died for us. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:40.319 A love defined by self-sacrifice. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:44.240 Christ renounced his crown and his specter. 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:46.799 He laid aside his royal robes. 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:53.920 He left his father's house, his father's palaces, he left his honor and became a person. 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:07.039 A poor man, a despised and afflicted man, a man who was obedient to death, though he didn't deserve it, a death on the cross, though he had done no wrong. 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:22.159 You could read every inscribed word of human history that anyone has ever penned from the day of our creation until now, and you would never read of a sacrifice like this. 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:30.960 And if you were to sum up the whole history of Jesus in a word, it would be this. 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:35.760 He saved others. 00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:38.639 Himself he did not save. 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:52.719 The praise of heaven in its eternal unfolding surrounded him. 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:56.079 But he'd rather have our salvation. 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:06.400 He came so that we might see him mocked and yet never reviling, spit upon, but never spitting back, not even a word of venom. 00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:11.679 We see him despised, never attempting to clear himself. 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:15.599 We see him accused but silent before the judgment seat. 00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:21.760 And he never stopped until he could cry out, It is finished, it is accomplished. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:25.920 Why did he do that? 00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:33.679 So that he might gain and give God's undeserved generosity to sinful people. 00:35:36.400 --> 00:36:17.920 And here we are at Christmas Eve, the day before the Christmas miracle, ringing in our ears this Christmas message, a message of what the word meant to reveal, about God's desire to be intimate with us, about his glory being seen among us in flesh and not in a tent, of his interest in who we are and what we experience, so that he might faithfully comfort and encourage all who are his, and for him to grant us something we don't deserve, the right to be called the children of God. 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:28.559 And we're made that way, not because we've been born that way or because we earned it or we willed it ourselves simply to be, but because God designed and desired it to be. 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:03.760 And you stand there like a stick of wood. 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:28.239 When the ringing sound of the Christmas miracle and the glorious Christmas message has gone into our ears, and we stand before Almighty God, and he says, What did you do with Jesus? 00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:36.559 And the only thing you have to say is, I ignored him, I despised him, I disobeyed him. 00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:41.119 What will you do on that day? 00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:58.480 If you're here this Christmas Eve and you sense yourself a poor sinner, realizing you're full of sin and deserving of nothing of judgment, know this the message is a message of hope and of life. 00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:08.880 That Jesus came to accomplish and to reveal God's undeserved generosity to sinners, not the self-righteous. 00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:12.800 He became incarnate to accomplish that. 00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:15.760 He became incarnate to give you that. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:19.519 J.I. 00:40:19.679 --> 00:40:24.400 Packer in his book, Knowing God, wrote this. 00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:33.199 He said, The significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in a sequence of steps to Calvary. 00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:38.480 And we don't understand it until we see it in that context. 00:40:39.039 --> 00:40:52.880 The taking of manhood by the sun is set before us in a way that shows us how we should always view it, not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather a wonder of grace. 00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:55.280 This is Christmas. 00:40:55.920 --> 00:40:58.079 It's a wonder of grace. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:41.920 And I pray that as we hear John speak at the beginning of his gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, he says, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as the one and only of the Father, full of grace and truth, that we would feel deeply within our hearts joy in this Christmas miracle and delight in all that Christ came to reveal, of his desire for intimacy, of his glorious presence, of his interest in each of us, and of his gift of eternal life. 00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:46.480 May we hear those words and believe and sing with joy. 00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:48.079 Let's pray. 00:41:51.440 --> 00:42:00.719 Oh Father, I pray that all of our hearts might respond rightly to this glorious message wrapped up in a few words. 00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:10.239 This astounding miracle, a wonder of nature, yes, a marvel of it indeed. 00:42:11.039 --> 00:42:27.440 But beyond that, a wonder of grace, that you would come to disobedient people desiring to be with us, to gather us to yourself, to manifest your glorious self to us. 00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:34.960 To know us, to save us. 00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:39.440 This is why we sing at Christmas. 00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:44.719 What a glorious, glorious Savior we have. 00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:48.400 What a wonderful message to receive. 00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:52.320 What a beautiful miracle to behold. 00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:59.360 Lord, move in all of our hearts that we might respond as we should. 00:42:59.679 --> 00:43:09.280 May we not be a stick of wood or stone, unmoved, untouched, unchanged. 00:43:09.840 --> 00:43:11.679 We pray this in Christ's name. 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:12.639 Amen.