SPEAKER_00: Becoming a servant.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how unfathomable that is for the one who created everything that we know and some things that we haven't even discovered yet.
SPEAKER_00: As a church, we've been walking through a series titled Biblical Foundations and began with who is God?
SPEAKER_00: And I think we'll be on that one for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: But that is a first beginning stone in your foundation, that there is a God, He is one, and that you are not Him, right?
SPEAKER_00: And what is our response to that today?
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, we moved on to creation and the identity of mankind, like who did God create you to be?
SPEAKER_00: Are you to uh leave him alone?
SPEAKER_00: Are you to come closer to him?
SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll hear some of that today as well.
SPEAKER_00: And then moved on to uh the famous sermon, The Doctrine of Sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that was uh very sobering message.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Gian helped us to really grapple with who are we on the inside without God and why do we need him so much?
SPEAKER_00: So if you are witnessing to someone and uh they are not understanding that inherently we start out as sinful people.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we had a big men's breakfast out here yesterday, like 33 guys in that foyer.
SPEAKER_00: One of the younger guys talked to me about uh this idea that it was a big eye-opener.
SPEAKER_00: There is a God, and I'm not a good person on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: So I am now uh a sinner who has been saved by the grace of God just by simply trusting in what he said.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are a sinner, you can raise your hand, but you don't have to because we know we all are, right?
SPEAKER_00: But if you're saved by grace, that's a whole nother thing.
SPEAKER_00: You can put up two hands.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: All right, good.
SPEAKER_00: Uh today, one of uh last week we moved into the biblical covenants, those things that God had said for a long time and kept promising over and over, and then fulfilling these things.
SPEAKER_00: Today we'll see one of the fulfillments of one of the greatest promises of all time, which was God is not going to keep himself separate from the people he made.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he's going to come to us, mainly because we cannot come to him, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is holy.
SPEAKER_00: Times three, he lives in a place that is heavenly, and we can't rise to that place yet.
SPEAKER_00: So he decided, let me come down to them.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll see right here at the start in this uh story of the incarnation, uh, that this was not a last minute thought for God.
SPEAKER_00: Your redemption was not uh something he finally came up with at the end.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he knew this from the very beginning that if he indeed gave creatures such as angels free will, that eventually some would revolt with mankind.
SPEAKER_00: It seems that all of us have taken that choice that he gave us and decided to go against God and to be disobedient.
SPEAKER_00: Is God unaware of that?
SPEAKER_00: Was he not uh knowing that this would happen?
SPEAKER_00: Of course, uh he knows all things, and so he knew that one day man would need a redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: We're not sure how long it took Adam to fail, but we know he did, right?
SPEAKER_00: And Eve and he were kicked out of that garden to remove from them the opportunity to continue to eat of the tree of life in their sinful state, and God gave to them a great promise, which we'll see in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But number one, in your outline there, God saw.
SPEAKER_00: He saw the sin of mankind before he created them, and he planned the actual sacrifice for that sin, which is the fill-in word in your outline there, the Lamb, capital L, the Lamb of God before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: So this tells us we do not serve a haphazard God.
SPEAKER_00: We do not serve an unknowing God, but an all-wise God, all-knowing God, who lives in eternity, past, present, and future.
SPEAKER_00: He does not bound by the time that he created, uh, which is called the beginning in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: That's when he started the clock rolling and ticking.
SPEAKER_00: I guess if you're eternal in the past, you don't need a clock, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because you've been there forever.
SPEAKER_00: Uh even the Greeks know this.
SPEAKER_00: There has to be some someone who was there from the start, before it started.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, there cannot be a start, right?
SPEAKER_00: So think about that.
SPEAKER_00: That'll crush your little finite brains a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: It does for me, I know.
SPEAKER_00: But God's plan to redeem fallen human beings was determined before he even made mankind.
SPEAKER_00: As he decided, if they are to love me and I am going to love them, they must have a freedom to choose that love.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, it's more mechanical, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm making robots, which I don't believe God does that.
SPEAKER_00: Um perhaps he has some, I don't know, but they're not recorded in scripture anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: But in Revelation 13, 8, the very end of the book, all who dwell on the earth will worship him.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not referring to God, this is talking about Satan and his emissaries.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, when the earth ends, right, at that final battle, there will be people still on the earth, but they will not be worshiping God, right?
SPEAKER_00: And this is the sign of the very end, uh, the battle of Armageddon.
SPEAKER_00: But it says, whose names have not been written in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: It gives the book of life in this one, only this one place in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: The book of life is mentioned uh at least seven times in the scripture overall, but this particular time it says, the book of life and the sequel of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: You know how books sometimes have subtitles.
SPEAKER_00: This is the subtitle of God's most important book, the book that by faith your name can be written into as well.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe it is.
SPEAKER_00: If you have chosen him as your Savior, your name is in there, and we can celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: Someone say amen.
SPEAKER_00: But even those who do not have their name in that book, they will say, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and this is the one that we celebrate today.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to highlight him today.
SPEAKER_00: Someone gave me a great analogy just the other day of uh an engagement ring.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have about four couples now talking about marriages, and we we have babies flying all over the place here.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: There's I tell people there's something in the water at CBC, so be careful.
SPEAKER_00: Um you moms who already have four kids and you're you're past that stage, just don't drink the water here and you'll be good.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but this idea of the engagement ring, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's a promise of sorts, right?
SPEAKER_00: You put the ring on, you say, Will you marry me?
SPEAKER_00: And you and the guy's quaking in his shoes.
SPEAKER_00: He's hope like I was.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, my wife just started crying, and I was like, Is that a good cry or a bad cry?
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Well, I thought you were never gonna ask the question, bro.
SPEAKER_00: I was dragging my feet and uh I was nervous.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, wow, I told my uncle, I don't know if I have enough faith for two people.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yeah, but you're marrying a girl of faith, so you'll have the faith of two people, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, ooh, a light came on, and then I finally popped the question.
SPEAKER_00: And but when I did it, there was a little stone in the middle, right?
SPEAKER_00: A beautiful diamond.
SPEAKER_00: Had a few little inclusions because I wasn't a man of very great means.
SPEAKER_00: But in the story of Christ, the diamond in the center, that's him.
SPEAKER_00: He's the diadem, he's the glistening one, he's he's the all-glorious, magnificent one.
SPEAKER_00: And when he gives us a promise, he's in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_00: He comes to, and he comes with it.
SPEAKER_00: With the promise comes the sun.
SPEAKER_00: He's beautiful in all of his ways.
SPEAKER_00: He's perfect, right?
SPEAKER_00: His perfection.
SPEAKER_00: If he were a diamond, I don't know if there would be a category for him, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because diamonds are all rated, I guess, by how clear they are.
SPEAKER_00: He's so clear that it's like the gold, even in his city, is clear, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where he walks, where where he speaks, things happen.
SPEAKER_00: He is the diadem.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that we all cherish and that we need.
SPEAKER_00: Without him, there would be nothing, right?
SPEAKER_00: The promise would be to no avail, right?
SPEAKER_00: So, young guys, if you get her a ring, make sure there's a stone in there, you know, make sure it's something in the middle showing her.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's his design to show us just how much he loves us.
SPEAKER_00: That's the God we serve.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But what does this say?
SPEAKER_00: What does the incarnation tell us about the God that we serve?
SPEAKER_00: And there's some really good things on your outline there, but we'll get to it.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, he knew that he would die for us, because in that phrase, the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, he was not only the perfect diadem and diamond, he was the perfect sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he knew he would come to earth, he would be found in form and fashion as a man, and he would live as a man for thirty-three and a half years without one sin, without ever once transgressing the law of God, which we know to be impossible, right?
SPEAKER_00: All who have tried have failed, including the Apostle Paul, who said, I was probably the best one of all of them, but I couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I could not keep this law perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus then had to come and die.
SPEAKER_00: He knew he would.
SPEAKER_00: He is called that lamb, that capital L.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you see that, it's referring to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He died on the cross for our sin, and now it's been about 4,000 years since he created the world to the time that he did that.
SPEAKER_00: Another 2,000 or so, right?
SPEAKER_00: 4,000, now 2,000 since he died.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but this verse indicates that in God's heart and in his mind, the gift of Christmas, the gift of Christ Himself, and that sacrifice was already given in his heart, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just like the man who says, I'm going to love you forever, and there's no one like you, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I will give my life for you.
SPEAKER_00: God's love is astounding toward us.
SPEAKER_00: He's not an ambivalent God, he's a benevolent God, he's a loving, uh, personal God.
SPEAKER_00: So why would God create such a sinful creature as me?
SPEAKER_00: Why would he do so, knowing that I'm I'm going to fail?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to not just choose God, I'm going to choose other things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to put things before him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to mess up my priorities.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have some idols in my life, and he's going to have to teach me how to dispel those things.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps this is why he decided on the race called mankind, right?
SPEAKER_00: He'd already done this with the angels.
SPEAKER_00: We know what they did, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh two-thirds of them hung in there, but one-third failed and were cast to the earth along with their prince of the air, uh Satan.
SPEAKER_00: But this indicates that in God's heart and in his mind, uh, he was ready to give that sacrifice even before he made you, which gives you some inherent value, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you think deeply about that, that means you're important to him, or he would not have come to that extent.
SPEAKER_00: So whenever Satan tries to dissuade you or trick you or lie to you, you remember that that cross tells you something totally different, right?
SPEAKER_00: That explains not only did he come, but he lived perfectly and he died perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: He died the death that we should die.
SPEAKER_00: He took the penalty for the sin that we had sinned, not the sin that he had sinned, right?
SPEAKER_00: So it's a sacrificial death.
SPEAKER_00: It's an atoning death, it's a it's a representative death.
SPEAKER_00: Another reason why he had to come in flesh.
SPEAKER_00: He had to look like you and me.
SPEAKER_00: He had to be in flesh like you and me.
SPEAKER_00: He had to be the perfect sacrifice, not just make the perfect sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And indeed he is, and he was.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe in heaven it is clear that he will continue to carry those scars, right, that he received because of us, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: I was remembering it was at Mel Gibson who did that movie of the Christ, and at the end they were asking him, you know, you did all this directing, and this is a crazy film.
SPEAKER_00: Like it took you years to accomplish.
SPEAKER_00: It was difficult.
SPEAKER_00: After about three years of toil, he said, but but you didn't play any parts in the movie.
SPEAKER_00: Like you didn't even you're a great actor.
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you go in there and be a Roman soldier or something?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Oh no, I played one part in the movie, you don't see my face.
SPEAKER_00: He said, But when they nailed the hands, the the nails into his hands, he said, Those were my hands.
SPEAKER_00: And he did that intentionally because he knew.
SPEAKER_00: I believe he's a Roman Catholic believer, but he knows that Christ died for his sin too, and he said, I wanted to have that role because I had a part in his death, and we all have, if we think of it soberly.
SPEAKER_00: So we know that Jesus prayed in that garden, and this sometimes confounds folks, but he prayed, uh, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_00: He's speaking of the cross, right?
SPEAKER_00: The actual death and crucifixion, the whippings, scourgings, the counsels coming at him, spitting at him, ripping his beard, placing uh crown of thorns upon his head.
SPEAKER_00: He knew these things were gonna transpire.
SPEAKER_00: Most of them are written in Isaiah in the prophets, right?
SPEAKER_00: 53, 22.
SPEAKER_00: Just read these chapters, you'll see.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew exactly how this was gonna go, and he told people that ahead of time in his word.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, If it's possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's a brief pause, there's a comment in the text, and it says, Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
SPEAKER_00: So he knew in his heart of hearts this is gonna have to happen, and it's going to be me.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe he volunteered for this role, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's other verses that say, Who will go for us?
SPEAKER_00: Some say, Well, that's talking to Isaiah or whatever, to go out and prophesy to the world, who will go for us?
SPEAKER_00: And the prophet writes, Here am I, send me.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that's how it went down in heaven between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as as they dreamed up this goal of having a human race, and one would have to go and represent them someday to demonstrate that we uh in total are God, but we believe that what we created we're going to love and we're going to sacrifice for these people, even though they don't deserve it at all.
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's no way to really fathom this to understand it fully.
SPEAKER_00: But when Adam sinned in the garden, the Lord God started right there.
SPEAKER_00: I think Pastor Andrew shared this as one of the covenants of mankind.
SPEAKER_00: It was Genesis 3.15, right in the beginning of the book.
SPEAKER_00: So we just read one from Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Next verse, Genesis 3.15.
SPEAKER_00: A promise.
SPEAKER_00: And I, the Lord God, will put enmity between you and the woman.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to the serpent and to the female that God had created out of the side of Adam, and between your seed and her seed.
SPEAKER_00: So women have no seed, they have a womb.
SPEAKER_00: A man has seed and no womb.
SPEAKER_00: But in this case, he's talking about her through her own body, through her bloodline, there will be a seed after her.
SPEAKER_00: And it says in the end of this verse, it says, And he, not it, but he shall bruise your head.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent, which, if you've ever played with snakes and you hit him on the head with something heavy, that's it for the snake, right?
SPEAKER_00: So don't do what God told Moses, pick up the snake by the tail.
SPEAKER_00: Never try that.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't work too well.
SPEAKER_00: I tried that once.
SPEAKER_00: Not a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: The snake can curl back and get you.
SPEAKER_00: You grab him by the head and you cut it off, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you're getting rid of a snake, you have to bruise the head.
SPEAKER_00: And it says, and you, you serpent, shall bruise his heel, bruise his heel, not smash it, as the other word is kind of uh definitively saying, crushing, but there'll be a bruise, meaning there'll be pain, there will be um uh negative effect upon him, but he it will not be permanent, right?
SPEAKER_00: A bruise will heal eventually if you give it time.
SPEAKER_00: We know the Lord God only spent three days in that uh grave, as he prophesied, like like Jonah the prophet in the belly of the fish.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Three days and three nights, and then I will rise again.
SPEAKER_00: So it seemed like Satan had won, right?
SPEAKER_00: But in the end, he did not win.
SPEAKER_00: The victory was already won because the perfect sacrifice had already been given.
SPEAKER_00: Mankind was now free to serve him with their heart out of love, noting that he had already demonstrated his love to us.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He said, You don't love me first.
SPEAKER_00: I loved you first.
SPEAKER_00: I came to you.
SPEAKER_00: I even knew about your sin before you did it, and I still decided to come.
SPEAKER_00: And in that garden, he made it clear he was not going to change.
SPEAKER_00: If the will of God is firm, he will follow it to the end.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus fulfilled this prophecy on a Roman cross right around the year 33 and a half A.D., so they say.
SPEAKER_00: But this sacrifice on the cross procured salvation for all who will place their faith in him in both directions for all time, for all mankind, because the Bible's very clear, he will die once for the sins of all.
SPEAKER_00: And so anyone who puts their faith and trust in him today, if you are not able to put up two hands this morning, I want you to leave here with both hands in the air.
SPEAKER_00: Please do it.
SPEAKER_00: Do it now.
SPEAKER_00: It's coming close.
SPEAKER_00: His return is so close you can smell it.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's very evident that things on the earth are ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: And it could be God just snapping his finger and saying, Now's the time, and trumpets start blowing and things start happening.
SPEAKER_00: So be ready, get ready today, do not wait.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 7.14.
SPEAKER_00: This salvation was for all people.
SPEAKER_00: Here in Isaiah 7.14 it says, Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's very important where he's he phrased it that way.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't going to be done through another person, it was God Himself, and here is the sign.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, which we know humanly is impossible, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um with mankind, we cannot do this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and shall call his name Emanuel, Emanuel, meaning translated God with us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, at Christmas time we sing Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: Uh his name is called Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means he is not a far-off, distant God as he might seem, because you don't always see him, right?
SPEAKER_00: You can see the effect of him, you can see his beautiful creation.
SPEAKER_00: Some say, you know, you can feel the wind when it blows.
SPEAKER_00: You know there is wind, right?
SPEAKER_00: But you can't always see it, right, with your eyes until it moves something.
SPEAKER_00: You can't always know God is there until he moves something in here.
SPEAKER_00: But his word tells you he is here.
SPEAKER_00: He came, he came close.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't stay distant and far apart.
SPEAKER_00: His plan was always to come.
SPEAKER_00: This was one of his many names, but this name must bring us some comfort, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you're feeling all alone, just say, Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: God signed this virgin birth.
SPEAKER_00: It proves that this son is not like every other son that has been born.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some beautiful ones here today.
SPEAKER_00: God bless them.
SPEAKER_00: Our church is growing from the ground up, and uh, I love it.
SPEAKER_00: But this son is divine.
SPEAKER_00: He is not from the earth, he is from above.
SPEAKER_00: And this sign proves it because it's miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: It's impossible without God being involved.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said it to his own disciples when they said, This is impossible, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Like if these rich guys can't get to heaven, how is anybody going to make it?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, With man, it's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: He clearly says it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, you cannot get to heaven by yourself or by your riches or whatever you have, whatever you think you have, as Zach said, it's really not yours anyway.
SPEAKER_00: It was something that was given to you.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't show up with it, right?
SPEAKER_00: When you're born, you're naked, you got nothing.
SPEAKER_00: When you leave, you leave the same way.
SPEAKER_00: So don't be storing a bunch of junk up because somebody else is going to have it when you're gone.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're doing your giving while you're living so you're knowing where it's going.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a good one?
SPEAKER_00: I I I've lived by that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's just do it now.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give the flowers at the funeral, you know.
SPEAKER_00: My auntie over here, God bless her heart.
SPEAKER_00: I think, what is what is your last birthday?
SPEAKER_00: How old are you?
SPEAKER_00: 89.
SPEAKER_00: Oldest person in the room right now.
SPEAKER_00: 89.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm saying that because she looks like the youngest lady of the room, but you can't figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why I had to, I just can't fathom that, you know, when I see her walking around, I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: But served the Lord her whole life.
SPEAKER_00: She loves the Lord with all her heart.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Someday I'm gonna give her flowers.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give them now.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to wait for my auntie because it's her birthday, right?
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna give her some flowers anyway.
SPEAKER_00: So see me in the office after I got a little card for you and all that.
SPEAKER_00: I've missed her birthday so many times.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I cannot miss her birthday again.
SPEAKER_00: But she just doesn't look like she gets older, so it's kind of hard to remember.
SPEAKER_00: But here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to the beginning, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh the New Testament Book of Beginnings is called the Book of John, the Gospel of John, right?
SPEAKER_00: We have Genesis, in the beginning, God.
SPEAKER_00: We preached that in the prior sermon, right?
SPEAKER_00: There is a God, and you're not Him, but you need to look to Him for your help.
SPEAKER_00: But John says it differently.
SPEAKER_00: It's a little deeper, it's a little more philosophical the way he approaches the topic.
SPEAKER_00: God is spoken of as the word, which is very interesting because that means he was there at the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Because what did it say in Genesis 1.1?
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: We find out later he spoke creation into existence.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, That to me sounds like a word.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but you can't speak without a word, right?
SPEAKER_00: I guess you could make babbling sounds, but we know he said, Let there be light.
SPEAKER_00: You know, those are words.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: There was light.
SPEAKER_00: So he is the word from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: This is who we're talking to, talking about John says, in in this sense, we we can gather that the word of God already existed in the beginning, in eternity past, before the time clock began.
SPEAKER_00: So before the beginning, the word was there, right?
SPEAKER_00: He was there in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: It says, was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a simple deductive type person, you could say, whenever you hear the word word with a capital W, we're talking about Jesus Christ here, the Word of God, because the next verse says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, right?
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples go on to say, John the beloved, and we beheld his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Like this was not like any other child.
SPEAKER_00: He was unique, he was divine, he was different.
SPEAKER_00: And when he spoke, he spoke with wisdom that he could not possibly have had if he had only a short existence.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: People, I was telling my brother Ed the other day, I love it when the people try to confound Jesus and and uh you know they they throw out this puzzle and he just kind of looks right through it and he he dispels every question, you know, should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's like, Well, give me a coin, let me see one of those coins, whose face is on there?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God, right?
SPEAKER_00: He always spoke in these profound ways.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody could corner him.
SPEAKER_00: He indeed was divine, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's no mistaking him.
SPEAKER_00: But this word becoming flesh, this is a miraculous event.
SPEAKER_00: This had never happened before, it will never happen again.
SPEAKER_00: Uh as with the death of Christ, he will not have to be born again because he's already there.
SPEAKER_00: He is he exists forever in eternity, and he will continue to carry his visage.
SPEAKER_00: He will be recognizable.
SPEAKER_00: We'll know him when we get there, even though we never saw him, never met him.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples did, and here's what they said: He was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: And if there are ever two words that describe the cross better, it would be these two words, grace and truth, right?
SPEAKER_00: For in the cross, the truth, the justice, the verity of God, the law, the perfection of God, the holiness of God, came crashing together with the grace of God and his love.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Where God looks at the problem, we have this sinful creature.
SPEAKER_00: How can he be saved?
SPEAKER_00: He's not holy enough, right?
SPEAKER_00: And yet the truth and the law says if you're unholy, if you disobey, you are sinful and you cannot be in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: So the only way God could bring that together was to stand in the middle and outstretch his arms and say, Whoever will come to me, let him come.
SPEAKER_00: Drink of this water of life freely.
SPEAKER_00: He became the bridge for us from sinfulness to righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: He took our god-awful sin, our darkness, our hurts, our pains, our sinful hearts, our pride, and he replaced them with his perfection, his glory, his beaming glory that only he could bring, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, This can be yours if you just trust in me.
SPEAKER_00: Is this not the best gift ever given?
SPEAKER_00: Someone say amen.
SPEAKER_00: So why is the biblical teaching of the incarnation of Christ foundational to my faith?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I need to trust this, to believe it, to know it?
SPEAKER_00: Just because someone said it thousands of years ago?
SPEAKER_00: Well, number one, look at the impact this one life has had on your life today.
SPEAKER_00: Is that impossible or what?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no way to work around that, right?
SPEAKER_00: You see him in everything, like in they tell us hospitals, even schools of learning, all these things came together because someone came and loved us.
SPEAKER_00: Someone showed us a better way, someone spoke truth in a gracious and a loving way.
SPEAKER_00: And some people embraced it and they spread it throughout the known world, and eventually it got here.
SPEAKER_00: And you heard about it too, and I did too.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel so fortunate just to know some of the things that he showed us in his word.
SPEAKER_00: Why is uh the incarnation foundational?
SPEAKER_00: Why did Jesus take on flesh and become a man?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4, I think opens this up for us a little bit, and in verse 15, sheds some light on this question.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus himself is also called, not just Emmanuel, but the great high priest.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who can intercede for us with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He is, as I said, that bridge, uh, like the old Levitical priest used to be.
SPEAKER_00: He is that priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, the Bible says, because he's the one that no one knew his beginnings.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't know where he was from.
SPEAKER_00: He had no parents that they knew where he originated.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why it models uh the symbol of Christ, the perfect and great high priest.
SPEAKER_00: So we need still need one, apparently forever, we need this priest who will stand between us and the holiness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why is he the perfect high priest?
SPEAKER_00: Same reason why he was the perfect lamb and sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was tested as a man and yet he had no sin.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He passed all the tests.
SPEAKER_00: He was a straight A student, right?
SPEAKER_00: So his intercession is pure, it's undefiled, and yet it's familiar with all of our temptations, with all the troubles and trials that we face.
SPEAKER_00: He understands them now perfectly well, even in human flesh, which he could not do as God most high, right?
SPEAKER_00: He needed to come into flesh to sense what it was like so he can now say, I know how you feel, I know who you are, right?
SPEAKER_00: I've been like you, I've I've come into this world like you, I've slept on dirt floors, I've walked the earth and dusty trails, I've I've had people come against me, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's he's felt and sensed all these things that we have, but he never fell victim to disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: He was the obedient one.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he always did the will of his heavenly father.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: If only we could have that set of us, right?
SPEAKER_00: In my auntie's card, I'll do a spoiler.
SPEAKER_00: It says, talks about the virtuous woman who puts their faith and trust in God, says she will be praised, right?
SPEAKER_00: When we make those good choices, the Lord God cheers.
SPEAKER_00: He said, At a boy, at a girl, that's mine right there.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: When we love God, we show him in our action, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can't do it any other way, right?
SPEAKER_00: When you do something wrong, you feel horrible.
SPEAKER_00: And you should.
SPEAKER_00: You should feel terrible.
SPEAKER_00: But you don't stay there.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Lord, help me, right?
SPEAKER_00: I feel lousy.
SPEAKER_00: What did I do?
SPEAKER_00: Why did I do this?
SPEAKER_00: Please pull me out of this pit.
SPEAKER_00: And he will do it every time.
SPEAKER_00: He loves that word help.
SPEAKER_00: You know, how often do you just say that to him?
SPEAKER_00: Lately I've been saying it a lot.
SPEAKER_00: I need your help.
SPEAKER_00: Please help me.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I forget, you know, he's the resource to all things, he's the answer to every question.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus filled the entire law perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Who convinces me otherwise?
SPEAKER_00: You know, no one, I would not dare say that, especially to my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Like she would know.
SPEAKER_00: If I mess up, she knows about it.
SPEAKER_00: He fulfilled the law perfectly, and he's the only man who can offer a perfect sacrifice for mankind.
SPEAKER_00: He is our perfect human representative and our therefore our eternal high priest.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 4 15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize, why they wrote this in the negative, but it means we do have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, says, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_00: So temptation has two different variations to it.
SPEAKER_00: When we say we're tempted, sometimes we slip and slide and we gravitate to the temptation.
SPEAKER_00: He saw the temptation coming and he dispelled it every time.
SPEAKER_00: And most of the time he did it with God's word, because he is the word made flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: When Satan said things to him, jump off the pinnacle of the temple, and they'll, you know, he used scripture, they'll they'll guide you up and your foot will not be dashed on a stone.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, But it's also written, Satan, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's not just tempting the Father there, he's tempting the Son.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, You ought not do that, right, Satan?
SPEAKER_00: I know the word too, because I am the word.
SPEAKER_00: That's why they couldn't confound him.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to twist his own words, and he knows what he said, right?
SPEAKER_00: And his words never fall to the ground, unfulfilled, right?
SPEAKER_00: He speaks perfectly and truthfully.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus took on humanity so that he could die for humans and open this way back that had been closed, right, at the original garden gate, right?
SPEAKER_00: They had to close the gate, not out of um anger, but God was actually preserving them and saving them some harsh penalty by closing the gate with angels with flaming swords, so they could not re-enter the garden where the tree of life uh was was present.
SPEAKER_00: Someday that will be reopened, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that garden renewed.
SPEAKER_00: There'll be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, and you can go in and out of that city.
SPEAKER_00: It will have many gates and doors, but they will be wide open, right?
SPEAKER_00: It will have no light in the city, but it'll be the brightest place you've ever been, because the Bible says the Lamb is the light of that city, right?
SPEAKER_00: God is the light.
SPEAKER_00: It is him.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need those other things.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2, 6.
SPEAKER_00: Here we read earlier, I believe, something very similar.
SPEAKER_00: Who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.
SPEAKER_00: That's because he is God, right?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I and the Father, we are one.
SPEAKER_00: But he made himself of made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bond servant, not just a person, he wanted to serve, he wanted to teach us how to do that, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Say it, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful name.
SPEAKER_00: Every knee should bow of those in heaven, of those on the earth, and of those under the earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's talking about even demonic forces and people that are not uh living to standard, even, but degrading themselves in the pursuit of evil.
SPEAKER_00: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I like how that's written in the New King James, should confess, even here and now, some do not.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why when we were singing that song earlier, I said, Lord, I confess now, you are Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I was just shouting it out in the back row there.
SPEAKER_00: I want to I want it to be known that he is Lord in my life now, not later, when I have to do it.
SPEAKER_00: I want to do it because I want to do it and I love him.
SPEAKER_00: But we should should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: To the glory of God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: It glorifies him.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you praise him, that's why you feel so good when you do it.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a natural response, but it's a natural blessing that comes because we are made to glorify God, as we had seen earlier.
SPEAKER_00: We need to bow to Jesus each and every day.
SPEAKER_00: We need to demonstrate that we know and the world should know that he is our Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: When you pray for your food, when you take a moment to give thanks, when you point something out to someone about the amazing creation of God, right?
SPEAKER_00: It was an Arabian guy down the general store here, and uh the sun finally came out and I was praising God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, that's some great sunshine there.
SPEAKER_00: And as I walked out with my little gallon of milk, I said, um, and I had nothing to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I felt like I was preaching at CBC because I say that all the time, right?
SPEAKER_00: That sun came up this morning and it was not my fault.
SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know how he does it, but he does it, and I I did that on the way up here today.
SPEAKER_00: Just thank God for the beautiful sunshine that hit.
SPEAKER_00: I even had to put my shades on, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know your future is so bright, you better get some shades.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the challenge here, and I'll move quickly through the last two points, but don't wait.
SPEAKER_00: Don't wait till it's required.
SPEAKER_00: It's not required now, but it's something you should do according to the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Bow to Jesus each and every day.
SPEAKER_00: Confess anything that's on your heart, anything between you and him, because you're not feeling good about that already.
SPEAKER_00: Why not give it to him instead of harbor it?
SPEAKER_00: Why not express it to him because that's what he's here for?
SPEAKER_00: Why not just say, help, Lord, help me, help my family, help our church.
SPEAKER_00: I was praying for this place today, you know, on the way.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray for CBC, pray for what God is doing, because we know Satan's not happy about it, that's for sure, right?
SPEAKER_00: Pray because he is Lord, and we will glorify him in doing so and bring glory to the Father as well.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, secondly, and we'll, like I said, we'll move briefly through this.
SPEAKER_00: The next fill-in is the title of the sermon, but the New Testament documents how that God accomplished this miraculous incarnation, meaning the coming in flesh of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: 4,000 years after creating Adam and Eve and giving that promise, right, that a male child would come from the seed of a woman, an actual human being, right, and would crush the head of the serpent, right, through his deed, through his miraculous uh death on the cross, which was an atonement for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: It was in our place.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus uh did eventually come.
SPEAKER_00: He was born through a Jewish virgin named Mary, Luke 135, and here we're at Christmas time, right?
SPEAKER_00: And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the highest will overshadow you.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called, not Emmanuel, but the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Is he not divine?
SPEAKER_00: He is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: So what does the incarnation of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: I was longing to get to this point here in your outline, what does this incarnation tell us about the nature of our wonderful God?
SPEAKER_00: And there are several things.
SPEAKER_00: I only picked out three or four in my study, but firstly, it tells us that the God of the Bible is not an impersonal force, like we talked about the theories of mankind over how this place arrived, how we got here.
SPEAKER_00: It was not an impersonal force.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but God, a God who wants to be in charge of what he has made.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to relish in it, he wants to enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00: He made it for his pleasure, he made you for his pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: But he is sometimes expressed as one who is disconnected, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's out in the, you know, in the space somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Uh yes, he is that.
SPEAKER_00: He's everywhere, but he sees and knows all things.
SPEAKER_00: He knows the most intimate facts about you and about me.
SPEAKER_00: And he still came and died, right?
SPEAKER_00: Even though he knows what our hearts look like without him.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to come in here, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's his ultimate goal is to reside within us by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So the God we serve is a personal being.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, he is willing to meet us in the mud, in the difficulties, on the dirt, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where it hurts, where it counts.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, he's a God of love.
SPEAKER_00: He is sure and he is strong.
SPEAKER_00: His love is something that cannot be defeated even by Satan, though he would try.
SPEAKER_00: But you cannot break down the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can't, you can't win against it.
SPEAKER_00: It's stronger than evil and hatred, and the cross proves that perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: When Satan thought, I got him, I finally did it.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what, Satan?
SPEAKER_00: You just put the nail, the final nail in your coffin, because when he died, he procured life for everyone who believes in him for all time, forever.
SPEAKER_00: You indeed were your own worst enemy, right?
SPEAKER_00: Satan was.
SPEAKER_00: He could not, even with all the evil he could compile, he could not battle the love of God on that cross, even though he thought he did, and all of a sudden, everything flipped, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he came out of that grave, which we're coming to those days in a few, a few more messages we're planning that.
SPEAKER_00: But number three, and I'll stop with this one here, but the God of the Bible, the God that we serve, the God that we're talking about today, is a benevolent leader.
SPEAKER_00: And those two years, two words usually don't go together, do they?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know of any that are really true public servants who do everything just for the people.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the God we serve, right?
SPEAKER_00: He honors himself.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus honored his father, but he loved the people that God had made.
SPEAKER_00: And he loved us so much he was willing to die for us.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, to live under that kind of leadership, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is my king because I want him to be my king, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is a president like no other.
SPEAKER_00: He's a dictator, but he's benevolent, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that is just not equated with uh human leadership, is it?
SPEAKER_00: Even Jesus taught that to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: When you lead, you're not gonna lead like others lead in the world.
SPEAKER_00: They dominate over people.
SPEAKER_00: He said, if you're gonna lead in my kingdom, you're gonna lead from the bottom.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna serve, and and who serves the most will be the greatest leader in my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So start serving, folks.
SPEAKER_00: That's what our uh men's fellowship was about yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Deacons, right?
SPEAKER_00: Men who stand up and say, I will serve.
SPEAKER_00: What can I do for the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: The God of the Bible is the one that I can serve forever because I love him for what he's done.
SPEAKER_00: And I will have no regrets.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Auntie Yvonne, do you have any regrets for serving Jesus for 89 years?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, take that note.
SPEAKER_00: The head was going this way.
SPEAKER_00: Not one.
SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Last thing, solidify this in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: If someone tries to come against you by undermining the incarnation, saying, oh, he didn't really come, he didn't really die, he wasn't really born in a human frame, or he he looked human, but he wasn't.
SPEAKER_00: He looked divine, but he wasn't.
SPEAKER_00: He never said that he was God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I differ with you there, and I'll help you with those verses if someone says that.
SPEAKER_00: I heard a guy doing that on YouTube the other day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I wish I was in front of him at that time.
SPEAKER_00: But believing in the incarnation of Jesus Christ is not just important, it's a foundation stone.
SPEAKER_00: This is inherent to what we believe, it's essential to our faith.
SPEAKER_00: John 8 23 said, and he, the Lord God Jesus Christ, said to them, You are from beneath, I am from above.
SPEAKER_00: If that's not telling you I'm divine, I don't know what is, but he said, You are of this world, so it's making it clearer.
SPEAKER_00: I am not of this world.
SPEAKER_00: I am in this world, I am not of this world.
SPEAKER_00: He says the same to those who believe him by faith, by the way, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're no longer in the world, we're in the world, but we're not of the world, meaning we are not following its dictates, we're not embracing its tactics and its its goals.
SPEAKER_00: We have different goals.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you remain in that condition, if you do not believe that I am he and I am from above, this is important.
SPEAKER_00: For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said that.
SPEAKER_00: So this is an incredibly important foundation stone to your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: We must believe that he came in flesh, and then he did die on that cross.
SPEAKER_00: It was not a replacement, it was not an image or a mirage.
SPEAKER_00: He did die, and he came to life again.
SPEAKER_00: All closest to him saw it happen.
SPEAKER_00: They were eyewitnesses.
SPEAKER_00: When he came alive again, there were uh over 500 witnesses to his physical resurrection, that they saw him, touched him, some spoke to him, some ate with him.
SPEAKER_00: God the Father loves those who love Jesus Christ the Son.
SPEAKER_00: Is not that true in your families?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but if someone loves my son, they're okay with me.
SPEAKER_00: They get to come to my house, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh if they hate my son, I might have to take question with that.
SPEAKER_00: But if you love the Son of God, he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said this.
SPEAKER_00: God the Father loves those who love Jesus and accept his divinity, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is certainly from above.
SPEAKER_00: So the incarnation is essential.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Jesus says this in John 16, 27, for the Father Himself loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He's the representative of the Father, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God.
SPEAKER_00: So this brings a total loving unity between you and the Father and the Son, and then He presents us with His Holy Spirit to live with us forever.
SPEAKER_00: It is essential to accept and to believe that Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, came and died in human flesh.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_00: He said to his disciples, Some say you're this, some say I'm that.
SPEAKER_00: Whom do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And Peter piped up, right?
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, But who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter answered and said, Matthew 16, 15, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
SPEAKER_00: This is after walking hand in hand for three and a half years.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona.
SPEAKER_00: For flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: If you have not received that understanding today, pray to the Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ the Son, say, Lord, reveal this to me, make it permanent in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Help me to defend it, help me to speak it from the rooftops, help me never to be ashamed, help me to bow to him and serve him as Lord and Savior each and every day, so that I may be accepted in the beloved, right where he wants me to be, with him forever.
SPEAKER_00: We have a special song, but if you could stand with me before we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.