Answering Christmas – Part 2:
Why was Jesus Born? - HOFC
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON INTRODUCTION
Over
the next few weeks we will be discussing the truths and falsehoods of
Christmas, to gain a better understanding of the scripture, and how we can
joyfully celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior without offense to God.
The
series will focus on what I consider to be “keys” to understanding.
As
Christians, we need have no fear of those who hate and despise the Word of God,
and we need not have any fear of those who cry “foul”, or in other ways try to
make a mockery of God.
The
series will answer important questions about WHEN Jesus was born, WHY
Jesus was born, WHAT led up to His
birth, WHO Jesus was born for, and the
most important key of all understanding, HOW
do you KNOW Jesus?
My
goal in this series is to answer once for all, all of the questions, doubts and
misconceptions about Christmas, Jesus’ birth, why we celebrate and return this
season to the former glory and celebration we remember from our youth!
Family,
love, peace, time together, and a celebration of the bond formed between Christ
our Lord and those who belong to Him!
SERMON SERIES
Part 1 - When was Jesus Born?
Part 2 - Why was Jesus Born?
Part 3 - What led up to Jesus’ Birth?
Part 4 - Who did Jesus Die For?
Part 5 - How do you Know Jesus?
TODAY’S SERMON
Part 2 - Why was Jesus Born?
SCRIPTURE READING
One of the most profound
mysteries of the Bible is why Jesus had to be born a flesh and blood human. Why
did He have to live a sinless life as a human?
The first goal sought by
Jesus being born as a human has a great deal to do with the uniqueness of His
and God the Father's existence.
The Godhead, composed of
the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, have always, and will always, possesses
perfect, holy character. The moral laws they revealed to mankind are fundamental
to their divine nature and are the embodiment of perfect love.
Since it is they who
maintain and enforce these rules throughout all things they created, nothing
less than a member of the Godhead (e.g. Jesus) can redeem anyone from the
penalty of breaking them.
The divine Being we refer
to as Jesus, the God of the Old Testament, had to be born of a woman and be
like us in order to save us.
As the Person through which
the Father created all things (John 1:1 - 3, Colossians 1:16), His
life is worth more than the lives of all humans. His sacrifice, therefore,
completely pays for all sins (Hebrews 2:9, 10:10, 12, 14).
Since Jesus was the Giver
of the Law to humanity, He also could take in His own Person the penalty
resulting from that law, and stand in humanity’s place for it.
So, why
was Jesus born?
I.
JESUS, BORN TO
ESTABLISH A NEW COVENANT
a. Malachi 3:1 “I will send my messenger, who
will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you
desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.”
i.
The Lord revealing in Old Testament prophecy that He
would send a messenger (John the Baptist), to prepare the way for the coming
Lord in human form as Jesus.
ii.
Hebrews 8:6-13 “But
in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the
covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since
the new covenant is established on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first
covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But
God found fault with the people and said:
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the
first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
iii.
Since the Cross, there is no need for the Old
Testament, which was in fact inferior, and meant to be temporary until God’s
plan for Christ came to fruition.
b. Jesus was born
i.
to both end
the Old Covenant defined in the Old Testament and establish a New
Covenant with man made possible by his sacrifice. This new agreement with
man promises, upon repentance and obedience, an eternal life full of love and
happiness.
ii.
It is not “new”
as in thought or planning...rather, new to us, but God’s plan from the very
beginning, revealed throughout scripture from the earliest verses.
c. To Preach the Gospel and Train Others
i.
Mark 1:14-15 “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into
Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he
said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and
believe the good news!”
ii.
Luke 9:1-2 “When Jesus had called the
Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all
demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of
God and to heal the sick.”
iii.
Luke 10:1-3 “the Lord appointed
seventy-two[a] others and
sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to
go. 2 He told them, “The harvest
is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,
to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am
sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
iv.
Christ needed to
be born and conduct a ministry on earth in order to be the first one to herald
the good news of God's Kingdom and to train others to do the same after his
departure.
II.
JESUS, BORN TO
REVEAL & GLORIFY THE FATHER
a. John 1:15-18 “ (John testified concerning him. He cried
out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me
has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his
fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law
was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever
seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in
closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
i.
Matthew 11:27-29 “All
things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom
the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to
me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. 30 For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
ii.
John 17:1, 4 “After
Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour
has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
iii.
“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing
the work you gave me to do. 5 And now,
Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with
you before the world began.”
b. Jesus was born
i.
in order to
personally reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27).
ii.
By his miracles
and perfect obedience, Christ drew man's attention to the Father.
c. Fulfilling
Prophecies
i.
Luke 18:31 “ Jesus took the Twelve
aside and told them, “We are going up to
Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the
Son of Man will be fulfilled.”
ii.
Matthew 13:34-35
“Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not
say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the
prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
iii.
Not only did
Jesus fulfill roughly thirty prophecies on the day he was crucified, he also
fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies regarding where and how the Savior
would be born, the ministry of the Messiah and so on.
iv.
Over 400 Old
Testament prophecies have been fulfilled
1. Though some argue Jesus did not fulfill “all” the prophecies in the Old Testament,
in one aspect they are correct. However,
the ones He has not fulfilled WILL be
fulfilled, when God’s timing has come pass.
These prophecies all have to do with after
the end-times.
III.
JESUS, BORN A
MERCIFUL HIGH PRIEST
a. Having therefore a great High Priest, Who has passed into
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God
i.
Hebrews 4:14-16
“since we have a great high priest who has ascended into
heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not
have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we
have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then
approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
ii.
Hebrews 7:25-26 “Therefore he is
able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he
always lives to intercede for them.
26 Such a high
priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart
from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”
iii.
Hebrews 10:11-14
“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious
duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one
sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that
time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one
sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
b. The High Priest
i.
in the Old
Testament stood as a mediator between God and man. In addition to his regular
duties at the temple, he had to enter the Holy of Holies once a year and
sprinkle blood on the Ark's mercy seat in order to make an atonement for the
people's sins.
ii.
Jesus had to be
born of a human in order to qualify as mankind's merciful High Priest in
heaven. He had to experience the same temptations we do in order to be man's
perfect intercessor with God the Father.
iii.
On the Sunday
after his resurrection (John 20:11 - 17) he ascended to
heaven and offered his own blood as full payment for sin so that we can be
forgiven.
c. Destroying the
Work of the Devil
i.
1 John 3:8-10 “The one who
does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning
from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the
devil’s work. 9 No one who is
born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in
them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we
know who the children of God are and who the children of the
devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is
anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”
ii.
Hebrews 2:14-18 “Since the
children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so
that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of
death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those
who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it
is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.17 For this
reason he had to be made like them,[k] fully
human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the
sins of the people. 18 Because he
himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being
tempted.”
iii.
One of the
"great" works of the devil was the deception of Adam and Eve. Their
sin brought separation from God and death to the human race (Genesis
3:19, 1Corinthians 15:21 - 22).
iv.
Jesus Christ
needed to be born and be the perfect sacrifice for sin in order to make
possible man's reconciliation with God. This reconciling with God, through the
forgiveness of sin upon repentance, nullifies Satan's efforts to thwart God's
plan of salvation.
CONCLUSION
God’s great plan for man is to
ultimately have a creation made in His image, who have 100% free will and who
choose to be righteous and obedient to the holy law 100% of the time.
Jesus Christ was born in order to make
this possible for those who accept His sacrifice, confess and repent of their
sins, and obey what the Lord commands, thus receiving the Holy Spirit, through
whom we have the power unto obedience!
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Salvation and Getting Saved?
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