THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS
Pastor James J. Barker
Text: I JOHN 3:1-10
INTRODUCTION:
- I am going to
speak this morning on the significance of Christmas.
- Unfortunately,
the birth of our Lord is often overlooked because of
the emphasis on shopping and materialism, and decorations and drinking parties,
etc.
- There certainly
is a lot of pagan foolishness associated with Christmas, but I would like for us
to consider the real joys of Christmas.
- Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive
her King (Isaac Watts).
This morning I
would like to preach a simple Gospel message on the significance of Christmas.
John 1:14 says,
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
Matthew 1:23
says, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with
us."
First Timothy
3:16 says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh."
This is the
significance of Christmas.
I.
CHRIST WAS MANIFESTED TO TAKE AWAY OUR SINS
(3:5).
- When John the
Baptist saw our Lord, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world" (John 1:29).
- And yet, the
Lord Jesus Christ was manifested to take away the sin of the world long before
there ever was a world.
- First Peter
1:20 says our Lord's death "was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you."
- Revelation 13:8
says Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world."
- Many people
have this notion that Jesus came to this world to teach us how to love one
another. One of my favorite
Christmas songs is "O Holy Night."
- "Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love
and His Gospel is peace." (Placide
Cappeau, translated into English by John Sullivan
Dwight).
- Certainly our
Lord did come to teach us about love, but that was not the primary reason. First
and foremost Jesus came to die on the cross for you and for
me.
- Our Lord said
in Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost."
- The apostle
Paul said in I Timothy 1:15 says, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am
chief."
- This is the significance of Christmas. This is the true meaning of Christmas.
- "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
- "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life" (John 3:16; cf. I John 3:1, 16).
- First John 3:5 says, "And ye know that he was manifested
to take away our sins; and in him is no sin."
- Only the sinless Son of God could die as our perfect
Substitute.
- I already quoted the declaration of John the Baptist,
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John
1:29).
- Why did John refer to Christ as "the Lamb of God"? For the same reason the apostle
Paul says in I Corinthians 5:7, "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."
- The Passover Lamb was a picture and type of the sinless,
spotless Son of God. That is why
the lamb had to be "without blemish."
Exodus 12:5 says, "Your lamb shall be without
blemish."
- Second Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him."
- Hebrews 4:15 says our Lord "was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin."
- First Peter 2:22 says, "Who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth."
- Referring to Christ's vicarious (substitutionary)
atonement, Guy King said, "Thank God, in Him is no sin; but on Him
was all sin" (The Fellowship).
- Isaiah 53:6 says, "All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all."
- "The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all."
- Christ was manifest to take away our sins. This is the significance of
Christmas.
II.
CHRIST WAS MANIFESTED TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE
DEVIL (3:8).
- Guy King quotes Augustine who said, "The devil made no
one, he begot no one, he created no one; but whosoever imitates the devil (i.e.,
by doing sin, as he does) is, as it were, a child of the devil, through
imitating, not through being born of him."
- King adds, "Did
not our Lord Jesus say the same thing, when, addressing His enemies, He
declared, 'Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do' (John 8:44)."
- The devil has
done much damage to this sin-cursed world, but thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ
was manifested to "destroy the works of the devil."
- That is the
significance of Christmas.
- "The works of
the devil" include deception and immorality and dishonesty. The devil energizes lost sinners. He inspires them and he misleads
them. And ultimately he
destroys them.
- First John 5:19
says, "The whole world lieth in
wickedness."
- Satan is a
master of deception. Ephesians 6:11
says, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
- Three times in
the Gospel of John, our Lord refers to the devil as "the prince of this world" (John 12:31; 14:30;
16:11).
- In II
Corinthians 4:4, the apostle Paul refers to the devil as "the god of this
world."
- "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them" (II Cor. 4:3, 4).
- How did the devil manage to become the god of this
world? It happened at the
fall of man. When Adam and Eve
sinned, the devil took over this world.
- God cursed the earth, and said to Adam, "Cursed is the
ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life..."
(Genesis 3:17).
- Right now this earth is cursed, and will stay that way
till the Lord Jesus returns, and Satan is thrown into the lake of fire.
- Revelation 22:3 says, "And there shall be no more
curse."
- "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil" (3:8).
- The Greek word translated "destroy" means, "to deprive
of authority."
- Lewis Sperry Chafer said, "Though under the restraining
hand of God, Satan, according to Scripture, is now in authority over the
unregenerate world, and the unsaved are unconsciously organized and federated
under his leading" (Satan).
- That
is why I John 2:15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him."
- This Scripture is not telling us we are not to enjoy the
oceans and mountains and flowers and trees and the beauty of God's
creation.
- It is telling us we are not to love Satan's anti-God and
anti-Christ system. The same world
that hated the Lord Jesus Christ, and crucified Him on that cruel cross also
hates those of us who are His followers. "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world
(this Satanic system that is anti-God) hate you" (I John
3:13).
- "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8b).
- How was Satan destroyed (or "deprived of his authority")
at the cross?
- Colossians 1:13 says God "hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son."
- Because of our Lord's death on the cross, we have been
"delivered" from the power of
Satan, and have been "translated" into the kingdom of God's dear
Son.
- Galatians 1:4 says Jesus "gave himself for our sins,
that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of
God and our Father."
- Second Peter 1:4 says we have become "partakers of the divine nature," and have "escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust."
- The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned the apostle Paul and
told him to preach to the Gentiles, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may
receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me" (Acts 26:18).
- Revelation 12:12 says, "The devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Soon that prophecy will be
fulfilled.
- The devil knows he only has "but a short time" before he
will be cast off into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10 says, "And the devil
that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone."
- The Lord Jesus Christ was manifested to "destroy the
works of the devil." That is
the significance of Christmas.
- James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Which brings us to our third
point.
III.
CHRIST WAS MANIFESTED SO THAT WE MIGHT HAVE VICTORY
OVER SIN (3:6-10).
- We have here in
I John 3:4 a good definition of sin.
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the
transgression of the law."
- Christ was
manifested so that we might have victory over sin. Yet it is by His death, not by His
birth, that we have everlasting life and victory over
sin.
- However, there
would be no cross if there had not been a manger.
- Charles Wesley
put it this way,
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
- This is all by
faith. This is by trusting in
Christ. "Abiding in Him" (I John
3:6) means "depending on Him."
- When we learn
to abide in Christ we bring forth much fruit, because our Lord said in John
15:5, "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing."
- Furthermore,
our Lord said in John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
- Here is the
secret to effectual prayer -- abiding in Christ.
- And here is the
secret to victory over sin. First
John 3:6 says, "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not."
- It is good to trace this doctrine through John's first
epistle. John draws a
contrast between our standing and our state.
- First John 1:7 says, "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin."
This is our standing -- we are saved, pardoned, cleansed, justified,
sanctified, regenerated, and sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
- The next verse, I John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (cf. I John 1:9,
10). Sadly, this is our state. But victory over sin is possible
because we read in I John 2:1, "My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not..."
- God does not want us to sin -- "that ye sin not." The apostle Paul says in Romans
6:2, "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?"
- Some people have things completely backwards. They say because Jesus died for our
sins, we are free to sin. That is
false doctrine.
- Rather, it is because Jesus died for our sins, that we
are freed from sin.
- Romans 6:18 says, "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
righteousness."
- Romans 6:22 says, "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God,
ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting
life."
- First John 2:1 says, "My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Provision has been
made.
- "If any man sin" indicates a believer can sin. And sadly, we know this from experience
as well as from Scripture.
- John Phillips said, "It would be an error to say that a
believer is not able to sin...It would be true to say, however, that a
believer is able not to sin."
- That is a wonderful statement that should be repeated
and emphasized.
- "It would be an error to say that a believer is not
able to sin...It would be true to say, however, that a believer is able
not to sin. We have the means of victory over sin at our disposal, the Son
of God to be our Saviour, the Word of God to be our guide, and the Spirit of God
to indwell us and empower us" (Exploring the Epistles of
John).
- First John 3:6 says a Christian does not sin. And I John 3:8 says, "he that committeth
sin is of the devil."
- And I John 3:9 says, "Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God."
- These Scriptures teach that a genuine born again child
of God will not practice sin; he will not continue in sin. A believer may stumble on
occasion, but for the most part he or she is on the straight and narrow pathway
that leads to heaven.
- This is because God's "seed" (I John 3:9) is in us. First John 5:18 says, "We know that
whosoever is born of God sinneth not (does not continue in sin); but he
that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him
not."
- A Christian sins when he yields to the
flesh.
- Galatians 5:16 says, "This I say then, Walk in the
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."
- Guy King said, "A rubber ball cannot sink -- unless it
is held down. We must not let our
old, sinful nature get us down!"
CONCLUSION:
- A number of
years ago, a journalist and Presbyterian minister by the name of Sherwood Wirt,
wrote the following in a Christmas card: "The people of that time were being
heavily taxed, and faced every prospect of a sharp increase to cover expanding
military expenses. The threat of
world domination by a cruel, ungodly, power-intoxicated band of men was ever
just below the threshold of consciousness. Moral deterioration had
corrupted the upper levels of society and was moving rapidly into the broad base
of the populace. Intense nationalistic feeling was clashing openly with
new and sinister forms of imperialism. Conformity was the spirit of the
age. Government handouts were being used with increasing lavishness to
keep the population from rising up and throwing out the leaders. External
religious observances were considered a political asset, and abnormal emphasis
was being placed upon sports and athletic competition. Racial tensions
were at the breaking point. In such a time, and amid such a people, a
child was born to a migrant couple who had just signed up for a fresh round of
taxation, and who were soon to become political exiles. And the child who
was born was called, among others things, Immanuel, God with
us."
- It has now been
two thousand years, but things haven't really changed all that much.
- Yesterday,
driving through the crowded streets of Manhattan, I saw Santa Clauses
everywhere. Silly looking men,
scantily clad ladies, some looked drunk, etc.
- Amid all the
worldly foolishness, let us not forget the true significance of
Christmas.
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