I have a cartoon here. It's a cartoon of a bunch of pagans. They're protesting the commercialization of Halloween. You think that would ever happen? That the pagans would ever protest the commercialization of Halloween? I think the joke the cartoon is trying to say is sometimes when we look at Christmas, it becomes commercialized. And there's a part of me that resists that, protests that. It shouldn't be that. It should be about Christ. There's another part of it, he says, you know, at least the whole world is thinking about it. The whole world is thinking about Christmas right now, at least all the world that we know. So maybe something good could come out of that. But you and I understand that in our world today, there's a huge, huge pressure on us to remove Christ from Christmas. Whether it's the public scenes in front of public buildings, whether it's the programs at schools, you can't sing carols anymore and you can't do this anymore. And there's this great move to pull Christ out of Christmas and just have holiday greetings and holiday gifts and holiday, holiday, holiday. And you say to yourself, what would it matter? What would it matter if we just took Christ out of Christmas? We could still have a holiday. We could still have a break, we could still have bonuses, we could still have gifts, we could still have food, we could still have all of those things, right? Right. I hope you say no. All right. What if we took Christ out of Christmas? You understand one way to look at the importance of something is to say, well, what if we eliminated it? What if we took it away? Paul did that in first Corinthians, chapter 15, where he said, well, now, if Christ is not risen, what would happen if Christ is not raised from dead? And so he took the opposite approach. And if we eliminated it, sometimes it's called alternative history. If you go to Google that on your computer, you find there's all kinds of attempts to to find alternative history. What if? What if the Romans had not invaded Britain? You and I might not be speaking English today, we might be not worshiping in a Christian way. What if the Moors had not been defeated there in Tours in Spain? We might all be Muslims today. What if Lee had not lost at Gettysburg? We might be a divided nation today. What if Lincoln had not been shot? We might have some other things that happen in life and living. So you go down all of them and they do all kinds of things with the what ifs of history. But as you do that, you recognize as you do alternative history, what if you realize that it makes you realize the importance of certain events? What if the Spanish Armada had not run into that storm in 1588, in April 1588, and were defeated not by the British, but by the storm? We might all be speaking Spanish today. All kinds of what ifs in history. Here's the question. What if Christ had not come in the flesh? Would it make any difference? Well, obviously, all of us know it would make huge difference. And today I'm just going to in your sheet, you got six points. We're going to go down three of them today. What if Christ did not come in the flesh? What would it be different in your life and in my life today? You understand that this is not a question about the fact of the incarnation. The Encyclopedia Britannica has 20,000 more words about Jesus Christ and the historicity of Jesus Christ than about Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great or about a whole bunch of other people. The historicity of Jesus Christ coming to earth in the flesh is a matter of history proven as well as any other person in all of history. This is not a question about historicity of the incarnation. This is not a question about the method of the incarnation. We know that he came as a virgin, born of a virgin. We don't fully understand that, but we're not going to deal with that today. The question today is this. It's a question of the importance of the incarnation. What if Christ had not come in the flesh? What if? You understand, John would say this in first John, chapter two or four, verse one, beloved, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, the incarnation, is a fundamental part of our Christian belief system. And so when we say, what if Christ had not come in the flesh, we're talking about some major differences and things that would be true in our life. And today we're just going to run through them. And as we do that, I hope that God will bless your heart and bless my heart as we think of what a wonderful thing it was for the eternal Son of the eternal God to leave this splendor of heaven to be born in a manger as a real, true human being. It made a lot of difference. Don't take Christ out of Christmas. It won't just be a holiday. You will have lost it all. Let's pray. Father, today we do ask that You would help us to be a people who realize the importance of the Incarnation. And we really can't take Christ out of Christmas without totally destroying all that we believe and totally destroying all that we are as believers in Jesus Christ. Today, Father, we pray that Your Spirit would guide us and direct us and help us in every way. And we'll thank You for that, for we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the first thing I'd like you to think about is you think of what if Christ had not come is found in John chapter 14. One of my favorite verses happens to be this John chapter 14, verse 8, where we're talking about Christ and Christ is telling me has to go to the cross and all those kinds of things. And finally, Philip says, show us the father. And that's all we need to show us the father. One of the things that Philip is saying is what every human being says, we want to know who God is. As you read through the Old Testament, you read through the New Testament, you realize that one of the things that men want is to know who God really is. You say, well, you have the revelation of God in creation. The heavens declare the glory of God. So what else do you need? But somehow it's inadequate. In fact, Job said this, the revelation of God through creation, which declares the glory of God in His handiwork. Job says it's but a whisper. It's but a whisper of God, who really God is. Creation cannot reveal to you and me adequately who God is. We understand that through the scriptures, we learn a lot about God in an intellectual way. You can run through the scriptures and learn all about him through history and theology that's taught in the scriptures. And yet we also understand that somehow when you're all done, that's like me telling you about the Grand Canyon, but you've never been there or me telling you about my dad, but you've never met him. Like me telling you about something, writing about it, you would have some idea of what it's all about. But somehow when you meet the person, it's all different. In fact, the other day I met a person who all of my life I thought he was a mean old grumpy person. I really did. He always in the conferences that we went to, he always stood up and did some really crazy things. I think I wish he wasn't at our conferences. Every time you go to a conference, he always has to stir up the trouble. He always has to ask questions that no one needs to have. And the other day I had the privilege of meeting him. You know what? He's a kind, gentle person. And when I met him personally, totally transformed my image of this individual. He really, of all the people I knew, really cared for people. To get to know somebody personally is very important. All revelations of God, as great as they are, whether it's creation or scripture or man is created in the image of God, and yet we're all marred because of sin. All of our understanding of God would be limited if it were not for this. Christ came in the flesh. And you read these words in Isaiah 7 and verse 14. Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you will call His name Immanuel, God with us. And you and I understand that if Christ had not come in the flesh, we would have had no personal revelation of God. We would have known about Him from creation, which is a whisper. We would have known about Him in Scripture. We would have known about Him in an intellectual way. We would have known about him in a marred way by looking at his image, the people walking around us, but we would have never personally known who God really is. And imagine how the incarnation of Jesus Christ, as you read about it in scriptures, changes how you think about God. Historians, and especially liberal historians, will say, as you read the Old Testament, the God of the Old Testament is a mean old bully. He walks around killing people. He doesn't get his way. He takes you out. He's this mean old bully. That's exactly what the liberals say about God in the Old Testament. And then they come to Christ. That's why they love Christ. Because the God of the New Testament found in Jesus Christ is not a mean old bully. The God of the New Testament found in Jesus Christ. They suddenly see one who's moved with compassion. One who cares for people. One who's meek and lowly of heart. One who sacrifices his own good for the good of others. And when we see Jesus Christ, as He revealed to us in history now, but as He came in the person of Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, we have a new and a personal revelation of God. We know that God is not a mean old bully. That God is long-suffering. He's merciful. He's compassionate. He weeps. He has emotions. He cares. He helps. He sacrifices. How our image of God has been transformed because we had the privilege of knowing that in history there came one who is the eternal son of the eternal God. And he walked on the face of this earth. His name is Jesus Christ. And he came in the flesh and we see what God is really like. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead we see. Hail the incarnate deity. And you and I have the wonderful, wonderful privilege of knowing that we know God better. Because Jesus Christ came in the flesh. And Jesus Christ is all that He said He was. There's a story about a monarch of Persia who liked to identify with his people. And he would disguise himself and go with his people and be with his people. And they didn't know it was the monarch. He was the Shah of Persia. And one day he disguised himself and he worked with one of the men who stoked the fires for the public baths. And he just worked with him all day. And he sat down and ate with him and was with him and lived his life for a whole day. The man never knew it was the Shah until at the end of the day. The Shah said to him, I am who I am. Here's the quote from that man. The Shah expected that that man, as soon as he found out who he was, would have asked for a great and mighty gift from the king. But he didn't. Here's what he said. You left your palace to sit with me in this dark place, to eat my coarse bread and to care whether my heart is glad or sad. You gave me rich presents. You may give rich presents to others, but you have given yourself to me. Please, Majesty, never withdraw your priceless gift of friendship to me. And God, in the person of Christ, walked in the flesh. And I have a totally different idea of who God is today because I have a personal revelation of God. And without the incarnation, I never would have known that. He would have been a distant God, a heavenly God, a powerful God. And that God is also one who cares for me and walks with me. But you know, there's more to it than that. And you could think of a whole bunch of I'm sure you've got a hundred of them in your mind, if Christ had not come, what would it be true? But I'd like you to go to another thought, if you would, with me. In the book of Job, we have this great statement, there is no mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. And you understand, Job was struggling. Because all kinds of difficulties were coming in his life. He was struggling with life and living. And he's trying to wrestle as his friends come and talk with him. You know, is it because of sin in my life? Is it not because of sin in my life? Is it not because of sin in my life? What really is it all about? And he's really, really struggling. And he wants to get a hold of God. He wants God to get a hold of him. And he wants to be connected to God. And he wants to somehow know, God, what is going on? He finally says, but he is not a man as I am. God is not man. And he therefore cannot be a mediator between me and himself. And what I need, Job said, is somebody who can lay his hand on both me and on God and be that mediator, be that arbitrator to somehow connect us so that I understand what he is doing and he can understand what I'm doing. I need a mediator. I need someone who can connect us. And one of the great needs of life, as you know, is to somehow know that God really knows who I am and God really knows what I'm going through and God really can be connected to me. And if God were just the eternal God in heaven, somehow I'd always feel like there is, as Job did, that there's no mediator who can lay his hand upon us both. And you understand in First Timothy, chapter one and verse 12, we read these words. There's one God. And one mediator between God and man. And you remember the next words? It's the man, Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh, had not been the man, He would have never been able to connect us to God. He would never have been able to lay His hand upon both God and us and connect us. You say, who cares? You care. And I care. And without that, we would not have somebody who could connect us and really understand us. But Jesus Christ did become man. He did identify with us. Are you ever hungry? Yes, he was hungry. Did you ever thirst? He thirsted. Do you ever wake up and say, I'm poor? Do you understand that he was born in a manger, in a stable? And he would say later on, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests. But the Son of Man doesn't even have a place to lay His head. He understands what it's like to be hungry and to be thirsty, to be poor. Have you ever been despised and rejected of men? He understood that. Because he was despised and rejected of men. And you could go down all the things that are true about you. Have you ever been lonely? He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You name anything that you go through. Have you ever been excited? Have you ever been happy? They're not all negative. He got excited. He got happy. He got sick. He got weary. You know, one day he walked to the tomb of his friend and he broke forth crying. I watched the news last night as this father was trying to communicate some things. And he just kept crying. My God understands me and understands what I'm going through because His Son, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the eternal God, became a man. He really was hungry. He really did weep. He really did get thirsty. He really did understand all of my life. And He identifies with that. And every day I wake up and there's something in my life, whether it's good or bad, I know that he went through it. In fact, we're told in Hebrews that he was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. There was one major difference between him and me. And therefore, it says in Hebrews, he's a faithful high priest. You've got to image that in your mind, all right? We think of high priests as probably some distant person, you know, ran into the Holy of Holies once a year and the rest of the year you didn't see the guy. But in reality, the high priest was a personal connection between God and man. He was an inadequate connection between God and man, but he was a connection between God and man. Jesus Christ is the perfect connection. But imagine today being a little Jewish woman. You go to the temple every week or every day or however times you come. And there's the high priest year after year. You go there year after year. He interacts with you year after year. He gets to know you. You get to know him. Before you even walk up, he knows whether you're happy or sad. Before you even walk up, he knows what's going on in your heart. He understands you. And one day you go to the temple to meet this man who understands you. It can bring your sacrifices to God, can bring God's revelation to you and teaching this this connector between God and yourself. One day you go to the temple to meet this man and he died. There's a whole new high priest, a man who doesn't know you, doesn't understand you. You have to start all over. We have a high priest who is in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He's a faithful high priest. And when we come to him for help in time of need, he is one who understands. There's nothing greater than to understand that the person who is praying for you really understands. You've had that. I've had people talk to me when I pray for them and say, thank you, Pastor. But you really don't understand. And they're thankful that I prayed with them in the hospital or at the death of a loved one. They really are thankful. But they know I really don't understand. Because I've never been there. I've never done that. I've never done what they've done. I've never gone through what they've gone through. But I have a high priest. His name is Jesus Christ. And because he became a man, he totally identifies with everything I go through. He knows everything there is to know about everything that a man goes through. And He prays for me. He ever-lives to make intercession for me. If it weren't for the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we would have no personal revelation of God. We really wouldn't know Him on a personal level. We would have no real connection to this Person who can lay His hand on both God and man, on me and God, and bring me to God and God to me. His name is Jesus Christ. By the way, one of you said, I think it's Dan in the back, you're reading the book, The Fisherman, right, Dan? I hope that this year you read a book about Christ. If you don't have one, you come to my office, I'll loan you one, all right? This is one of the great ones. You just got to spend time every day, every week, learning about Jesus Christ, spending time with Christ, because you'll get to know God. You get to know God in a way that you don't get to know God when you just read your theology book. He's the one who is a personal revelation of God to us. And He's the one who is a connector between man and God because He understands us. And He knows what life is all about. But it's more than that. Today we're going to add just one more if you don't mind. If you go with me to the book of Romans in chapter 8 and verse 23, You recognize that it says a thing that's kind of startling to you and to me and about groaning. And if I turn in my Bible there, I'll find it and read it for you. It goes something like this. Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. As you read through that eighth chapter, you recognize it's all about there's therefore now no condemnation. But then it goes into the reality that we are groaning. And creation groans, and the Spirit groans, and we groan. Even we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves. There is something about life that is rough. There is something about life that is not fair. There is something about life that causes us to groan, to live under the weight of it all. And we wonder, how is life supposed to be? How am I supposed to live? What is ideal humanity supposed to really be all about? You can read in Romans chapter 7 the words of the Apostle Paul. He says, The good that I want to do, that's not what I do. The evil that I don't want to do, that's what I do do. O wretched man that I am. You recognize ever since the fall by Adam and Eve, humanity has been marred. And you were born that way and I was born that way as marred creatures. Children of sin and children of wrath, as Paul would say in Ephesians. And we recognize that somehow we've never really seen what life is really supposed to be like. We've never met that person who lives the ideal life. We've never met that person who handles suffering the way he's supposed to handle suffering or joy the way they're supposed to handle joy or interacts with people the way they're supposed to. We've never met that because we've always met marred and groaning people. But you read these words in the Scripture and you recognize from 1 Peter, for to this you are called because Christ also suffered for us. Leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. Some of you have read the book, In His Steps. It will help you to understand that what would Jesus do? He's the more current. You see, if we did not have Jesus Christ come into flesh as a man, We would never have an example of the ideal humanity of really what life is supposed to be like. Really what I'm supposed to be like. It's one thing for me to read the Scriptures and I'm not supposed to lie and steal and cheat and all those kinds of things. And I need to read that and I need to understand that and I can implement that and maybe understand that. But there's another level when I want to see it lived out. I want to see somebody who does that. And in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, in the person of Jesus Christ, we have an example. He was a real man who walked on the face of this earth. He did not sin, in contrast to us, and therefore he lived his life ideally. What did he do when he was hungry? What did he do when he was thirsty? What did he do when he was despised and rejected of men? How did he handle victories? How did he handle successes? How did he handle life and living? What does an ideal man do? And suddenly, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, because he came in the flesh, he really was a man. He never sinned. I suddenly realized I have a perfect example of humanity. And that's why it's so important to keep reading about him. It's why it's so important to understand how he talked to people. If somebody opposed him, how did he approach that? How did he handle that? When did he get mad? When did he not get mad? How did he handle it when people didn't want to hear what he had to say? And you read Matthew 13, you realize he just jumped immediately into parables. If you don't want to hear me, he said, I'll just tell you in a way that, well, if you want to hear it, you'll understand it. If you don't want to hear it, I don't want to make your life worse. He was subtle in his communication. He was not direct very often. You understand that when you become like Christ, it's so different than everything you've ever learned about humanity. Real men. Real men. And then you read Christ. The ideal man handles it differently. You understand from 1 John 2, verse 6, therefore we ought to walk as He walked. And in Jesus Christ, I see as I read His life, and I understand He came in the flesh, I understand how I should walk. How I should live. But not only how I should. If you go to 1 John 3, verse 2, we recognize that we also understand what we will be like. Because we will see Him as He is. What will ideal humanity in the future be like? What will your life be like when you're the ideal human? Well, you can read about it when you read about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, because He came in the flesh, helps me to understand what the ideal example of humanity is all about. He left us an example. It wasn't just He told us to do this. He showed us how to do this. Many years ago when I was working in Africa, I had a man named Samson. He was my greatest worker. I love Samson. He always had a Remington hat on his head and Samson was strong as Samson and he was a great, great, great guy. He could grab a hand saw and he could take a plank that was four inches thick and six inches wide 25 foot long and he could cut it lengthways. He could do it so perfectly that it became half of that exactly. I don't know how he did it with a hand saw. We didn't have any electricity. We had to do everything by hand saw. But one day, a guy came by and he had a little generator and he had a skill saw. And I thought, oh boy, Samson's going to be happy today because today he doesn't have to cut 25 foot long boards in half with a hand saw. And I said, Samson, here's a skill saw. You just push this button and you just go. But you all know what happened. I didn't show him how to do that. I just told him how to do that. And he grabbed the skill saw and he burned the blade out within a foot. He didn't know he had to go straight. He had never done electricity. I should have showed him how to use a hand saw or a skill saw. Because I didn't, he burned it all up. I would never know how to live my life. I would never know what ideal humanity is. Except that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the eternal God, became a man. And He walked in the face of this earth. And He left me an example. What do you do when somebody spits on you? And what do you do when somebody doesn't want to hear you? And what do you do when you stand there all alone and all your disciples have fled you and you stand so alone? What do you do in every situation of life? And He left for you and for me a wonderful example that we should live like Him. Be like Jesus. That's my song in the home and in the throng. Be like Jesus all day long. I would be like Jesus. And by the way, as you do that, as you become like Jesus. Because it's so different than the world around you, the world will think you're strange. You don't swear like everybody else swears. You don't cut people off when people cut you off. You don't strike back when people strike you. You don't get even. You don't do a lot of things that people do all around you. And they will conclude you're a wimp. They will conclude you're not strong enough. Real men. And then you read about Jesus. He was no wimp. But He surely handled life. Well, there's some other things that we can think about next week. What if Jesus had not come? I do not know why you are here today. I suspect it's because you came to worship God. And I suspect it's because you want to learn about God. But I trust that as you think about these things, you realize that Jesus Christ did come in the flesh. He really was a man. He really lived a life like yours and mine. He really understands life like you and me. And He left us an example of the ideal humanity He left us a revelation of our eternal God, who is not a mean old bully, but is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish. Our God is sacrificial, always thinks for the good of other people, because I know that, because I see it in Jesus Christ. And I trust that you and I understand that when we ask the question, what if Christ had not come in the flesh? We would have lost a lot. These are just three. You understand that when Paul said, now if Christ is not risen, and he starts to list all the things that would be true. If Christ is not risen, our preaching would be vain and on and on it goes. And then he said, but now is Christ risen. But if Christ did not come, a lot of things would be different. But now Christ did come. And we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father. full of grace and truth. That's the wow of Christmas. The eternal Son of the eternal God left the splendors of heaven to be a man. Ultimately to die. But to leave for us these three things. God help us as we approach Christmas. Let's keep Christ in Christmas. Without it, we might have a holiday. We might get days off. We might have bonuses. We might have a lot of things. But we would not have a personal revelation of God. And we'd not have an ideal example of humanity. And we would not have somebody who really can lay His hand on both of us and bring us to God. Let's pray. Father, today we are so thankful for these truths. We're so thankful for Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're so thankful that You did send Your Son