I want you to turn your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Philippians. The book of Philippians, chapter number two, and this isn't a normal passage you would go to in regards to a Christmas message, but it's one that's so important in regards to just who Jesus Christ is. You know, in Philippians chapter 2, we're going to find that it beautifully illustrates exactly who Christ was when he was here on this earth. You know, the song we just sung, I don't know if anyone else was messed up by it. I've always heard, Haste, haste to bring him laud. And when I saw the songbook, it said, this is the Christ, the King. I said, okay, I'll go with it. But you look at this song, What Child is This? And what a wonderful hymn that it is talking about the Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And he is the son of Mary, but he's the Christ child. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. He's the reason for the season. And I'm thankful for that tonight. I want to direct your attention to Philippians chapter 2, if you would please, beginning in verse number 5. Philippians chapter 2, verse number 5, and the Bible says these words, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Looking at this passage of scripture, I also want to answer the question or present the question then answer it, of the song we just sang, what child is this? You see, there's a lot of individuals in the world, they think the reason for the season is some guy named Santa Claus. They think the reason the season is Black Friday deals and gifts and all those different things. And I'm not saying, you know, you should never put up decorations or celebrate Christmas your way, but we need to remember the real reason, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's Jesus. Always at the forefront of our minds. There's a lot of this world who might ask that question in all sincerity. and seriousness. What child is this? Who is Jesus? What was his purpose in coming into this world? Why did he come? And I believe Philippians chapter number 2 verses 5 through 11, our text tonight, answers the question of what child is this? Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for this day. What a joy and privilege it is to be in your house tonight. And Father God, I pray. Lord, that you'd illuminate the scriptures to us, Father God, and we thank you for this Christmas season. Lord, help us to keep you at the forefront. Help us to always put you number one, no matter what. And Lord, as we answer this question from your word of what child is this, I pray ultimately that you alone receive the glory, the honor, and the praise, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. It's estimated that during the Christmas season, this time of the year, that $950 billion is spent in holiday retail sales. Not $950 million. $950 billion. That's an average of $875 spent per person. Now you might say, well, Brother Kyle, I'm a lot less than that. Well, praise the Lord. Out of that 875, now it's 875 average per American, I should say, not everyone in the world. That's just for Americans, okay? $875 spent on average per American to make that $950 billion spent in America. Of the $875 that Americans plan to spend this year, or whatever year, 71% of that, or $621, will go toward gifts for friends, family members, and coworkers. The other 29% will pay for seasonal items like food, amen, candy, also amen, and decorations. They could do without those. But that's a lot of money. $950 billion. You know what America has done really, really well on? Commercializing Christmas. It's everywhere. The pastor mentioned it even just last week in his message talking about how it seems like right after Halloween's done, everything's Christmas. Just Christmas. And I don't mind that. I love seeing the Christmas decorations and walking through those areas with my children. They love the lights. I love all that. But what is it? There's a sale here, sale here, buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this. And it's so much to the tune of $950 billion. In addition to this, the average person who puts up their own lights will spend $250 on Christmas lights. Not me. Nine in 10 Americans, 90%, and 95% of Christians say they celebrate Christmas. Well, that's an encouraging thing. But let me read you this statistic. 46% of Americans say they celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious holiday. 46% of Americans celebrate Christmas as the real reason to celebrate Christmas for, of that 90%. That means there's 50% of that 90% that are just celebrating it because it's fun to do. Something's wrong. There's a world out there, believe it or not, that can't answer the question, what child is this? They don't know. They don't understand. They have no idea the Christ child and what the whole Christmas season is all about. That's alarming. There's rising up a generation that does not know who God is and doesn't know the real reason for Christmas or the real reason for Easter or any of these things. Why? Because America has done such a good job of just commercializing it, doing whatever they can to make a dollar off of Christmas. I believe we find the real reason for the season right here in Philippians chapter number two. Not an ordinary, not in kind of an outside of the box Christmas passage, so to speak, but it talks exactly who that Christ child was. In answering this question, what child is this, I want you to see number one tonight. He was a child who was born of a virgin. It's okay. Why is that so important? Well, Philippians 2 says, Now that's a pretty powerful verse. There's a lot of weight behind it because Jesus Christ, yes, he is God. He wasn't 50% man and 50% God, Christian. He was 100% man and 100% God. And I thank God for that. There are individuals of other religious sects and groups and different things like that, and what do they all try to do? They all try to discount and disprove and wish away and scrub away the virgin birth from the pages of Scripture. You see, without a virgin birth, we would not have a Savior, which means without a virgin birth, we would have no salvation. Christ needed to be virgin born. The Bible says in John 1, 1 through 3 and 14, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word, and the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, and truth. You see, the virgin birth is necessary to allow Christ to be that 100% God and 100 yet 100% man. And so why is it such a necessity? Because we all have, as many of you know, something in our blood, a sin nature. And we've been passed down from generation to generation. We can trace it all the way back to one particular event in the book of Genesis, the fall of Adam and Eve. When they took of that forbidden fruit and they ate of it. When they believed the twisting and the lies of that old serpent, Satan himself. And God told them, don't eat of that fruit. And Satan got them to eat of it. And the moment they took that bite, their eyes were opened. Their eyes were open because now they knew what evil was. Now they knew what sin was. And that sin nature, from that point to 2024, is the same sin nature you and I have. All of us have inherited it. All of us are guilty of sin in our life. I'll be the first one to say, hey, guess what? I'm a preacher. I'm an evangelist. But guess what? I'm a sinner. You will not find one other person in the world save Jesus Christ himself that was not a sinner. Everybody has committed sin. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That word all, there is no hidden meaning behind it. There's no special, you know, thing that I have to look up. The word all there means all. The whole world. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You see, Jesus Christ's virgin birth, being born of a virgin, It allowed Jesus to not inherit that sin nature that you and I have inherited. When John the Baptist would proclaim him as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of this world, he wouldn't have been able to say that if Jesus wasn't virgin born. Isaiah 714 in the Old Testament talking about the prophecy of the coming Messiah. The Bible said, the Lord, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Now we'll say this, a virgin birth shouldn't happen. Physically speaking, humanly speaking, a virgin birth, it's impossible. It can't happen. It's physically, humanly speaking, impossible. But it isn't amazing when God wants to do something, He can take the impossible and make it possible. Scripture's full of instances like that. With God, all things are possible. Isaiah 9-6, two chapters later, says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Singular. Notice, if you look at Isaiah 9-6, it doesn't say the government's on his shoulders. You know why? Because he can put it all on one. Because he's God. He only needs one. Actually, he can take a pinky finger. And all the government could be right there. But it says, his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. But you see, this virgin birth was something God had planned all the way back in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve fell. Genesis being the book of beginnings, the law of first mention, the very first mention of a promise of a coming Messiah is found in Genesis chapter number three, verse number 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. You might say, what's the meaning of the bruising of the heel? Well, that was the crucifixion of Christ. But you see a headshot. A bruise on the head is a whole lot more lethal than a bruise on someone's heel. You see, yeah, Satan might have thought he won when Christ was crucified and Jesus was put in the grave for three days and three nights, but Jesus rose again, and one day he's going to deal that final blow to old Satan himself, fulfilling completely the prophecy of Genesis 3.15. But you see, none of this would be possible without a virgin birth of Jesus Christ. If you read the instance of how God came to Mary and Joseph and told them these things, or the angel came to them and told them what God was going to do through them, talk about, it wasn't easy for them to deal with. What do you mean? They're gonna give birth to Jesus Christ, but how do you think the world's view of Mary changed? Mary's pregnant. She's not married. That's the way it was. Mary's now walking around with child, and she had not married Joseph yet. The scrutiny of the world, I guarantee you, was on Mary to some point. Regardless of what she said, and I'm sure there was people that say, you're blasphemous. You're saying the child you have is of God, and you're not even married to your own husband? Think of the things that Mary and Joseph went through, but you know what, they were faithful. And you could preach a whole message on the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph during the time of the angel speaking to them of during that pregnancy and giving birth to the Christ child. You talk about a responsibility. Giving birth to the King of kings and Lord of lords in human form, that's responsibility. But also what honor it is that God chose them to give the Christ child to. See, everything that we love about our salvation, the Word of God, going to church, none of it would be possible if it wasn't for a virgin-born Jesus Christ. What child is this? He was a child who was virgin-born. But watch this, secondly, he was a child who was born in humility. He said, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. That talks about his deity. He was equal with God and he wasn't robbing God of anything. because he was God. But he was also born in humility. Look at verse number seven. It says, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. Jesus Christ, the way he was born, was one of the most humble births you could ever imagine. If there's anybody that's ever been born that deserved the fanfare, that deserved the applause, that deserved a worldwide announcement, it was Jesus Christ. He deserved parades for days. He deserved everyone in the world knowing where he was born and who he was. But that's not how he came. And the apostle Paul and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit penned these words and he wrote this and says, but made himself of no reputation. That's literally what Jesus was born for. You got to think as pastor was preaching last week about little Bethlehem, little old Bethlehem, what an amazing town that was. Amen. Could you imagine though, here you are, Jesus Christ, and there's no room. No room. Not no room for a president, or a governor, or a king, or some business individual, or someone with a lot of money, or a visiting guest in the town. No, not no room for them. No room for the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the creator of the universe, the Christ child, Jesus Christ. Can you imagine being that innkeeper and telling them? Nope, no room. Unfortunately, sometimes maybe we scratch our head at the reply of the innkeeper. How is there no room for Jesus? But how many times are we guilty in our own lives being the same, being just like that innkeeper? We give the innkeeper a hard time and he's scrutinized during the Christmas story, but then the Christmas season passes by and guess who's the new innkeeper in town? It's you and I. Well, Christmas has come and gone. I have things to do, Jesus. There's no room for you in my life. I think the innkeeper pretty much sums up what America's acting like today. America as a nation, as a whole, has taken on the role of the innkeeper in the Christmas story, and the resounding answer for many people in America is, no, Jesus, we don't have room for you here. Oh, I pray, Christian, that that's not your attitude tonight. Do you realize you can come to church and it can still be your attitude on a daily basis? You know, my Bible reading, my prayer life, my faithfulness to church, leading people to Christ, passing out gospel tracts, I can't be bothered. There's no room for that in my life. I can preach a whole message about the attitude of the innkeeper and the attitudes of the lives of Christians all throughout America. But there was no room for Jesus. He was not born in that inn. Instead, they had to look elsewhere, and where did they settle upon? It wasn't some other house in Bethlehem. It wasn't in another inn down the road. No one said Jesus was born in a manger. Now, I can paint to you the best I can of probably what that manger scene looked like, but I guarantee you this, it's not like the manger scenes you may see on display to Ponditivities. You see, there's one thing about the Nativity scenes that all of them get wrong. They're all spotless clean. I guarantee you this, where Jesus was born, probably wasn't. If any of you have seen an actual manger where horses and cattle and all those things are kept, it doesn't smell great, probably don't look great either. But that's where Jesus was born. The Christ child, that's where Mary delivered baby Jesus. Luke 2 7 says, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Could you, I mean, I can imagine Melody. And two months ago when she was born, beginning of October, my wife giving birth in a horse barn with a bunch of other animals. You know, you gotta push the cow aside to, you know, give my wife some space. No horse, you can't eat hay here yet, my wife's giving birth. I mean, that's the reality of an actual manger scene. Joseph fighting off the animals because Mary's in labor. She doesn't want to be around those animals. That's exactly the way it was. Born in a manger. What an incredible scene that is. But you know what it demonstrated and showed? That made himself of no reputation. and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. If there's anyone that deserved a greater birth, it was Jesus. But he came humbly in humility. You see, the greatest example we have of humility in the word of God is Jesus Christ himself. And you read throughout the Gospels of his earthly ministry and his life. His life exemplified the fact that he was made in the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men. You find it's written in scripture that the Bible says the son of man had no place to lay his head. Many times he didn't even have a place to lay his head at night. You know what he was? He was humble. He proclaimed himself as Christ here and there, but many times he was humble about it. proclaiming who he was and demonstrating who he was by the will of the Father. We can learn a lot from the humility of Jesus. What child is this? He was a child who was born in humility. He was a child who was born of a virgin. And once you see number three, he was a child who was born to die. And you say, Brother Kyle, that sounds dark. That sounds awful. Born to die? Yeah. The whole purpose of Jesus Christ coming was to die for the sins of the whole world, of all mankind. That was his purpose. Verse number 8, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, there's humility again, and became obedient unto death. even the death of the cross. That phrase, obedient unto death, is a very powerful phrase. Jesus Christ had to submit himself below death for a portion of his time to allow himself to die so that man might live. Reminds me of that wonderful hymn. It's not in this hymn book, but the great hymn, Born to Die. Maybe some of you are familiar with it. Born to die upon Calvary. He was wounded that I might live. Born to die upon Calvary. See the thing is this, that's the whole reason why he came. He was born to die. They say, who is he born to die for? For you. Just think about it. The king of kings and the lord of lords was born in a manger in humility. He was born of a virgin, and he was born to die for one three-letter word. Y-O-U. Oh, here's another three-letter word. A-L-L. All. He came for you. He came for your neighbor. Came for your co-workers, your family members, your friends, people at Walmart, people at McDonald's, people at your places of employment, all those places he came to die for them 2,000 years ago, plus. Isaiah 53, 1 through 5, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root of the dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and we hid as it were our faces from him, and he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with His stripes, we are healed. Healed from what? Some terrible disease in this world? No, from something a whole lot worse than that's ever been thought up in this world or come across. Worse than bubonic plague, worse than cancer, worse than anything this world has ever seen. We've been cured from sin. The only thing man can't cure Man can try to go in a laboratory all they want, and they will never come up with their own way to wipe away their sin. It is only through Jesus Christ. But why? He was born to die on the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world, including yours. That's why he came. That's why we celebrate Christmas. Because it's all about Jesus. Crucifixion wasn't a death that was taken lightly. It was usually reserved for the worst of the worst criminals. Barabbas was one of those individuals. Barabbas rightfully deserved death by crucifixion because of the heinous, terrible crimes that he committed. He was found guilty until the people saw fit to release him. a lunatic, deserving of salvation, and have Jesus on the cross in his place. Just think about that. Here was a man who deserved crucifixion in Barabbas, and what did the people say? Well, we'll take him back into our society. What? What if I told you we're gonna let everyone out of the local jails, we're gonna let them all out, and they're gonna live in your communities? You'd scratch your head and be like, yeah, and that's not happening. We're not going for that, but that's exactly what the people, they wanted that. They wanted Barabbas and they wanted Jesus on that cross. So that's terrible, but it needed to be done. So why did it need to be done? Because Pilate and other individuals, they washed their hands of Christ. They found no fault in him until the people pushed them to make a decision. till they finally let into the people's cries for crucifixion. Crucify him! Crucify him! And they gave in. And there Jesus was. Went through the trials, went through all those things, and where did he wind up? He was beaten. He was scourged. cat-and-nine-tails dug into his back as they released that whip over and over and over into the back of Jesus Christ. It was said that, many people estimate that when Jesus was crucified, he was beaten so much you couldn't even recognize him as a man any longer. The Bible says he was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, he definitely was. And then to top it all off, after the beating he endured and the crown of thorns was placed onto his head, he was nailed to a cross. As that cross was placed in the ground as he had to carry it up Golgotha, the place of the skull where he was crucified. He had to carry that heavy cross as he was already worn down, and guess what? Yes, he was 100% God, but because he was also a 100% man, he felt every thorn in that crown. He felt every whip of that scourge. He felt every piece of metal and bone that was embedded in that cat of nine tails as it whipped across his flesh. He felt the spit upon him. He felt the punches and the bruising that were inflicted on him that day. He felt all of it. And as he was climbing up Golgotha with that cross, his body gave out slightly and he needed help to finish carrying it. Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross. And he got all the way up to the top of Golgotha and they nailed him there. And for several, for quite a bit of time, Jesus hung there on the cross of Calvary. It was customary that in Roman Empire, with these Roman soldiers, when someone was being crucified, to quicken the death of the individual, they would come by and they would break the legs. Why would they do that? Because here's something that happened with crucifixion. With crucifixion, what happened was, with the amount of pressure that was on your body, you'd be very difficult to catch your breath. And so what they would do is those two feet would be on that nail, and to just catch your breath, the one being crucified would take their feet, and they, in excruciating pain as that nail tore into the flesh, they would push off up on that nail just to catch their breath, and then they'd fall back down because the weight of the body was pushing on their lungs so much. So to quicken death, they would come by and break the legs of the people on crosses, so they couldn't do that any longer until eventually asphyxiation took them. People died from crucifixion, not because of a loss of blood, because of, they would suffocate to death, because they couldn't catch their breath any longer. The weight of hanging there on the cross, of gravity pulling down their body, and they had no way to physically push themselves up except for that one little nail. And it would be painful pushing up on that. The Bible says in Psalm 22 that he would have no broken bone in his body. When they came to Jesus Christ to break his legs, Jesus Christ had already given up the ghost, which fulfilled that prophecy. A spear was driven into his side and blood mixed with water poured out. I said, why? Many times we hear a graphic image or a message preached about the crucifixion, and we think, man, Jesus went through all that? Yeah, you know why he did? Because he was born to die. Don't forget, when we celebrate Christmas, it was all for that purpose, to one day be crucified on the cross of Calvary, for not just my sins, but for John 3, 16, 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. So when you see a manger scene or a nativity, or you think of Christ during Christmas, just remember he was born, he was a child who was born to die. And lastly, number four, yes, he was a child who was born to die. Yes, he was a child who was born in humility. Yes, he was a child who was born of a virgin. But number four, he was a child who is still a king. He is a child. Yes, he was humble and he came in humility. Yes, he came to die on the cross to pay for our sins, but that same Jesus is the same Jesus who will reign for eternity. And he's alive and well today. I want to direct your attention to verse number nine. This same individual who being found in fashion as man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. That same person, verse number nine, wherefore God? also hath highly exalted him. The one mentioned in the verses prior, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, God hath also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And in every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Let me tell you something, there might be a lot of people in the world today that will refuse to acknowledge who Jesus is. They might refuse to acknowledge him now, but I guarantee you this, they will acknowledge him one day. Every knee will bow. I'd rather doing it willingly in humility. than doing it down the road one day. I'm glad I accept that Jesus Christ is my savior, and I can acknowledge him as my savior, and the king of kings and lord of lords, and love him for the change he made in my life, and he's given me purpose, and hope, and direction, and life, and all these things I can thank God for, than to push him aside, because if I push him aside now, one day I will bow my knee. Dictators of countries gone, years gone by, individuals who push God aside, one day they will bow their knee. Christ came to the world as a sweet baby, but he will return a triumphant king. Revelation 17, 14, these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and they are with Him, are called and chosen and faithful. Revelation 1, 8, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, sayeth the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Psalm 2410, who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory, Selah. Luke 1, 31 through 33, talking about that Christ child, talking about the Christmas story. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and he shall be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. That's my Jesus. Yes, he was a little baby. born in humility in a manger in a stinky, smelly place. Yes, he humbled himself and became obedient to death and he lived 33 plus years on this earth without committing one sin in humility, sometimes not even having a place to lay his head. But there will come a day when that sweet baby will return as a triumphant king. Now, the next event for you and I as Christians, we'll see him in the clouds first, the rapture. I'm looking forward to that day. But after that tribulation period, and Jesus comes back and touches ground on the Mount of Olives, like the Bible says he will, he's coming to claim his throne. And he will set up that thousand year millennial reign fulfilling a lot of these prophecies in the book of Revelation, in Luke, in Revelation. Why? Because he's a king. You see, when we think about Christmas, folks, Yes, we can have fun putting decorations up. I'm not opposed to any of those things. I have three little light up snowmen in my front yard. I have lights in my driveway that I'm putting up on Tuesday. I have a nice Christmas tree in my bay windows in the house. But see, the thing is this, that's all well and good. But the real reason for the season is not a Christmas tree. It's not some little snowman light, it's not a candy cane, it's not any of those things. Now, a candy cane points to the blood of Jesus, by the way, the red and white stripes, the purity of the Lord Jesus Christ in the red that he takes away our sin by his blood. That's the significance of the white and the red stripes that are wrapped around a candy cane. But see, the thing is, it's not about elves, it's not about an elf on a shelf, it's not about Santa Claus or some reindeer. It's about Jesus. It's not about what great deal I can get for Christmas or all this list of people I need to get gifts for. It's about the real gift, the unspeakable gift, the greatest gift there ever was, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for all mankind. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. So what child is this? It's a child who was born of a virgin, a child who was born in humility, a child who was born to die, and is a child who is still a king. Christian, as we celebrate this Christmas season, who is that child to you? Maybe you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. Thank God for Brother Jerry accepting Christ as his Savior tonight. You see, you can get saved anytime. God doesn't have a set time in his Word where he says you can only get saved on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights between the hours of 9.30, 10.30, and 6 o'clock. You can get saved in a car during choir practice before service. You can get saved at a doorstep. You can get saved by reading the gospel. You can get saved at your bedside. You know what Jesus cares about? He's not willing the nation to perish. But that all should come to repentance. That's why we celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Savior, the Messiah, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of this world. That is what Christmas is about. And that is the answer to the question, what child is this?