I'm getting old. I was reminded of this fact again yesterday as Gwen so excitedly told me that a piece of mail arrived for me in anticipation of a noteworthy birthday upcoming. I got a piece of mail from the AARP inviting me to become a member of their exclusive party. She was somewhat mortified to realize that she's married to someone who's eligible for the AARP and growing older causes me to be a little bit reflective and one of the things that I've been thinking about in anticipation of this sermon is thinking about as I get older you get a little bit more clarity to life and you get to maybe understand life a little bit better as the Word and the Spirit have an opportunity to give us a little bit clearer insights into the world and what life is really like on this side of the fall. And a couple of things jumped out at me that create some unique challenges this side of the fall. And one of those is that we tend to forget things that we need to know. There are a lot of great truths out there that we should know, we did know, and we just have forgotten them over time. You know, we tend to, we see this in our everyday life and we tend to forget birthdays, anniversaries, computer passwords, that kind of thing. And even in the New Testament, there are many, many examples of where I know in some of Paul's writings where he says, I say this to remind you. I say this by way of reminder. So that's clear evidence that God acknowledges in the New Testament our tendency to forget. And we tend to forget great things even about the incarnation, even about Christmas. And so a portion of my purpose in this sermon will be to remind us of some of the great facts that we knew at one point, and we may already know, but maybe stir us up by way of reminder relative to the majesty and the miracle that is the incarnation of the Christ child. Another truth that jumped out at me as I was reflecting on this is that we tend to take for granted great truths and great people. We can grow overly familiar with truths, such as the second person of the Trinity taking on human form and going to a cross and dying for our sins. These are great, great truths, but I wonder sometimes if we don't get so overly familiar with them that we don't reflect on how impactful these truths are. I think of this, how this plays out in our normal lives, how the fiancee that we were so excited to see during that time of engagement becomes the spouse that we kind of grunt at or mumble at on our way to the coffee pot. So we tend to forget great things. We tend to become overly familiar with great truths. And so we forget great truths and we take for granted great truths. And so I'm hoping that through our time tonight that we will be reminded of some great truths about a great Savior. So my goals for our sermon, for our time together tonight. First off is to remind each of us of the miracle and the meaning of Jesus' birth. And secondly, to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus and the great salvation that he offers. My hope is that sometime over the next 24 hours as we move from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, that sometime over the next 24 hours that each person here will pause and either say in their minds or say verbally, thank you Jesus for saving me from my sins. Because that's what Christmas is really all about. As we flow through the sermon tonight, we're going to briefly look at the incarnation of Jesus from two different perspectives. One is we're going to look at it on a micro level. We're going to look at the incarnation event itself. What really happened in the incarnation of Jesus. And then we're going to zoom out and we're going to look at it from a higher level. We're going to look at where does the incarnation event fit into, from a macro standpoint, God's great plan of salvation. And why does it matter? So let's look at it first from a micro standpoint. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter one, verses 18 to 27. Matthew chapter one, verses 18 to 27. Again, we're gonna cover a lot of truths tonight that are gonna be somewhat familiar, but I'm hoping that you will be encouraged and impressed by these great truths. Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 to 27. Please follow along as I read. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Let's look at this just for a minute. We'll look at this. What would this look like from a human perspective? Let's say that you are a resident of Nazareth or Bethlehem where Jesus was born. What would this look like from a human perspective? Let's say you're a neighbor of Joseph. Well, you've got a young couple who's betrothed. They're committed to be married at some point in the near future. The young lady becomes pregnant, which would be scandalous in some way, shape, or form. And the young man, who the text describes as a righteous decides to do the honorable thing and set her aside secretly. So that's what it would look like just purely from a human perspective, but now let's quickly transition into seeing what's going on from a divine perspective. These are important truths that we need to be reminded of as we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus. Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter one, verses three through six. We're going to flesh out some of the truths from the Matthew passage by adding a little detail from some other supporting passages. Ephesians 1, verses 3-6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Now what I'm going to be doing for the next few minutes is really building a foundation that looks forward to the incarnation and some of the background that makes the incarnation so profound and so impactful. And the truth that I'd like to draw out of this passage is really in verse four. Just as He, the Father, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. So we learn from this passage that the Father, before anything was even created, the Father chose specific people to be adopted as sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus. Okay, so that's one of the foundational truths that looks forward at the incarnation. Very, very powerful truth. Now turn back with me to the Old Testament, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14 says, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. So here we've got God the Father warning, really forewarning His people through human prophets hundreds and hundreds of years before the Christ child is actually born. He's preparing them, telling them, I'm going to give you a sign as to what Messiah looks like. Okay, so again, we're building a foundation, looking forward to the incarnation for what a profound and miraculous event this is. He tells us in this passage that the mother would be a virgin, that she would bear a son, and that his name will be Emmanuel, which means God with us. So again, hundreds and hundreds of years before the event actually takes place, God the Father is preparing His people, He's warning them through the prophet Isaiah that He will send the Messiah and He's giving them details around this event. Now turn with me if you would to Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5. Again adding some structure to a better understanding of what the incarnation is all about. So far we've learned that God the Father chose certain people before anything was created, and that He warned His people, forewarned them through the prophet Isaiah as to the events surrounding the arrival of Messiah. The truth I'd like to draw out of this Galatians passage is that God the Father intentionally sent His Son. Read with me, verses four and five of Galatians chapter four. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now we could spend several hours just with that one passage, but the one truth I'd really like to draw out of this is that God the Father sent God the Son, okay? This is all orchestrated, this is all planned, this is all part of God's unfolding plan of redemption and salvation. but God sent forth his son born of a woman. You can see the very clear reference to the incarnation there. Now, in the sending, Jesus had a mission. There was a purpose behind why he came. Let's turn back to our passage in Matthew 1, verse 21, and we see it referenced there. Back to our main text. Jesus, God leaves us no question as to why God became man and dwelt among us. In verse 21, we see the following. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, and here's Jesus' mission statement, for he will save his people from their sins. So we get a clear sense of, again, looking at it from a micro level, this is all in the incarnation, this is all part of God's unfolding plan, but Jesus had a mission to save his people from their sins. We'll talk more about this in another passage upcoming, but I wanna key in on the phrase, his people. Jesus did not come to save all people from their sins, right? Jesus came to save his people, which is a distinct group of people. And again, we'll talk more about that in just a minute, but it does kind of beg the question, if Jesus did not come to save all people, but certain people, am I part of his people? makes me reflect on, as I look at the Incarnation, am I part of that group for which the Son died and the Father selected? Who are His people, and am I His person? Now let's look at another fact. Turn with me to Galatians, excuse me, Colossians chapter one. Now we're gonna take just a really brief look at the one who is sent. So we know that the Father chose, and we know that We know that He warned His people through human prophets, that the Father sent the Son, that the sending had a specific purpose, was that He would save His people from their sins. Now let's look at the character and the majesty of the One who was sent, Jesus. Colossians 1, verses 15 through 20. It says, the following. He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, by Jesus, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. So let's pull out a couple of key facts relative to Jesus' purpose and Jesus' nature and his character that become impactful as we study the incarnation tonight. First off, we learn that Jesus is the very image of the invisible God. If you wanna know what God is like, look at Jesus. Secondly, we learn that all things were created by him. Jesus is the creator of all things. We learn also that all things were created through him and for him. He's also the beneficiary of all created things. We learn that ultimately Jesus will have first place in everything. This is no ordinary baby. This baby is the king of all creation and he does rule and will rule and ultimately he will be worshiped. We learn that his mission includes reconciliation, a key phrase in this passage. We learned that he made peace through the blood of the cross. Now it's important to understand that if Jesus made peace, that conflict had to exist prior to peace being made, right? So we know that there's a conflict. We don't know a lot about that conflict just yet and from this passage, but we'll flesh that out here in just a minute. So again, to review, we know that Jesus existed from all eternity. that he did not begin to exist as a tiny human in the womb of Mary. He existed from before that. He was taking on human form and that his mission in doing so involved making peace where there had been conflict. Jesus came to make peace in dealing with the sins of his people. Okay, so we're starting to get a better understanding of how important and necessary the incarnation is. Now let's take a look at the Holy Spirit's role in the incarnation. Joseph had not had relations with Mary prior to her being pregnant, which from his perspective only would have added to the scandalous nature of these events. So in order to communicate with him, God sent an angel to appear to Joseph in a dream and explain the whole situation to him. And I think it's insightful to note Joseph's response. In hearing God's communication through this angel, how does Joseph respond? He believes God and he obeys God. He does exactly as God had asked him to do. And so the Holy Spirit, who implanted Jesus in the womb of Mary, he was the one who accomplished that. The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in all of this. So clearly, as we review this section, clearly God is doing something very unique. These are not everyday events whatsoever. God the Father plans and sends. God the Son obeys and goes. God the Son leaves heaven to enter the womb of a virgin teenager. Oh, by the way, a girl that he actually created. God the Spirit implants God the Son into the womb of this young lady. God communicates by an angel through a dream to the young man. Joseph obeys God and stays with her. This baby is Emmanuel, which means God with us. And we know that the mission of Emmanuel involves the sins of people. It involves conflict and the making of peace. Okay, so that's just a real quick overview of the incarnation and how impactful it is. And we don't know all the details, but we're gonna flesh this out just a little bit. Now let's zoom back out. Okay, we're gonna, that was really an overview of the events surrounding the incarnation itself. Now let's zoom back out. Turn with me if you would to Romans chapter five. So now what we're really gonna take a deeper look at is Jesus' mission and what he came to accomplish. We're gonna put some more meat on the bones as it were. So again, we've had some clues so far. We know that Jesus' mission involves His people, not all people. We know that Jesus' mission involves paying for sins in some way, shape, or form. We know that there has been conflict and that Jesus came to make peace and reconciliation. Now, Romans chapter five, verses six through 11. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man some would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Very foundational passage. Let's take a look at, real quickly, how man is described in this. We're not talking about individual people, we're talking about we as a race. These adjectives describe every single person here, and every single person born, save one. We are described as the following. Helpless, ungodly, sinners, and enemies. Again, the enemies indicates the conflict that we talked about a little bit earlier. In verse 9, it talks about how we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Jesus. It also says that the conflict or war was between God and man. So where does peace enter into the picture? We see in verse 8, now we're talking about Jesus reconciling work, so making peace between God and man. It says here that Christ died for us in verse 8 and in verse 6 it says Christ died for the ungodly. So if I'm to believe that Christ died for me I also need to embrace the reality that what God says about me is true and in His eyes I'm ungodly. In Romans chapter 3 verse 23 it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not one but all. In Romans 6.23 it says that the wages of sin is death. So we can see now we've got a little much clearer understanding of the nature of the conflict between God and man and why we are under the wrath of God. So let's review. It begs all kinds of questions that we should be asking ourselves. Do I know myself to be helpless? Do I know myself to be ungodly? Do I know myself to be a sinner against a holy God? Do I know myself to be an enemy of God? Do I know myself to be deserving of death? Do I know myself to be under the wrath of God? Do I know that I need a rescue, a Savior, and that Jesus is that Savior? Do I believe that Jesus died the death that I deserve as my substitute on that Roman cross? Do you believe these things to be true? And truth requires a response. We can't ignore these things. As Randy said earlier, the most important thing we can decide is what are we gonna do with Jesus? A lot of you know my story. I grew up in a pastor's home. I grew up in a in a home and in a church culture where Christmas was discussed. We talked about the virgin birth. We talked about the incarnation. And, but I also didn't get saved until I was 33. So 32 Christmases, I celebrated Christmas 32 times before God saved me. And if you had asked me sometime prior to my being born again, if you would have asked me, do I affirm the virgin birth? Absolutely. I would have said, do I affirm the incarnation? Absolutely. I would have even affirmed the sinfulness of man and the deserving of judgment. So what happened at the age of 33? The age of 33, the big difference for me was I believed not just that mankind had sinned against Almighty God, I believed that I had sinned against Almighty God. I believed that I deserved to suffer His wrath for all eternity. and that should have been me on the cross, and that Jesus went to the cross in my place and as my substitute, not just in general, but very specifically for me. That's what I deserved, and he went in my place. And as I was preparing this message, it came to occur to me that just as I had 32 Christmas celebrations before I was actually saved, it's very possible that there's somebody here tonight who believes the right things about Jesus. You may be willing to even affirm the virgin birth or the sinfulness of man or the incarnation. But that doesn't necessarily mean that one believes in a saving way. So it becomes very important. How do we respond to these truths? Turn with me if you would to Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one verses 14 and 15. Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. I think it's important to note as part of this that Jesus is commanding that people repent and believe the gospel. He's not asking, he's not inviting. Jesus as the Lord of glory, the king of all creation, He who is ruling over all creation right now commands that every person repent and believe the gospel. And where should this leave us? Turn back with me if you would to Romans chapter five, verse 11. Tells us what this should all lead to. And this is where, this is where I'd like to leave us for as we celebrate Christmas Eve and as we celebrate the incarnation of baby Jesus tomorrow on Christmas day. Romans chapter five, verse 11. There's really one proper response to all of this truth. And not only this, but we also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. It's really easy to get caught up in presence and family and other things as we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus. But if you look at the second phrase there in verse 11, We also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. These truths of the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and God sending his son to die as our substitute on that cross and for our sins, that we might be offered adoption as sons and daughters of God, we must exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ for these great truths. So let's review our goals. Our goals were at the beginning, and I'd like to leave you with this. I hope that I've reminded each of us of the miracle and the meaning of Jesus' birth would not have been necessary if we were not ungodly sinners who deserve God's wrath. The incarnation of Jesus never would have been necessary. And then secondly, to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus and the great salvation that he offers. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these great truths. Father, we thank you that you loved and you sent. Father, we thank you that you cannot and would not compromise your holiness to save wretched sinners such as us. Father, that you would maintain your holiness by sending your perfect son, the second person of the Trinity, that he would be incarnated as a little baby, that he would live a perfect, sinless life, that he would intentionally go to a Roman cross where he would pay for the sins of his people. Father, that he would rise, that he would die, that he would rise from the dead, that he would ascend into heaven, and even now he is ruling over all creation. And he's coming back. Father, I pray that as we celebrate Jesus' birthday tonight and tomorrow especially, I pray that your Holy Spirit would take these truths, write them on our minds and on our hearts, Father, that we would celebrate not the presence, that we would celebrate not even the family first and foremost, but Father, that we would celebrate the great gift of Jesus. Apart from him, we would have no hope. Apart from him, we would have no reason to look forward with joy. Father, I pray that by your spirit, Jesus would be front and center in our minds and in our affections. Father, that we would praise you, that we would exult in God through the Lord Jesus Christ for the great salvation that you have accomplished for us through him. Father, may Jesus have first place in our hearts as he demands and as he deserves. We thank you for Jesus. We ask these things in Jesus' name.