The Christmas story. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago. Wait a minute. Let's try this again. Thus says the Lord, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. I fear that in today's time, there are many people gathered this morning and they are telling the Christmas story as I began it today. as though it may be a nursery rhyme or a fable, something that someone may have made up, just something good to hear about. They're making much of an infant, child wrapped in swaddling clothes. I fear that they are not putting the emphasis upon this birth that should truly be placed upon it. It is so much more than a mere story of a baby born in a stable. It's much more than just sentimental love story. This story is so much more than that. As a matter of fact, I'd have to say it's not so much a story, but it's a proclamation. We just sang, hark, the herald angels sing. The angels did not come before the shepherds and tell them a story. They proclaimed the birth of the Messiah, of the King, of Emmanuel. It's a proclamation that we are here to hear about, not a mere story. It's history. It truly happened. But we are to proclaim the truth of the coming, to proclaim the truth of this Son, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. When we look at this passage in Isaiah 7, 14, it says a lot to us. It speaks to us about the birth of a son and a miraculous birth at that. Such a miraculous birth that it is prophesying to us that this birth is going to be through a virgin. When we think about that, we think that's impossible. And it's a miraculous thing to think about. But that's not what's most miraculous about this verse. The most miraculous thing that we see here is that The son born of a virgin will be Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God with us. The miracle isn't so much that the child came through a virgin. The miracle is that we have given to us God himself as he takes on his own creation. As he takes on humanity. And he does it in such a way that he comes into the world in the most humble of state. As a baby. As one who comes into the world truly dependent upon his mother and his father for his nourishment. He must grow as every other man has grown. This is our God who has done this. See, we tend to look at this so much as just a story of this beautiful story of a young lady who's born a baby, sweet little baby. We need to realize that this sweet little baby that we speak of is God of God and Lord of Lords. He's the creator of all things. He's the administer of justice. This baby that we speak of is holy, holy, holy. He is the great I am. So when we tell this story of Christmas, This story, which more appropriately the proclamation, the proclamation of God's decree to redeem his people through his own son as he becomes a man. That's what we're here to hear about, a proclamation of the birth of Emmanuel, God, with us. In order to understand this birth, in order to understand how great this really is, we must begin at the beginning. Remember, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He formed everything in them. He formed man and took woman from him. He planted a garden around him and told him, you may eat of every fruit, berry, and plant except for one. You must never eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on that day you shall surely die. And as we all know, the serpent entered into the garden. Satan came in to deceive what God had created as good. Satan came in to deceive. He came in to lie. And this is the account of what happened when God confronted them after Adam and Eve had taken of the fruit of the tree. In Genesis 3, beginning in verse 12. Then the man said, The woman whom you gave me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast in the field and on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And then God said, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. and he shall crush your head and you shall bruise his heel. The very first place in all of scripture where the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is being presented. The very first place. We look at this and we are amazed. But even more amazed when we understand what is being proclaimed here. Because this is the first proclamation of the virgin birth. He does not tell Satan that he has put an enmity between the seed of Adam. Because that's where the seed comes from. But the seed of the woman. Which means something miraculous has to happen for a woman to become pregnant. and have a seed. It's the seed of the woman, the virgin birth that is being proclaimed right here. And in that proclamation, he says to Satan that this seed, this one who comes from the woman, this one, he shall crush your head and you shall bruise his heel. First proclamation of a redemption. This is where it all began. This decree in humanity that one would be born of a virgin to crush the curse brought on by sin, the sin of man through the deception of Satan. All the way in the beginning were promised. the seed. We've talked a lot about the seed in here going through Galatians, of course, understanding that that seed is Christ. That seed is the Messiah. That seed is the Son of God incarnated. That is our Emmanuel. That's who this seed is. On that day when Adam died, because he died, God promised that when you take of this tree, you shall surely die. He died spiritually, as well as bringing death to all men. To all of the creation that God created good, Adam brought death. So as Adam died, all those that have come after him also have died because of that sin and because of our own sin. But it tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, 21, it says, for since by man death came, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. This Christ, this Messiah, the Savior, the Anointed One, He is Emmanuel, God with us. Should we see this as just some sentimental way? To know we are always in His thoughts? The idea of God being with us? Is that how we should look at this? That Emmanuel, God with us, is it that He is only with us in the Spirit alone? Is that how we should look at this alone? That by our salvation we've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and therefore God is with us? When the scripture speaks of Emmanuel, it speaks mainly of the incarnation of the Son of God. See, this is the most miraculous thing we could ever imagine. Because Christ did not merely come in the appearance of a man. He did not come just dressed in a costume to where he appeared to be man. No, no. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, in the person of the Son of God, He became man. He put upon himself all of his creation. The very God of very God took upon himself human flesh. He became man. He became man for all eternity to come. He will always bear our resemblance now. And this is such a great thing to fathom, and we're going to look more about why this is. But in this process of him becoming man, as the very God of very God, he's not lost any aspect of his divine nature. He became fully man. And having the full, created nature of man, he remains human forever, as the God-man. He is. the great I am. You see, this birth is so much greater than just a swaddling little baby. The sweetness that we look at this. No, this is God Himself as a man. He is a man. Let's look at the account of the birth of this Emmanuel, of this Jesus. This miraculous birth through a virgin. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. But because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son. And they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded. and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to the son. And he gave him the name Jesus. This is the brief account, the birth of Jesus Christ. We can look at other accounts where we know he was born in a manger. There was no room for him as they went to be counted in their hometowns. But we have within here a truth that He came to save His people from their sins. It's not a sweet little story. It's a proclamation that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in human form, came as a man. to save his people from their sins, to save you and I from our sins. This little baby, if we'd have been there when Jesus Christ was born, he would have looked like any other baby. He didn't have a halo, he wasn't glowing, he was like any other baby. because he was fully man. We think about this little baby and we look at this little baby and realize this baby that was born to Mary created everything we know. This little baby gave me breath in life. This little baby has the power to destroy all that He created. We've got to fathom the reality of who this baby Jesus was and who He is today, the living Savior. See, this is what it's all about. It's about not just that we have this miraculous birth, but that he came for a purpose. See, we cannot speak, we cannot speak of the birth of Christ without speaking about the death of Christ. Because he was born to die. You see, when we look at all this miraculous, this miraculous birth, we have to understand why. When we look at the concept that Jesus came from a virgin, it's not just to make a beautiful picture and a prophecy come true. But this man, this Redeemer, could not bear the sin of Adam if he was going to save you and I. Though he came into a fallen world through a fallen mother, He did not possess in himself the penalty that all of us have through Adam. That's why it was important that he came from the seed of the woman, that he would be a seed of the woman, not the seed of the man. To come by the seed of the man means that you are under the curse, that you have in you the corruption of original sin. But Christ came through, he came through the virgin. So he was born without sin. He had no sin laid against his account. And he came in human form. Remember what we read a minute ago. For since by man death came, by man also the resurrection of the dead. For in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. See, here's the truth of the matter. God is eternal. God cannot die. God cannot die. And man cannot be righteous. We have a problem. There is no way to link that together. We have no way to present ourselves before God and say, I've done enough. Look at all the wonderful things I've done for your church. Look at all the beautiful sermons I've preached. Look at all the widows I've helped. There's nothing I can offer to God. There's nothing any of us can offer to God. And since God cannot die, it took someone righteous to pay the price for you and I. And so God became flesh so that he could die. He became man so he could die. That little baby that was born was born with the purpose of death. When we think about that baby, that baby is the Redeemer. That baby is God and He came to die to bear our sins. who required someone who had the divine ability to walk upright. No mere man can do it. But only the divine man, Jesus Christ. Fully God, fully man. And he had to die. He came to die. First Corinthians 11, 23, where Paul is explaining to us the Lord's table in light of Jesus Christ. Remember, the Lord's table is communion. It shows us the imputed righteousness of Christ to us, and it shows our imputed sin to Him. In His flesh, you've got to understand that when we take the Lord's table, we are taking of the humanity of Christ. It took humanity, man, to save us. And when we look at this passage, it says, for I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The acknowledgement here is that in the breaking of the bread, as he inaugurates the new covenant, in the breaking of the bread, it's an acknowledgement of that his body is broken for his people, and we are partakers of that body. We are partakers of what he did, his life, his death, and his resurrection. That bread represents the flesh of man. It represents our humanity, and he was broken, God of all gods. He, he came in the flesh and was broken for us. He goes on to say in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So he speaks of this cup. is his blood being poured out to signify the new covenant that he struck for us. It's his covenant. Remember, we are only a part of that covenant because we are in Christ. I cannot choose to be a part of it. I am a part of it because of Christ. What he's done him and me I Have nothing to offer but Christ has given his blood And he poured his blood out for the new covenant And we are to drink this and we are partakers of that spilled blood Partakers of Christ shedding him own blood for our sake and Because we are partakers, we are receivers of what this does. It brings us redemption. He says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. It's amazing how, in scripture, we are making much of his death. Our table that we take every Sunday is to commemorate his death, not his birth. because he was born to die. I think I've said this before, but when we consider the resurrection, if we understand the birth, if we understand the man Jesus Christ as being the true son of God, if we understand his perfect righteous life, if we understand those things, then the resurrection isn't that much of a miracle. There was no way to hold him down. It was the only reasonable thing to happen once he died and was put in the ground. The only thing that could happen was that he would rise because there was nothing in him to hold him down. But what he took to that grave for three days was my sin and your sin. what he took upon himself on that tree was your wrath and my wrath and he took it to the grave and buried it there and he rose because the grave had no hold upon him for as a man he was fully righteous before God and he gave to the extent of bearing the sin for all of his people. Becoming sin for us. He came to die. In Philippians 2, 5, explaining the humility of Christ and the curse that he bore It says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being the very form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. He's equal to the Father. This man, Jesus Christ, is equal to the Father, because he is God. But he made himself of no reputation. taking on the form of a bond servant and becoming in the likeness of man. He became nothing and became a man. He put upon himself that which deserves death. He put upon himself that which hates God. He put upon himself that which deviles the glory and honor of God every day. Humanity. He put upon himself humanity, became nothing. And being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself. He humbled himself by becoming a man. And to the point of obedience. to death and even that of death on the cross. And there's such significance in that. That he did not only die, but that he died on the cross. Because the hang on a tree meant you were cursed. And Christ, Jesus, that little baby that was born, That little baby became a curse. He became a curse for you and I. He took the curse that we deserve upon himself and obliterated it. He destroyed it. He knelt it to the cross and freed us by taking it upon that little baby. Do we see this when we think about the birth of Jesus Christ? Do we see why He came? Do we see what He's going to go through? Do we see that He dies for you and me? I mean, if we were to draw this story out today and tell it in a story form and think about this miraculous birth And all it ended in was death? There wouldn't be a whole lot of people to return to watch that movie again. It wouldn't have a great box office success. Terrible ending. Terrible ending. Unless you know who that one was and why he did it and that the resurrection truly happened for the sake of his people. He obeyed the Father to the fullest. He willingly, you and I can really not fathom the idea that he became man. We are creatures. He's the creator. And he puts on that which he created. There's no way we can understand that. The humbleness, the humility that that would be. To step into that role and to do it because of love. To do it because he knew that without it, he would not redeem his creation. He chose to love his creation. And he chose to send his son to redeem this creation. God could have obliterated us out of existence when Adam and Eve fell and it would not have diminished his love one bit. But he chose instead to love. He chose a people. And He chose us to be a part of that people, to be His church. And He died for us. He died for us. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. He came to save sinners like you and me. He came with a purpose. He did not come to be ooed and awed at as a baby. He came as a baby because that's what it was going to take to die. That's what it was going to take to save sinners. He had to become like them so we could become like him. This is the story of Christmas. He did what we could not do. He took on himself what we deserved, that we might receive what he truly deserved. He hung on that cross and was treated like us so that we could be treated like a son. from the most glorious truths about all of our salvation. We look at all of this and we can see the birth and how miraculous it is. We can see the life of Christ, how He worked our righteousness out in Himself. We can see that. And we can see how that He was brutally treated. How He was hung on a cross. How He received punishment for something He did not do. How He took upon Himself sin. How He received the full measure of the cup of wrath poured out upon Him instead of us. And we look at that and say how marvelous, how glory, how much glory is in this. But we have to stop and realize that all of that, all of that was a means to something greater. It was a means to bring us into a special relationship with God. That we would become sons. What love is this that we should be called the sons of God? We are sons by way of the true son. When the Father looks upon me, he does not see me in my iniquity. He does not see me in my depravity. He sees me wrapped in the robes of Jesus Christ, his Son. He sees me drenched in the blood that covers me. He sees his Son. His adoption of us is so different than any adoption we have ever experienced in this world. We do not adopt a child in this world to bring into our family at the expense of our own. We do not force our own child to shed their blood and to have their body broken so we can adopt a foreign child. But this is done so that we would come into the true fold of God, that we would truly come into the household of God, and we can call him Abba, Father. All of this is done as a means to that end. That when we stand before God one day, we will throw those crowns of glory that he gives us as a reward to their feet, because nothing, nothing compares to our great reward, who is God himself. Everything we see in this story of Christmas that starts at the birth of our Savior and ends in His death, burial, and resurrection, but extends all the way into glory. Extends all the way in to a time when you and I will no longer be burdened with sin. when temptation will no longer exist, but we will be settled in a place where we can praise our God and worship Him in spirit and in truth as He deserves to be worshiped. We'll be His presence. If there were day and night, we'd be in there day and night. We cannot imagine what it's like But it's going to be so much greater than anything we've ever experienced here. So this Jesus, this Emmanuel, God with us, he came to save us from our sin. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He was born to obey because we couldn't. He was born to hang on the tree and become a curse for us. He was born who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. He was born to die and be placed in the grave. He was born to receive the wrath that we deserve. He was born to be raised from the dead and to be our justifier. He was born to ascend into heaven and be our mediator. He was born to one day return as our bridegroom and to share his glory with us. He was born that through Him we might become the sons of God. What love, what mercy, what grace that we have received all because of the birth of the Son. What honor we have to share this gift, to share this gift with our family, with our friends, with our neighbors. and with each other. Let's remember, as we celebrate Christmas, in whatever way you celebrate it in, remember that it is a witness to everyone around you, not only of the birth of Christ, but of his life, of his death, and of his resurrection. When we celebrate this day, if you choose to celebrate this day, we have the honor, we have the privilege of glorifying our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let that be what motivates whatever you do. And nothing else. Do not let the glitter, Do not let the gifts that you receive overtake the true gift, the gift of life through Jesus Christ our Lord, who paid the greatest price of all and gave himself for you and me. If we're gonna celebrate Christmas, then we celebrate Christ in his fullness. Gracious Heavenly Father, how precious it is that you sent your son, a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, and you sent him with the purpose of death, death to sin, death to wrath, that he may save those that you have called out of this world, your ecclesia, your church, Father, we praise you for the bridegroom. We praise you for Emmanuel, God with us. We praise you today. Let our hearts be overjoyed in knowing you. Let our hearts know the love that you have given us in Christ, that you have set us apart to your glory. It is in Christ's name that I pray, amen.