Hope Church LV Sermons
Christmas Eve 2010
Today in the country of Iran, it's a country that is predominantly a Muslim nation. And yet today in that country, Christians are bringing to an end a fast that has been taking place now for 25 days. Every year in Iran, Christians fast for 25 days leading up to Christmas Day, preparing their hearts, preparing their bodies for a celebration. Because on Christmas morning, the fast comes to an end in the country of Iran and a celebration feast begins, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. In the country of China, a country that's government officially adheres to a doctrine of atheism. In that country tonight, the popularity of midnight Christmas Eve services has grown so rapidly in recent years that the recognized church buildings that do exist in that country will not tonight be able to contain the crowds of people that will show up in celebration of an event that Jesus Christ was born. It's said in China that with each passing year, the public is becoming more conscious about the significance of Christmas and more and more people are beginning to participate and immerse themselves in the spirit of the celebration of Jesus Christ. Tonight in the country of Ukraine, a country that was once dominated by the communism of the Soviet Union. Tonight at the stroke of midnight, all across the country of Ukraine, Christians will gather to begin an all night worship service. I don't think our crowds would have been quite as good today had we planned them to begin at midnight tonight and run throughout the entire night. But that's what's happening in Ukraine. Houses of worship are being filled all across that country and all night long while we are asleep, they will be worshiping and preparing for a celebration that will begin in the morning. A celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. All across our country today, in church buildings and obviously in public high schools. Christians are gathering and filling to the brim buildings. Gallup tells us 96% of Christians or 96% of Americans will celebrate Christmas. Today, all across our country, houses of worship are filled to capacity in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. We are a part of something today that is a global celebration. And I wanna begin by giving you a premise. I wanna put it up on the screen and here's my premise. The birth of Jesus Christ is the most celebrated event in human history. It transcends all racial, cultural, and geographical barriers and is recognized in every corner of the globe. Have you ever wrestled with the question? Why? And before we dive into that, I wanna just tell you that this premise that I've given to you tonight, it's not just the premise of an evangelical pastor. I came across an article in Newsweek magazine. You know Newsweek magazine, right? That bastion of evangelical theology. Newsweek magazine. That was an article by a man named Kenneth L. Woodward. Now, if you're a student of journalism at all, you probably know the name Kenneth L. Woodward. For 38 years, he has been the religion editor of Newsweek magazine. He has published more than 750 articles in Newsweek magazine. Over 100 cover stories in Newsweek magazine. In addition to that, he's been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and his most recent book is entitled The Book of Miracles, The Meaning of Miracle Stories in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and he's done post-graduate work at the University of Michigan Law School, the University of Iowa, and the University of Strasbourg, France. You say, why are you telling us all that? I want you to understand. This man is no Bible-thumping evangelical, all right? I want you to listen to what he wrote in Newsweek magazine. Look at it on the screen. Historians? Did not record his birth. Nor for 30 years did anyone pay him much heed. The Jew from the Galilean hill country with a reputation for teaching and healing. He showed up at the age of 33 in Jerusalem during Passover. In three days, he was arrested, tried, and convicted of treason, then executed like the commonest of criminals. His followers said, and like the way he says, his followers said, that God raised him from the dead, except among those who believed in him, the event passed without notice. 2,000 years later, the centuries themselves are measured from the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. I love the next statement. By any secular standard, here's what he's saying. You measure it, however you wanna measure it. Jesus is the dominant figure of Western culture. Much of what we think of now as Western ideas, inventions, and values finds its source or inspiration in the religion that worships God in his name. Art and science, the self and society, politics and economics, marriage and family right and wrong body and soul all have been touched and often radically transformed by Christian influence. My premise is not just one of an evangelical pastor. Here's a secular journalist writing in a religion column and he agrees basically with what I said. The birth of Jesus Christ is absolutely the most celebrated event in human history. I mean, what other event do we divide all of history upon? AD, BC, I would submit to you that if all history hinges and is measured by one event, that's a pretty significant event. I don't think it's a stretch. I don't think my premise is way out there, but it doesn't answer the question. Why? The big question is why celebrate? The coming of Jesus. What's the big deal? Why are we here? Why are there people today filling churches all over our country? Why have they been fasting for 25 days in Iran? Why are people gathering at midnight in Ukraine to worship all night long? Why are houses of worship in China tonight going to be filled all across? Why are we celebrating the coming of Jesus? We cannot ignore it. History is divided by it. The world is celebrating it. Why? I want to give you a biblical answer to that question. I want you to take your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter one. If you have a Bible Hebrews chapter one, verse number one. This is not the typical text that you hear at a Christmas service, but I want you to understand the Christmas message is all over Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one, verse one. If you don't have a Bible, these words are going to be on the screen. Listen what it says. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets and many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Out of these two verses or three verses tonight, I want to give you two reasons why we celebrate Christmas and I'll be honest as we read these verses tonight, we could stay here for hours. Just be glad you're not in the last service. I may just decide to stay for hours. See, you got a security net. You got a rip cord. There's more people coming in. We got to get you out. You come to the last service. You're just on your own, brother. We might go all Ukrainian up in here. I want to give you two reasons why we celebrate Christmas. Here's the first one, God made himself known in Jesus. He made himself known in Jesus. Listen, we would have never discovered God on our own. Humanity in our finiteness would have never reached the point of comprehending God. If we were going to know anything about God, God had to make himself known to us. And the Bible here says that God has been making himself known since the beginning of time. First of all, the Bible tells us that since creation, God has been progressively making himself known. It says God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets and many portions and in many ways. What that means is as you go back to Genesis 1-1 throughout the history of time, God has been revealing himself. But he's doing it in many portions and in many ways. Many portions means and in pieces, piece by piece. It's been fragmentary. It was never one complete revelation in the Old Testament. It was just a piece at a time. And then those pieces came in many ways, sometimes in dreams, sometimes written on stone tablets, sometimes in great miracles, sometimes in creation. But through the Old Testament, God was making himself known a piece at a time. Let me kind of illustrate it for you. When you came in tonight, hopefully we were able to turn it around quick enough, there was a puzzle piece in your seat. I want everybody to grab that puzzle piece and just hold it up, all right? When you came in that was a puzzle piece, if you don't have one in your seat, just look on with a person next to you. That's all right, all right? Everybody should have had a puzzle piece when you came in. Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take your puzzle piece and when everybody get up and try to find the person that there's connects to, no, I'm just kidding, all right? You say, no, no wonder they got out late in the last service. No, that's a joke, we're not really doing that. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to look at that piece and tell me what the picture is of the entire puzzle. Can't do it, right? Listen, we're not even sure which side of that puzzle piece is the real puzzle, right? I mean, you look at it and you're, I'm not sure what that is. Only by looking at one piece, we can't see the whole picture. Throughout the Old Testament, the Bible says God was making himself known, but it was in many portions, in many ways. What that is, he was giving us pieces to the puzzle. Now, I want to put a picture up on the screen of the cover of the box. There's the puzzle. Now, when we see that, we just did it, we all say what? Oh, we have that aha moment, right? That's what this is. Now, here's what, I see some of you doing it right now, you're looking at your piece to see. Because when you see the whole picture, now your piece makes sense, right? Now you understand how it fits. The Bible says, since the beginning of creation, God has been making himself known. But listen, if all you got's the piece, it really raises more questions than answers, right? In the Old Testament, God showed us his power in creation. He showed us his involvement personally in people's lives with the story of Abraham. We see his judgment against sin and his faithfulness to his own and the story of Noah and the art. We see God's provision in the story of David and Goliath. We see a little bit of God's wrath and judgment when we see the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. But if you just pull any one of those puzzle pieces out by themselves and you try to understand God by just looking at that piece, it's like looking at that puzzle piece in your hand and trying to figure out the picture. Any one of those pieces by themselves raise a lot more questions than they give answers. But the Bible says in Hebrews one, when Jesus came, He was the picture on the box. Jesus was the complete picture of who got, Jesus came and we were all able to say, what? Oh, and this is very important. We don't interpret who Jesus is. By the pieces of the puzzle, we interpret the pieces of the puzzle by who Jesus is. We take those Old Testament pictures and we hold them up to the person of Christ and we interpret those pieces of the puzzle through the picture of the glory of the person of Jesus Christ. Listen, Jesus was not just some prophet or moral teacher coming to tell us about God. What Hebrews says is that Jesus was God with skin on. He was God in the flesh. Jesus in Jesus God clearly and completely made himself known. So that Jesus forever answers the question. You've had this question. I wonder, I wonder what God is like. I know the answer. Jesus, all that God is took on human form. And the Bible says he dwelt among us. It could literally be translated. He moved in to the neighborhood. God with us. And Hebrews here gives us some revelation about Jesus as God. Number one, he says, Jesus is God the creator. Do you hear what he said in verse number two? In these last days he's spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Who is God? Jesus. Jesus made, the Greek word here made is the Greek word for to create or to cause to be. Everything we can see, taste, touch, feel or smell. Jesus Christ made it. Listen to what the Bible says in Colossians chapter one, for by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Just in case we didn't understand what he was saying, he repeats it. All things have been created through him and for him. Everything was created by Jesus. Now, when we think about that statement, think about the vastness of what we just said. Everything created by him. How many of you would agree tonight that the earth is big? Let me see your hand. That's what I thought, right? The earth is big. I mean, the earth is so big. We'll even use the word world talking about our earth and it's kind of like the big of all bigs, the Trump, everything else, right? Let me give you an example. My little daughter Faith, she's in the service with us right now in this service and she's six and three quarters and she wants me to know the three quarters is very important. She's six and three quarters and sometimes Faith and I play this little game where we go back and forth and we say, "I love you, no, I love you more, I love you most." And sometimes we'll get, say, "I love you this much, "I love you this much, I love you this much." And when you really want to end the game, what you say is this. I love you as big as the what? Whole world. We use the earth in reference to big. Compare the earth to the sun. The sun is located 93 million miles from the earth. Ninety, I'm sorry, yeah, 93 million miles from the earth. If you were traveling 65 miles an hour with no bathroom stops, you could drive straight to the moon if you drove 24 hours a day with no bathroom stops in 163 years and 120 days. The sun is 865,000 miles in diameter. Now here's what that means. Our big earth, you can put 1.2 million earths inside the sun and still have enough wiggle room for 4.3 million moons. Now, the sun is star number one in our galaxy. Star number two, as you continue on your drive throughout our space, the second closest star is Alpha Centauri. It is five times the size of our sun. That's number two. In our galaxy, NASA tells us that there are over 500 billion galaxies. Where did all that come from? Through whom also he made the world, but it gets even better now. The word world that the writer of Hebrews uses here is an interesting word. It's not the normal word used when talking about the creation of things because it refers not to the material, but to the immaterial. Meaning that Jesus not only made everything we can see, taste, touch, feel, or smell with our five senses, Jesus made the time and space continuum that holds all the material things together. What that means is before he created all of this, there was nothing. We tend to think of creation. We look up in outer space. We think about the blackness of outer space and we think that in the blackness of outer space, God spoke, no, no, no, no, no. What the Bible says is that there was nothing. What does that look like? I have absolutely no idea. But the Latin theologians called it ex-nehilo mean that he spoke out of nothing. And here's the greatest part. He didn't even have to work. Jesus just spoke and time and space, immaterial and material. It all came into being. Now here's my premise. When the creator steps into creation, it's time. Steps into creation, it's time to celebrate. That's what Christmas says. The God that spoke it all into existence became a part of creation. But not only is he God the creator, Hebrews tells us he's God the sovereign one. Look at verse three. It says that he upholds all things by the word of his power. He upholds all things by the word of his power. The word upholds here is a word that means to carry or to direct. It implies sustaining as well as the idea of motion. And when we hear that phrase, he sustains the world. We can't help but get in our mind that picture from the old history books of the Greek mythological God atlas. You know the guy that had the world on his shoulders? And man, he's struggling. I looked at that on the internet today and man, his face is all grimacing as he's trying to hold. And we think, yeah, oh, Jesus, man, he's got the world on his shoulders and he just holding on. That's not the word. The word upholds is a word that implies resting in the palm of your hand and just moving it right along. John MacArthur gives an interesting insight. Listen to what he says. He says our globe, look at it on the screen. Our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees. If it were not so tilted, vapors from the ocean would move north and south and develop into monstrous continents of ice. If the moon did not retain its exact distance from the earth, the ocean tides would inundate the land completely twice a day. After the first flooding, of course, the others would not matter as far as we would be concerned. If the ocean floors were merely a few feet deeper than they are, the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance of the earth's atmosphere would be completely upset and no animal or plant life could exist. If the atmosphere did not remain at its present density but thinned out even a little, many of the meteors which now harmlessly burn up when they hit the atmosphere would constantly bombard us. We would have to go underground or in meteor-proof buildings. Things do not happen in our universe by accident. They did not happen that way in the beginning. They are not going to happen that way in the end and they are not happening that way now. Jesus Christ is sustaining the universe. He is himself the principle of cohesion. The universe is a cosmos instead of a chaos and ordered and reliable system instead of an erratic and unpredictable model only because Jesus Christ upholds it. He not only upholds the processes but he is sustaining the world to accomplish his divine purpose. You know the verse in Romans 828 that says and we know that God causes what? All things to work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his what? Purpose, God has a sovereign plan and everything is resting in his hands and everything is moving on his divine timetable. Who is that God? It is Jesus Christ himself. I would submit to you when the sovereign God of the universe steps into the universe. It is time to celebrate. But Hebrews not only tells us that he is God the creator and God the sovereign one. Hebrews tells us he's just God. It says and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. We don't have time to unpack all that. Let me just tell you simply what it means. All that God is Jesus is in the flesh. Our can't hues says when we see him, we know just what the God of the universe is like. We know how he thinks, we know how he talks, we know how he relates to people. God has spoken in his son. Colossians chapter one says he is the image of the invisible God for in him. Jesus all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. Max Locato wrote a powerful book called God Came Near. If you've never read it, I encourage you to get it and read it, especially during the Christmas season. Listen to what Max Locato said. It all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment. God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, divinity arrived, heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb. The omnipotent in one instant made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became percible. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl. God as a fetus, holiness, sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created. God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys and a spleen. He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of his mother. God had come near. I would submit to you that when God becomes a man for the express purpose of making himself known to you and to me. It is reason. It is reason to celebrate. But there's a second reason and I'm finished. God not only made himself known in the person of Jesus, but God desires us to know him through Jesus. The Bible here in Hebrews after this glorious description of Jesus tells us that Jesus did two things. Said he made purification for sins and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. At the right hand of the majesty on high. He made purification for sins. The word purification is a word that means to make clean, to remove a stain. You see, the reality is that God became a man that we might know him, but there was a problem. You see, we'd all sinned against God and our sin, stained our lives and because God is holy, it's as if God is on one side and we are on the other side and God desires us to know him and not just know about him, but God desires us to know him intimately and personally and to live our lives out of the context of a relationship with him, but sin separated us from God. Something had to be done with our sin. And that is what Christmas is all about. God left eternity. He stepped into time. He took on human flesh. He lived as a sinless man and on the cross, Jesus took all of my sin and all of your sin and on the cross Jesus as God's perfect man offered his life as a sacrifice for our sins. And he did not stay dead. He rose again from the dead as a testimony that God had accepted his sacrifice for our sins. And now through faith in Jesus Christ, we can have our stain of sin removed and be given by God's grace, a relationship with him. Now, then the Bible says he sat down. Why? Because he was finished. Let me try to help you understand it with a little illustration and we're finished. My wife's sitting right over here in early November. My wife looked ahead in time and she saw a problem. Thanksgiving Day was coming. And my family was flying in from Alabama to join us on Thanksgiving Day and the expectation in the room was that there would be a feast for us to enjoy. So my wife, my sweet little wife in early November looked ahead in time and she saw that problem as it existed and she began to put a plan together to take care of that problem. And she began to execute that plan in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Day by purchasing things and buying things. And then about three days out from Thanksgiving, my sweet little wife stepped into the kitchen. And when she stepped into the kitchen three days before Thanksgiving, she began to prepare a feast for us on Thanksgiving Day. And I mean, she started three days early cooking stuff and freezing it so we could pull it out on Thanksgiving Day and on Thanksgiving morning. She woke up and she went straight to the kitchen and she started working again, laboring to prepare this feast. It filled the house with the aroma of Thanksgiving but there reached a point that afternoon when she put everything on the table and she sat down. And in her sweet little southern way, said, "It's ready. "I'm done." Y'all come and get it. Oh, hang on, listen, in eternity past, in eternity past, God looked ahead in time and God set his heart on you and God set his heart on me. And God loved us. The Bible said before he even made us, he loved us and he set his heart on us but there was a problem. It was a problem of sin and in eternity past, God executed. He designed a master redemptive plan to take care of that problem and at a point in time, let me tell you what God did. God stepped into time and God took on human flesh and God lived a sinless life and he laid his life down on a cross and he died for our sin. And then he rose again from the dead and the Bible says he sat down at the right hand of God. And here's what he's saying to you and me today. It's on the table. Come and get it. He sat down. That, that, that is the meaning of Christmas. That's why we celebrate because it's done. Religion says do something. Jesus says done. Let me give you a final statement, everything, everything necessary for us to know God and be accepted by him was finished in the person of Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you what that means for you today. If you're here today and you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not a Christian. Here's what that means for you today. God's not inviting you into religion. He's inviting you into a relationship. He's not inviting you to do something, to try to clean your life up, dot all the I's, cross all the T's, read your Bible every day, go to church every week, give your money faithfully. No, to somehow earn his acceptance, no, no. Jesus said it's done, it's on the table, you just receive it. And just a moment, if you're not a Christian, I'm gonna lead you in an opportunity to pray and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. What does that mean? That means I'm receiving what Jesus did for me that I cannot do left to myself. But there's a word here tonight too, if you're a believer. If you're already a Christian, let me tell you what this word is for you tonight. Your acceptance by God is not based on your performance for Jesus, it's based on your position in Jesus. During this Christmas season, it's not up to me to live my life in a way that honors him. It's up to me to simply die to myself and allow him to live his life through me because my acceptance before God is not found in my performance, it's found in my position in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Why are they celebrating tonight all over the world? Let me tell you why, because God made himself known in Jesus and God desires us to know him through Jesus, let's pray. God, we come before you tonight and we ask you right now to speak. Or does only you can, would you speak? As you sit there quietly with your head bowed, nose closed, I want you to just go to a place in your heart as if just it's you and God in the room. And if you're here tonight and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you've never embraced him by faith right where you're sitting, I'm inviting you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. Don't worry about the person around you, don't worry about what's going on, you just go to that place where it's you and God. And if you for the very first time in your life desire to embrace Christ, I'm asking you right where you're sitting to pray this in your heart after me to God. Just simply say, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. Say, Lord Jesus, I know that you are God that came into this world. (gentle music) Say Jesus, I know that you died on the cross for my sin. (gentle music) And Jesus, I know that you rose again from the dead. And Jesus right now, I turn from my sin. And I trust in you. (gentle music) Jesus, I give you my life. Now say, thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Listen, if you just cried out to him, if you just embraced him by faith, your sin has been forgiven and you have been given by God's grace, a relationship with him. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to perform for it. Jesus already finished the work. With nobody looking around right now, I wanna pray for you if you for the very first time in your life, just prayed with me and you asked Jesus Christ to come into your life and be your personal Lord and Savior. With nobody looking around, I'm not gonna embarrass you. I'm not gonna call you out, but just put your hand up and then put it right back down. If you're here, I'm gonna pray for you. Just put it up, thank you, God bless you, thank you, thank you, thank you, God bless you. Anyone else, God bless you, thank you, thank you, God bless you, hands all across. God bless you, man, thank you, thank you, young man. God bless you. God bless you. I'm gonna pray for you. Lord Jesus, I thank you for every person tonight that has indicated they've trusted you for the very first time. God, I pray right now that you would fill their heart with assurance, that you would, Lord, flood their soul with the certainty of a relationship with you and God that you would settle forever the question about who you are and how they know you. Lord, we love you. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen, I want you to celebrate with these tonight that have trusted Christ. Give God praise, amen. (congregation applauding)