This Christmas season will be celebrated at Grace with a special sermon series entitled “Christmas in the Psalms.”
The birth of Jesus was born in the heart of God many decades prior to His coming in Bethlehem. The birth of Jesus was not random. Jesus Christ was not a created being as the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim. The birth of our savior was intentional. It was according to God’s plan which was established prior to the creation of the world (Colossians 1:15-17). Listen to what the early church believed about the birth of Jesus:
“We believe in …one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father before all the worlds, Light of lights, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father…” (Nicene Creed, 325 AD).
Jesus Christ was not made, He was begotten of the Father. The Savior born of a virgin was not merely a man who became God at some point in His upbringing. He was “God of very God” from the day He was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30-35). These are some of the things that Psalms has to teach us at Christmas time.
Someone asked Billy Graham, “I know Christians believe Jesus was divine, but what exactly does that mean?”
Graham replied, “The difference is that Jesus was not only a godly man, but the Bible says He was actually God in human flesh …only a divine savior could save us from our sins.”
Jesus was not divine because he was a better person than you and me. Jesus was God because He was begotten of God. God made Jesus pure. God made Jesus eternal. God made Jesus wise. God made Jesus in His own likeness as the Psalmist says,
“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten you’” (Psalm 2:7).
Ronald Reagan wrote the following: Meaning no disrespect to the religious convictions of others, I still can't help wondering how we can explain away, what to me is the greatest miracle of all that is recorded in history. No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where ...is the miracle I spoke of? Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- possibly to your own home town. A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, property-less young man who ...left no written word has, for 2000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals; all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that? ...unless he really was who he said he was."
Join me this Christmas in celebrating who Jesus is through the eyes of the Psalmist. Today, we will see Jesus as the “…begotten Son” of the Father.”
The apostle John said of Jesus, “…and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14b).
This morning as you worship do what the hymn writer said, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”