Why Was Jesus Born?

 Tell of the star, the thoughts the shepherds must have had

Innkeeper that couldn’t find a place for Jesus  (sound familiar?)  if only he had known, right? (familiar?)

The ridicule that Joseph and Mary had gone through

  (story of the gynecologist staring out the window)

The rest of the Earth was oblivious to what was happening

            Twas the night before Jesus came & and nobody noticed, except in heaven!

The innumerable & holy angels were waiting in anticipation!

 ...waiting to break forth in worship, praise, & adoration at the birth of a new born child, one in which God sends His gift of salvation to men.  

1. On the eve of that birth there was a farewell going on in heaven, the Son was saying goodbye to the Father. And the conversation is recorded for us in the 10th chap. of Hebrews.
2.  Jesus speaks to the Father: Heb 10:5-7

"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

But a body You have prepared for Me.

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin

You had no pleasure.

Then I said, 'Behold, I have come —

In the volume of the book it is written of Me —

To do Your will, O God.'" 

So Jesus said farewell to the Father and began a journey that would end 33 years later on a cross

then thru a resurrection to be exalted & glorified & received back into heaven

 to the glory that He knew before He came.

The body that was divinely prepared for Jesus was the instrument that was to bring God to men,

would be the perfect sacrifice for sin.

Jesus came, ignored by the world, but with all the fanfare of heaven, as angels waited to shout their praise.  

Earth was oblivious as God was being manifested in the flesh!

But in 9 months the H.S. had fashioned a body in the womb of Mary, a body that was to be inhabited by the 2nd person of the Godhead, a body that was now ready. (Gal. 4:4)

 In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law  

And every Christmas many mindlessly acknowledge the birth of Christ, & even acquiesce to the fact that He is God to some degree.  

I have a neighbor that puts up a manger scene in his yard every Dec. &

Every Sunday thru the year as I pass his house on the way to worship, he is still at home, working in the  yard or on his vehicle

He knows Jesus came. BUT HE DOESN'T KNOW WHY!  

The issue is not that Jesus came, but WHY! 

So many seem to be content with just the recognition that He came

as if there is some kind of redeeming fact in that, but they never bother to find out why.  

Today s sermon is to answer the question, Why was Jesus born?  

To reveal God?       To teach truth?    To fulfill law?    Build a kingdom?    To reveal love?     Bring Peace?

(Yes! but all that is secondary.) 

He came primarily to suffer and to die to pay the penalty for our sins.

 Bethlehem happened so that Calvary could. He was only a baby so that He could be a man & die.

 He only lived in order to die. 

Those soft little baby hands fashioned by the H.S. were made so that nails might be driven thru them.

Those tiny little feet were made to be nailed to a cross.

The little baby head with sparkling eyes & chubby cheeks was made so that men could crush a crown of thorns.

That tender little body, so warm & soft was made for men to beat to a bloody pulp & pierce thru with a spear to reveal a broken heart. That’s why God made that body. 

Jesus was born to die. 

In contrast, Man was made to have dominion over everything.

1. But he settled for sin and lost everything.

2. He should be a king, but he is a slave: weak, witless, & bound to sin.

3. And into this situation came Jesus.

He said farewell to the Father & to His throne in heaven&. and the angels praised Him because of His sacrifice.

4. He came to suffer & to die in order to make man what he could not be w/o Him.

He died so that men could be recreated in the image of God, as God had always intended. 

Notice the five things that Jesus was because He came and died.

1 Our substitute.

2 Our Salvation Captain.

3 Our Sanctifier.

4 Our Satan Conqueror.

5 Our Sympathetic High Priest. 

But He could be none of those if He had not died. 

We' ll notice the first of the five. 

I. Our Substitute

A. Heb. 2:9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while (time) lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

That's the first & greatest reason for His coming.  

2. Eze. 8:20 The person who sins will die.  

3. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord..

4. The law of sin & death says that if you sin, you die. Physically, spiritually & eternally. 

B. But in His great mercy, God couldn't bear for all His sons to spend eternity in a godless, lifeless, loveless,      living hell with the Devil & his angels for all eternity. 

And He sent Jesus to be our substitute.      To pay our debt.         To suffer our fate.        To remove our sins.

C. Note six things about His substitution in that verse. 

1. For a little while lower than the angels

          Even though He is by nature higher than the angels.

         He got down on our level. Lord became servant. God / a baby. 

2. Because of the suffering of death

a. His death is one proof of His becoming lower than angels

b. angels can't die. That is reserved for mortals. 

The suffering of death

Excruciating suffering. Unbearable pain &…

Tough life 

3. No one else could do it.

 He was totally man to suffer our condemnation.

 Totally God to bring victory over it. 

He took on a work that was far beyond the capacity of angels to do. Yet, to do it,

He had to become lower than they. To suffer.

                        Higher than angels is God. Lower than angels is man.  

He was at the same time higher than angels in power, lower than angels in His humiliation

The perfect combination.

4. Tasted death for everyone the reason for His humiliation

a. He came to die for you. & drank the bitter cup, drained it dry.

b. He tasted death in every sense& for you & the curse which sin brings.

The penalty of the broken law. The full expression of the hate of Satan& & the wrath of God! The death of the body & the separation from God!

c. He was guilty of nothing.

d. I was guilty of everything yet,

 He liberates me to taste of the goodness of God & of eternal life.

e. He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21) 

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

f. What He asks of you is to simply believe Him. & believe in Him.

Turn away from the sin that separates you from God. And accept His death for you in baptism allowing Him to wash away your sins. 

5. By the grace of God The cause of His substitution. 

a. Eph. 2:4-6 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

b. Nobody in this universe could have brought Christ & taken His life. Jesus said, No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. ( Jn. 10:18) 

c. Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ       died for us.      That’s God’s love.        You didn’t deserve it.       I didn’t        But He gave it freely. 

6. The results of His coming & His suffering: crowned with glory and honor,  

a. When He finished His task, He was exalted again. 

b. Phil. 2:9-11 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, & bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven & on earth & under the earth, 11& that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

c. Oh, the Father thinks a lot of Jesus.

Woe to those who can only desecrate His name, or use it in vain, ignore him 

d. A further result of His suffering is found in... 

Heb. 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 

Like I said, he thinks a lot of Jesus

            Enormous patience on his part for those who spit on his son, cursed him, ridiculed him

            Then hung him on the cross 

What kept him from coming down and wiping out mankind right then?  

All the sufferings Christ has gone through

All the sufferings his chosen people have endured

All the pain God has endured watching all this suffering on the part of rebellious ants (we think of as humans)  

The last day, when justice is served, where will you be seated?  Smoking or non-smoking?