“The Birth of Hope”
December 17, 2006. Pastor
Matt
To begin this
message, we must begin in the very first book of the Bible.
Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
A short history lesson:
The first part
of the Bible…God created the world and everything in it and around it
Genesis 1:26-27. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures
that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them.
God also created men and women
Genesis 1:25. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
It was just Adam
and Eve before the world became what it is today
Before the world
became complicated, Adam and Eve were together in the Garden of Eden
Genesis 2:15. The LORD God took the man and
put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God
commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Adam and eve lived together in the Garden
- Their life was simple
- They were told to take care of God’s garden and eat
- They were also given one rule: don’t eat from one specific tree!
Oh, and by the
way…
- Adam and eve walked and talked with God
Before the world
was all messed up like it is today, Man and woman lived in a perfect world where they worked, ate, enjoyed the blessings of
marriage, and the most important thing…
They had God
as their best friend and neighbor!
- Life was different when God walked the earth with Adam and Eve
But then Adam and Eve messed up…
They broke the
one rule God had for them. Breaking God’s rules is called sin.
Genesis 3:21-24. The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed
them. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing
good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which
he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of
the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Because Adam and Eve chose to sin, they could no longer live with God.
- No where in the Bible after this point do we see God walking and talking face to face with man.
Sin separated
man from God.
- From that point forward, man would continue to sin and distance himself from God.
The world has
gotten worse and worse because even today man continues to sin.
1 John
1:8. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Humans seem to
be stuck in this cruel place called earth where God seems a million miles away.
The deeper we
are in sin, the farther away God seems.
Where is the
hope in all of this?
- Are we doomed to spend the rest of our lives sinning and getting farther from God.
- Sinning and making our world a worse place to live?
The truth is… without Jesus there is no hope.
Thus the importance
of the Christmas story
Since Adam and
eve messed up people have been trying their hardest to get to reconnect with God on a personal level like Adam and Eve did
in The Garden.
Their attempts
could not succeed. Man would never walk and talk with God again
That was until
Christmas morning over 2000 years ago!
- Christmas is not about Santa.
- It is not about a cute baby born in a manger by some woman at some point in time.
Christmas is about God, the creator of the universe coming back to the earth for the first time since Adam and eve messed up to walk and talk and live with and
be the neighbor of mankind once again.
John 1:1-3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John
1:14. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
God was hanging
out in heaven/eternity and then He came to earth as a man.
God
can do anything including implant himself inside a human to be born as a man.
Philippians 2:5-8. Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
God entered our
world
Matthew 1:18-25.
You see, Jesus
was no ordinary child.
- He was not the product of a man and woman making a baby.
- Mary was virgin. Jesus was no human product. God came to earth as a human through Mary.
Why does any
of that matter?
Because…until
the first Christmas man was without Hope
Until Jesus came, man could not connect with God on a personal level.
Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Our sin keeps us from God but God sent a gift at Christmas time that
would make things right again.
- He sent Jesus.
John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Man’s sin keeps him from God. But God provided an answer. Jesus Came
to the earth so we can reconnect with God!
I’ve told
you who he is and why he came.
When you understand
who he is, and why he came, Christmas is a much more meaningful time of the year.
Closing
For Some of you
know God is far away.
- He is far away when we are living in sin and we need to repent
- He is far away when we reject Him, don’t believe He is Who He
says He is, and don’t give Him control of our life
o Understanding him and being around those who believe in Him can give you the sensation of
being close but never really meeting.
o Its like have a neighbor you’ve never met
What a wonderful
time of the year to choose to be close with God again.
- Some of you can just take this time to grasp the awesomeness of God’s
decision to come to the Earth as a man to die for you.
o His love for you is greater than you’ll ever know.
Thank Him for that!