By Timothy Johnson
Preacher’s Point
More than likely, you have heard the phrase, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” about Christmas. I beg to differ. Looking in the mirror, you will see the reason for Christmas.
The previous paragraph will cause some anger with some people, but before you write that nastygram, let us take a step back and look at this.
The human race has a problem – Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Our guilt is as filthy as those rags piled up in that metal drum in the corner of your mechanic’s garage. Since God is holy, our dirty rag problem is more significant than we anticipate. Our sins separate us from God. Isaiah 59:2. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
Since our sins have separated us from God, to spend eternity in the presence of God, somehow those iniquities must be removed.
We tend to think God will forgive past transgressions if we do something righteous. This theory that if I do something good, it takes care of the bad does not work because something good does not erase something terrible. If I punch my neighbor in the nose today but mow his grass tomorrow, the fact remains I punched him in the nose yesterday. This same logic applies to religious rituals. Things like baptism and communion show our commitment to God but does not wash away our sin (1 Peter 3:18-22).
Deciding to turn over a new leaf does not work either. You may choose never to commit a particular sin again. Still, even if you succeed, that does not erase the transgressions already committed.
If you think your situation is good because you are not a bad person. In other words, you are okay with God because you are not a murderer, rapist, or child molester. That is all well and good, but I must remind you that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” and you are still separated from God. Our sin, regardless of how major or minor we believe them to be, holds us guilty before a holy God.
God’s law, however, did provide a way to erase our sins. Hebrews 9:22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
The shedding of blood is needed to get rid of sin. The problem with this rule is that the blood of this world is tainted with sin. Even animal blood cannot take away our sins. Hebrews 10:4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
A sinless sacrifice is needed.
The Bible explains that our earthly father passes sin down from one generation to the next (Romans 5:12). Therefore, no mere mortal could sacrifice themself for the sins of the world. Someone without an earthly father was needed – step in the Son of God.
For the Son of God to be born, God promised that a virgin would give birth. Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The New Testament reveals that Immanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). With no earthly father, Jesus does not have sin passed down to him. This miracle allows Jesus to perform His purpose, to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Jesus is God. John 1:1-3,14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Being born of the virgin, He is one-hundred percent man and being the Son of God, He is one-hundred percent God. This combination allows Him and only Him to be the sacrifice that can take away the sin of the world.
Jesus is the sacrifice. John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Herein is the reason for Christmas. Jesus is the only one that can fulfill the role of the sinless sacrifice. God provided His Son, and being born of a virgin is how God brought Him into the world.
Christmas – God did it for us. We are the reason.
Preacher Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Website: www.preachers-point.com; Email: [email protected]; Mail: 25 W 1200 N; Kingman IN 47952. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Timothy-Preacher-Johnson-101171088326638. All Scripture KJV.
