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this morning I would like you uh if you have your Bibles to turn to 1 John chapter 4 like to read verse number 7 through verse 21 because when we sing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ when we celebrate Christmas we cannot forget that Christmas is really about God’s wonderful love towards a lost Humanity that that is the key to um understanding the heart of God when it comes to Salvation so 1 John chapter 4 verse number 7 it says beloved let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God the one who does not love does not know God for God is love by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins beloved if God so loved us we ought to love one another no one has seen God at any time if we love one another God abides in us and his love is perfected in Us by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us his Spirit we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son to be the savior of the world whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God God abides in him and he in God we have come to know and have beli the love which God has for us God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him by this love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as he is so also we in this world there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love we love because he first loved us if anyone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from from him that the one who loves God should love his brother also let’s pray father this morning as we come before you we thank you for this time of year that we can specifically focus in on the celebration of Jesus Christ coming into this world we thank you for the plan that you had an eternity past that this would take place that you had a plan for us that Jesus would come he would live a perfect life and he would ultimately go and submit himself to the cross of Calvary and die in the place of unjust people like us so Lord I pray that we would recognize this morning that that was all because of your wonderful love because you are the source and the originator of love we would never understand it we couldn’t even know what it is unless we we see it in the greatest demonstration that you have demonstrated for us in sending your son and then also in dying the place of Sinners and so Lord we praise you today for this great work you have done in behalf of us and we want to we want to Bas now and listen to and be see from the word of God about your wonderful ful love and I pray in Christ’s name amen so what a blessed time of year Christmas season is it’s the excitement fills the air while people are talking about meeting with family friends enjoying their favorite foods and people are chatting about giftgiving and about time off from work in school but too often in all the commotion there EX resist a societal confusion a a misinformation in other words about who Christ is and what he came to do while there is no facts proving the reality of Santa Claus elves reindeers and things like these every year they are presented as realities yet on a silent night in Bethlehem in the city of David there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the lord see this news is a historical fact it is a prophetic fact and it is a scriptural fact still every year it’s buried under a pile of misinformation and its message is purposely obscured now for example you have seen bumper stickers that read xmiss on it uh and people see that and they respond and say we we ought to put Christ back in Christmas as a substitution of the letter X for the name of Christ see what they may not know is because the knowledge is not readily available is that the idea of X as an abbreviation for the name of Christ which came into use in our culture with no intent to show any disrespect for Jesus in fact the first letter of the Greek word christas is transliterated into the alphabet as an X it is the first in the Greek name letter in the Greek name for Christ yo Christos is an X that we would view it as so X has come through church history to be a Shand symbol for the name of Christ and has a long sacred history it’s a short version that people used however that does not mean that when people of our day have used the letter x some do intend to ex out Christ from the holiday and use it in a derogatory manner so things can get UNM misunderstood very easily if you don’t always know the history behind it and one of the things that is definitely confused is who Jesus is and why he came so in the midst of all the confusion of the holiday season let’s instead get lost in three astonishing things about the love of God about The Wonder of God’s love and so I’m going to look at it from first John just two verses verse 9 and 10 I read you the context and the first point is this that the wonderful The Wonder of God’s love can be seen in his initiative to secure salvation of Sinners it says in our text in verse Number Nine by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world and by the term World it it meant the world of mankind indefinitely ruined by Adam’s sin if you are spiritually alert you must conclude that God is active in Salvation in other words God actually goes out after us and seeks for us he is not a God who can be persuaded by our lives and by our actions to forgive us but a god whose love is actually so great that he not only forgives but also persuades us to be forgiven if salvation is something we earn there’s no incentive to lift up our voices to praise God for wonderful for his wonderful love and great salvation we there’s no reason to do it however if salvation is entirely the result of something God has done well then praise and wonder must be part of the astonishment of the Saints who lift up praises to God for the great things he has done and for so great and magnificent a Salvation he’s given to us even in the book of Hebrews it declares that if someone rejects the salvation of this offer in in the Heavenly father’s initiative to send the only one fit to carry out the mission to save people that is Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ who is who was nominated and appointed by the father to be the savior of the world and by way of the question in Hebrews is this how we how will we escape if we neglect so great salvation that’s a question and the answer to the question is There Is No Escape if someone neglects the message you see when Jesus showed up on the earth that is when God’s love appeared in visible form if it tells us this also in Titus but when the kindness of God our savior and his love for mankind appeared he saved us not on the basis of Deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his Mercy and in the passage that I just read was really a passage that shows us that we observe God’s omnic God God’s um ability to show his love to mankind by Jesus Christ coming into the The World God was manifested in the passage we read actually in our scripture reading God initiated an announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel and God’s promise Plan of Salvation was given to her and what was her response when God the angel spoke to Mary Mary said to the angel how can this be since I’m a virgin now of course that would be a great observation and Mary’s question how I’m a virgin I never known a man her question really was not a question of Doubt her question really was a question of Wonder it was a question of design that Mary is asking about the mechanics of the whole thing how’s this going to work out how can such an impossible thing be fulfilled something like this has never happened if before it is unheard of also historically remember that people were not familiar with hearing from God since Malachi the prophet since Malachi the prophet really God did not even have a message for people they had the Old Testament but God wasn’t speaking through a prophet anymore God didn’t speak through a prophet for 400 years not until John the baptizer did he speak John being the last prophet and but remember Elizabeth was pregnant with John as Mary was pregnant with Jesus at the same time so she was along with everyone else unaccustomed to Supernatural appearances and miraculous promises let alone having an angel talk to her so The Wonder of God was absent from the general population as it is today however it pointed to God doing something entirely new and Mary was sensing it you get that in this the text you get that sense she was sensing something credible so her question was stuck in the realm of human reasoning how did Gabriel answer her when she asked the question he said the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you and for that reason the holy Offspring shall be called The Son of God so God initiated jesus’ virgin birth Mary will conceive without an Earthly father the holy spirit will overshadow you that means he will surround and influence your womb with creative power and produce a special child the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man is entirely entirely the work of God we had nothing to do with it we had nothing to do with the plan we had nothing to do with how it happened and we had nothing to do with the outcome of it see the male human being did not enter into the question of conception the man is put on one side and he has nothing to do with it it emphasizes the total inability of man to bring about his own salvation so that means the initiative was entirely of God in his plan to save people from their sin Jesus will be conceived without sin unlike any other child Jesus was Jesus was wholly separated from any sin and by Nature the Son of God so the operation of the Holy Spirit was done in such a way that this human nature that the son took on himself was sinless free from pollution entirely free from the effects and the results of the fall of Man that jesus’ Incarnation was so unusual so exceptional so miraculous so mysterious it was unlike anything ever heard of and as the apostles view Jesus they said this in John chapter 1 the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth but if you think about it everything about the Lord Lord is mysterious his coming into the world is mysterious his going out of it is mysterious he did not enter life like anyone else he did not go out of life like anyone else the resurrection was as unique as the Virgin birth everything about him is Exceptional from beginning to the end and according to God’s plan and design it was done and as it says in Luke Chapter One For Nothing is Impossible with God because you would have to conclude this is impossible that’s right it is impossible that means God had to be involved with it because if we got involved with it we would mess the whole thing up but we weren’t involved with it and so the answer to Mary ‘s design problem is this God’s designer God is the designer period don’t worry about it it’s taken care of now let’s realize and remember that it all happened so that we might be saved that our sins might be forgiven that the Son of God became man that the children of men may become the children of God John again says this but as many as received him to them he gave the right to what to become children of God even those who believe in his name who were not born not born who who were not born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God again emphasizing this whole truth that God is the one who took the initiative showing his magnificent and great love towards Humanity that God was pleased to send his son to assume our nature and to die for our many sins the giving of the Redeemer was the work of God’s free Mercy instead of God giving the sinner what he deserves he gives Jesus what he doesn’t deserve and that is the punishment of our sin 2 Corinthians 5:21 he made him who knew no no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him so nothing moved God to do this but his own love and the point being that the story of Salvation is not the story of God waiting for us to do something waiting for us to repent and turn to him and do good works neither it is is it just the story of God responding to what we have done and rewarding Us by pardoning us and forgiving us no God is active who is actually who actually goes out after us it was God who sent his son to work out the great salvation it was God the father that sent his willing son to the cross it was God who raised him from the dead it was God who does everything all is of God and at the bottom of it all the source and motivation of it all is that God is love and this is a trustworthy statement it says in scripture deserving a full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners that’s what the scripture says so if we ask the question why did God love us we really would have no answer the answer would be this because he loved you so if you are a believer in Christ today the answer to that question in short is he loved you because he loved you because God is the source of love so The Wonder of God’s love can be seen in God’s initiative to secure the salvation of Sinners secondly The Wonder of God’s love can be seen in the extent that he went to bring life to dead Sinners because we were dead in our trespasses and sin but this what it what this is what it says in 1 John 4:9 by This is Love by by by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him so this love shows up in all of us who respond positively to the demonstration of God’s love by believing in the son through faith in Christ life has come to us through Jesus Christ and then the love of God is manifested in us where it tells us also in the Gospel of John this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent but it had to be more than God sending his son Jesus Christ into the world God’s loving nature [Music] knew that there had to be a far greater demonstration of love one that would Tower over any other human example ever found in history that how spiritually dead we are as humans can become spiritually alive so dead spiritually that as our text says humans are not suited naturally to love God it says and this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us the notion to think that we you or I have an ability to love God on our own is flatly a lie it could not have entered your heart or my heart to love God or to desire his remedy to recover you or I from sin and its condemnation only by God’s grace could you or I have imagined to ask that the Eternal Son of God should assume our flesh and be made sin and a curse for us we just would never conceive it in our spiritually dead and darkened Minds would have never come up you know when people say well the Bible’s written by man but when you as a Believer read the Bible you know what you conclude man couldn’t come up with this not only is it so consistent but the very message of how one gets saved is there’s no man in it there’s no human in it to mess it up God has full control of salvation so that means that when when a person is made spiritually alive they quickly come to know God loves them the first and the greatest way the love of God becomes wonderfully known to a redeemed sinner is the cross right how astonishing is God’s love well to answer that question Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5 but God demonstrated his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us now think of it for a moment the god you and I defied the god you and I have ignored and disobeyed not only has not damned and destroyed you and I but has actually sent his only begotten son to die for you and me and redeem us see the way of Salvation and the way of Heaven is open to us why because of God’s wonderful love that’s why that is why the Lord had visited this Earth and had provided everything needed to redeem his people that is all those who would come and believe in Jes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior the love of God is made as conspicuous as light and by the death of Christ also that we know we know love by this that he laid down his life for us that’s how we know love that someone laid down their life for me and you as Sinners that’s how we know God loves us however there is something else we become very aware of our unworthiness that the Son of God should become human and die for our sakes I like how the Apostle Paul put it in the Book of Romans chapter 5 and this is really key to this elevation of an example of a love that Jesus Christ displays towards Humanity that’s greater than any love that we ever had an example of before where it says one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die now if you know me I like reading military books I’ve read many books on military and special forces in the past several years the Seal of God level zero level zero Heroes these are some titles the last rescue the American Sniper unfair advantage and some of these these who write this and men who were actually in these special forces were many of them were Believers but I’ve noticed when I read through those books a common thread that runs through all these books is the camaraderie the Loyalty the Brotherhood that exists among these men they develop a deep respect and love for each other and several of the books have of course quoted the passage greater love has no man than this that one laid down his life for his friends almost every one of the books quoted that Passage all of them have answered the question would I give my life for someone else for my Noble comrades that I go into combat with with would I make that ultimate sacrifice if it came down to it would I take the bullet for my fellow brother they all answered in the affirmative yes I would and many have gone down range and have paid the ultimate price for their brothers in arms they took the bullet and they gave their life and I thank the Lord for every one of them who who has sacrificed in that way but if they were to be asked this question would you lay your life down for your enemy for the Taliban for Al-Qaeda for Isis for Hamas the answer would be no way their life is not worth giving my life and the point being that the case is rare that one should die for another even if he or she was a good and a righteous person it is for for the most part non-existent that one would willingly give their life for an enemy and here’s where the love of God takes on an astonishment Wonder like no other in all of human history never has and never will afterwards the demonstration of God’s mercy towered above the proport it towered above in proportion that uh to any other friendly person who would give their life for a good person see God sent his son to die in the in the place not of those who were good and just but those who are not good who were unjust who were Wicked who were ungodly who were haters of God for those who were all in a damnable state he sent his son to to die for us sinners see that’s a love that can’t be compared to any other thing he rescued and freed us from Eternal death to make us partakers of eternal life but God demonstrated his own love toward us while we’re yet sinners he died for us see God the father because of Christ calls us friends who were once enemies but now are reconciled to God that God’s love it held back nothing to bring a dead sinner to life and see there’s the Wonder The Wonder of God’s love can be seen in the extent he went to save Sinners and Jesus is no longer in a Manger he’s no longer on the cross he’s no longer in the grave see Jesus Christ accomplished all of it for who for his enemies that’s unheard of that’s why the the love of God is so astonishing it should be astonishing to you that his love is that great and then one last thing number three three is The Wonder of God’s love can be seen in that he spared no cost to save condemned lost Sinners for it says in our passage in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to to be the propitiation for our sin that’s a big word it’s a theological word see love is always to be understood in terms of God’s love for us and never in terms of our love for God and that means love does not originate in man it never has it never will and notice how striking God’s action is here not that we loved God but that he loved us that God was initiating the action to send his son as an atoning sacrifice with no immediate return for him no reciprocity see relationships in society are usually governed by reciprocity I’m nice to those who are nice to me Mike invites me to lunch I invite Mike to lunch in return I borrow tools from Brian he borrows tools from me even Sinners Jesus once commented in Matthew 5 46 for if you love those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same of course they were looked at the lowest of anything Tax Collectors I don’t think it’s changed much today see the Lord knew when he sent his son it would be an intoning sacrifice for sin that his sacrifice would need to go beyond beond where any other sacrifice had gone before that’s again making the sacrifice of Christ way different than any other sacrifice you find in the Old Testament and we don’t really live in a world that understands the reality and significance of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament yet sacrifice is what the word of God means when the Bible says God sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins meaning that it meant death and that means that Jesus is not just acting like a high priest to offer up the sacrifices of animals on the altar before God in behalf of the people the very word is the word hilan which means Mercy seed and it came to denote not only the mercy seed or the lid of the altar of the Covenant inside the holy of holies but also the propitiation or for the reconciliation by blood that on the day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice to offer for all the people within the veil and sprinkled It On The Mercy Seat so to make prop propitiation that means to make satisfaction before God but there’s something much more that Jesus Christ is not only the high priest the one making the offering Jesus is the offering and that makes his sacrifice of propitiation go to an extent that no priest had gone before that God the Father sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice to remove the guilt we had incurred because of our sin so that we may have eternal life that Jesus Christ’s death paid for our sins and satisfied God’s judgment on sin in other words what Jesus did on the cross satisfied the father that’s why it’s so one-time Eternal sacrifice because it’s done and there’s two things that come to mind when we think about that sacrifice it’s the removal of guilt because of sin completely cleansed of it that Christ is the propitiation because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he ex expiated he covered it our sin by taking the punishment in our place see this is all connected to the birth of Jesus Christ this was his mission all along a second thing is the removal of God’s anger towards sinners the god Christ appeased God’s Wrath that the death of Christ totally satisfied God’s justice his righteousness and His holy hatred on sin so that means we can be completely saved so that’s why there’s no fear and love because Christ taken everything that would cause fear out of it and demonstrated to us the greatest act of Love ever in all of human history and I would say in all of eternity so in giving his son God paid the greatest death debt by paying the ultimate cost and Brethren I hope and I pray you never get bored of hearing the message of The Old Rugged Cross and the love that our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated not only that demonstration came in a Bethlehem stable but also on calvary’s hill so those who have confessed Jesus Christ as their lord and savior and have believed in him and put all their trust in him casting all trust to side of whatever they were trusting beforehand that means they could walk away knowing because of the love of God in Christ Jesus that their sins are forgiven that all their offenses are removed that they are reconciled and made right with God that they are possessors of eternal life that they are partakers of the divine nature that they are now born of God and has passed out of condemnation into life that is the promise that God gives us that all comes from the source of the Lord Jesus Christ loving his people so what a blessed state it is to be saved to know that truth to be delivered from the wrath of God so may may this message never be commonplace but every time you think of how God saved you it if you are saved that you would also thinking about his amazing love about The Wonder of God’s love that is a love that can be defined only by God himself and that in thinking of it you would rejoice and if you have not yet come to know Jesus as your lord and savior you should don’t put it off one more day one more minute and for sure the invitation here is what Jesus did on the cross is applicable to any person who comes to him and I pray that for those this day who do not believe who have not believed yet that they may come to Jesus and may have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous that they would know that Jesus Christ does receive Sinners he does receive his enemies he does receive all no matter what they have done how far they have fallen he will receive every one of them if they come so Jesus is now a friend to those who believe and Jesus is willing to take all who come to him just the way they are and make them whiter than snow see this is the great promise and the effect of not only the birth of Christ but the Cross of Christ you can’t have one without the other you have to have both and I would like to ask you today has this wonderful person been born in your heart today do you know for sure that if you were to die right now that you know for sure in your heart that you would die in go into the presence of God or if that may be something you’re still working on if you’re still working on it then you’re trying to work your own salvation and not God so has that happened to you have you been born from above there was a conversation between a a a pastor and a young man and it went like this the young man uh was asked um was was presented the question have you been born from above and the young man’s reply was well I don’t know if I have or or if I haven’t and the next question the pastor asked was this have you ever been born physically and the man answered of course I’ve been born physically I know that then the Pastor said and it was told to the young man my friend if you had been born again you would know that as well and is it true that when when you are truly a Believer you know it and I ask again this Sunday before Christmas a day we are celebrating the birth of the Savior has he been born in your heart and I would urge you to humble yourself to acknowledge your sin and look to Jesus the Savior and invite him to come and be born in you to cleanse you to forgive you to transform you if you don’t look to Jesus the only conclusion is you’re still lost and without him you have no hope and my friends when you leave this world and leap into eternity where will you be with Christ in heaven or consigned forever to a punishment the Bible calls hell complet complet separation from a merciful and gracious and kind God and only be left there in hell with his wrath see our our inability to please God by ourselves means that the real change of a Christian conversion must involve relying on Christ Alone to save you why because God took the initiative for salvation because God showed his wonderful love in his extent in its initiative and in the cost that he paid so you and I can be saved there’s nowhere else to go there’s no one else to go to with all the religions in the world there’s only one way to be saved it has not changed from the beginning until now yes Jesus Bears the name he well deserves and no one else that he is the savior and if that is true then what must one do if they don’t know the savior they must repent of their sins they must repent and believe the gospel they must turn away from the many individual sins by which they have offended God’s character and broken his law they must turn away from any attempt whatsoever to justify themselves before God by appealing to their own orthodox beliefs and acceptable behavior and they must then turn to God and look to him for pardon for their sin to give them the right to stand before God and to bring them into close fellowship with him see believe in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation that’s what the Bible teaches us and true saving faith always responds in obedience once that message comes and a person is ready for it you know what they want to do they want to run to Jesus and be saved and many of you have but some have not yet some of the children have not yet and the children need to be saved because they’re not guaranteed tomorrow they’re not guaranteed to live a full life in this crazy world and all the stuff that’s going on there’s more things are more unpredictable and uneasy and uh just so wacky that it’s completely undefinable and yet right we come to the scripture and know what we get we don’t get misinformation in scripture we get truth and the truth makes everything clear this is what I must do so yes the love of God is truly a wonder and it should always be in the heart of God’s people always and that’s really why we celebrate this time of year because the birth of Christ leading to his crucifixion and Resurrection is the gospel they all go together and so I pray if you don’t know the Lord today and you would like to know you can speak with me afterwards if you do know the Lord I pray that you would walk out of here with an understanding of how much and to what extent God went to save you and it’s all because of his love amen let’s pray Lord thank you so much for allowing us Lord not only every Sunday that we meet together as Christians but Lord even in this special season where we focus in on you coming into the world I pray Lord that you would allow us not only to every day thank you for how you accomplish salvation on our behalf and I pray Lord that you would continue to move on people’s hearts don’t allow them to settle in on just being ignorant of the truth or hope that they’re doing all right that God would accept them but I pray Lord all that foolish thinking would be pushed aside and they would run to you and they would come and believe in you as their lord and savior as you did with me as you did with others in this church and those who know you who are visiting that Lord the only way to be saved is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ because you are the only way you are the initiator of Salvation this is the way one is made right with God this is the way one’s sins are forgiven this is the way that we receive the spirit of God and then the love of God is Manifest in us because of that so thank you Lord and I pray that you would use the truth of your word today and every day in our life transform us in our minds that we would know the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God and I pray this today in Christ’s name amen