What Would the Angels Say About Christmas?
Dec. 11, 2005 FBC, Chester Mike Fogerson, Pastor
Introduction:
A Review
1 Santa (focus & faith)
2 Satan (virgin birth & peace)
3 Angels
a 3 accounts
b But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." Matt 1:20-21 (NASB)
And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:28-35 (NASB)
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." Luke 2:9-14 (NASB)
B Three folks the angels appeared to:
1 Joseph
a Pregnant fiancee
b Wondering & waiting-angels give a message of God
2 Mary & shepherds
a 15-year-old girl...God’s doing what?
b An angelic choir-thousands, millions?
3 They all brought a message
a God’s message, not theirs
b The angels are the equivalent of a heavenly FedEx
c Christ to come
C What would these heavenly FedEx folks tell us today?
1 Times have changed
a Communicate, travel, clothes, culture, etc.
b The message stays the same because Jesus is the same today & forever
2 He’s still the answer to our greatest need
a The message hasn’t changed because Jesus hasn’t changed!
b (TS) Let’s look at these accounts more closely & notice 3 announcements the angels would make if they would speak to us this morning.
I The first announcement the angels would make is that...Jesus is the Son who was.
A In the beginning God had promised to send humankind a Redeemer. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." Gen 3:15 (NASB)
1 The Old Testament is filled with over 300 references of the Messiah (Redeemer) which were fulfilled in Jesus.
a God did not want there to be any confusion on the identity of the "Son of the Highest"
aa Virgin birth (Is. 7:14, Matt. 1:18)
bb Descendent of Abraham (Gen. 18:18, Acts 3:25)
cc Tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10, Luke 3:33)
dd Throne of David (Is. 9:7, Luke 1:32-33)
ee Born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2, Matt. 2:1)
ff 30 pieces of silver (Zec. 34:20, John 19:33)
gg Vicarious suffering (Is. 53:4-5, Matt. 8:16-17)
b Jesus was the fulfillment of the first promise in Gen. 3:15!
2 Jesus was not God’s idea of just seeing how creative He was (virgin birth-hats off!)
a Jesus came because we’re dead, lost, & hopelessly condemned to suffer God’s wrath/judgment of sin.
b God sent His Son so the people He came to save could mock, beat, & crucify Him to pay for their sins & ours.
B Over 300 references in the Old Testament about the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus.
1 1 in 10 to the 7th power or 100,000,000,000,000,000 chance for 1 man to fulfill 8 of them!
2 Equivalent of Texas covered 2 ft. deep in silver dollars & you have to pick the one with an X on it!
a What are your chances?
b 1 in 1017
3 Jesus was the Son of God
II Jesus is the Savior who is
A In all 3 accounts we read the birth announcement of the Savior of humankind.
1 Jesus’ name itself means, "Jehovah saves."
a He saved humankind from the guilt, penalty, & power of sin.
aa Guilt=justified And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Acts 13:39 (KJV)
bb Penalty=death, life For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NASB)
cc Power=freedom "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 (NASB)
b He paid for our sins on the cross of Calvary.
2 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NASB)
Jesus said* to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 (NASB)
a Stop trying to be good enough, righteous, religious, clean, straight...
b that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." Romans 10:9-11 (NASB)
B A man sent his aging parents a DVD player.
1 They read all the instructions, hooked it up, all set...no picture
a Two days later the frustrated parents are playing bridge with another couple.
b "To get that darn thing to work, I don’t need better directions, I just needed my son to come along with the gift!"
2 When God gave the gift of salvation, He didn’t send a booklet of complicated instructions for us to figure out-He sent His Son!
TS: The angels would also point us to the future.
III The 3rd & final announcement the angels would make is that...Jesus is the King who shall be.
A The Davidic covenant in the Old Testament promised that David’s offspring would occupy the throne of Israel forever.
1 This didn’t happen during the first coming
a No army, no iron fist, no scepter, no royal robes, no sword
b Jesus came as the "Lamb of God" to take away the sins of the world
2 When Jesus comes again it’s not as a Lamb, but a Lion.
a And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." Rev 19:11-16 (NASB)
b The next time He comes it won’t be to save us, it will be to get us!
B There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the first coming, and every one of those was fulfilled with the culmination of the crucifixion, resurrection, & ascention.
1 There are over 1,000 prophecies about the 2nd coming!
a I’m confident He’s coming back!
b Promised
2 Late 19th century setting. A daughter asks her mom, "Mom, what was the best day of your life?"
a My daddy fought in the Civil War. Mom & I were on the porch (we had received word that Dad had been killed several months before). Mom was stricken with grief.
aa Mom saw someone coming up the road "Here comes someone."
bb "He sure favors your father." "Darling, I really think that is your father."
cc Mom flew off the porch with open arms
dd I followed & reached for Dad’s arm, he’d swing me, no arm (empty shirt sleeve)
ee His face was scarred, body was bruised from the warfare.
b "Little girl, the greatest day of my life was when my daddy came back home."
3 We’ve had some good days, but the greatest day will be when our Lord Jesus comes back for us!
a We’ll look at His face & see the scars of battle He suffered for us. The battle to save us from our sins.
b The only thing in heaven man-made are the scars on the Lord’s body.
c The greatest day in the life of a Christian is yet to come...it will be when King Jesus comes back to take us home!
Conclusion:
Notice to Sermon Central Users:
My name is Mike Fogerson, and I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Chester, Illinois. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a bunch of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
