Text: 1 John 4:7-16 Readings - Isaiah 7:10-14, 1 John 4:7-16, Matt. 1:18-25 (ESV)
Facebook live: In the manger the Father's love is made known!
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Gentle Mary laid her child Lowly in a manger;
There He lay, the Undefiled, To the world a stranger.
Such a babe in such a place, Can He be the Savior?
Ask the saved of all the race; Who have found His favor.
The Father’s love is made known to us – you and me - in the sending of his son Jesus the promised incarnate son of God from eternity past the Alpha and Omega the first and the last; the beginning and the end.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Gentle Mary laid her child Lowly in a manger;
There He lay, the Undefiled, To the world a stranger.
Such a babe in such a place, Can He be the Savior?
Ask the saved of all the race; Who have found His favor.
The Father’s love is made known to us – you and me - in the sending of his son Jesus the promised incarnate son of God from eternity past the Alpha and Omega the first and the last; the beginning and the end.
In the beginning when God spoke, all things came to be. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. God’s Christ – begotten of the father – born of a Virgin for you! John 1:1
We hear this Good News in the words of our gospel tonight.
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from 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.”
The fall into sin brought death. All are born in death and live a life of death.
You and I apart from Jesus and faith created by the Holy Spirit - have no hope.
But that is the Good News of a savior who saves, redeems and calls from death to life.
It is Good news today; it is good news tonight; it is good News tomorrow; it is good News because it redeems, restores, and resurrects you and me from the wages of sin in death to the gift of God and life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Angels sang about His birth, Wise Men sought and found Him;
Heaven's star shone brightly forth Glory all around Him.
Shepherds saw the wondrous sight, Heard the angels singing;
All the plains were lit that night, All the hills were ringing.
In the past God spoke through the prophets of old as the writer to the Hebrews says, but in these last days he has spoken through his Son.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (God with us)
Isaiah 7:14
God’s word made flesh, Jesus Christ, was spoken of, was prophesized, and foretold, that the plan of redemption would come in God’s time and in God’s way. But who is this Jesus … and more importantly … as Jesus asked his disciples … who do you say that I am?
Your answer to this question determines quite literally life and death.
This humble child that now lies in a manger is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whether he is your King and your Lord depends on faith in him. This Jesus who created the heavens and the Earth, lived, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead for you … and he did this to bring peace to this broken world in which all life lives.
Dear friends we speak of heaven, of angels singing, and of all bowing before the King, no silent throng but mighty voices. It is impossible to imagine the perfection of heaven but we can get a glimpse … in this child in the manger – in this Jesus. The Perfection of God’s only begotten son sent down from Heaven and wrapped in swaddling clothes … would grow into the man Christ Jesus.
That God would become man shows the value of his life for you and the value of our life in him.
Since the incarnation when God, born of a virgin, became man - no longer is God separate from you on a mountain, or speaking to you by a prophet.
Now in his flesh he has come to unite his death, with your death, and his life, with your life, so that in him we are made righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith.
John’s epistle confirms this when he writes:
13 By this - by God’s Holy Spirit and faith - we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
God remains hidden. He reveals himself by his Spirit through the word. If you wish to know him don’t look into the heavens as the angles told the disciples who looked up as Jesus ascended to the Father.
11b …This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11b
The ascension is not the end dear friends!
Gentle Mary laid her child Lowly in a manger;
He is still the Undefiled But no more a stranger.
Son of God of humble birth, Beautiful the story;
Praise His name in all the earth; Hail the King of glory!
The eternal victory is found in Christ’s glorious return to judge the living and the dead. Death is no escape. All will be judged. Some will depart to be with the Lord and others will be cast into a hell of their own choosing.
The good news though, is that the Lord is on his throne and he still calls those who have ears to hear.
Listen, come, and drink the living water from the river of life that is Jesus.
Let the little children come to me he calls and as a little child born in a manger he came to be the savior of the world. And as the God/man in death he fulfilled all righteousness for you so that you too might be righteous.
Have no fear for in Christ you are forgiven and he has a place of everlasting comfort for you that awaits all who believe and trust in Christ.
Because as [Jesus] is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
But you are perfect in him … From the manger Hail the King of glory!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
We hear this Good News in the words of our gospel tonight.
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from 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.”
The fall into sin brought death. All are born in death and live a life of death.
You and I apart from Jesus and faith created by the Holy Spirit - have no hope.
But that is the Good News of a savior who saves, redeems and calls from death to life.
It is Good news today; it is good news tonight; it is good News tomorrow; it is good News because it redeems, restores, and resurrects you and me from the wages of sin in death to the gift of God and life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Angels sang about His birth, Wise Men sought and found Him;
Heaven's star shone brightly forth Glory all around Him.
Shepherds saw the wondrous sight, Heard the angels singing;
All the plains were lit that night, All the hills were ringing.
In the past God spoke through the prophets of old as the writer to the Hebrews says, but in these last days he has spoken through his Son.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (God with us)
Isaiah 7:14
God’s word made flesh, Jesus Christ, was spoken of, was prophesized, and foretold, that the plan of redemption would come in God’s time and in God’s way. But who is this Jesus … and more importantly … as Jesus asked his disciples … who do you say that I am?
Your answer to this question determines quite literally life and death.
This humble child that now lies in a manger is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whether he is your King and your Lord depends on faith in him. This Jesus who created the heavens and the Earth, lived, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead for you … and he did this to bring peace to this broken world in which all life lives.
Dear friends we speak of heaven, of angels singing, and of all bowing before the King, no silent throng but mighty voices. It is impossible to imagine the perfection of heaven but we can get a glimpse … in this child in the manger – in this Jesus. The Perfection of God’s only begotten son sent down from Heaven and wrapped in swaddling clothes … would grow into the man Christ Jesus.
That God would become man shows the value of his life for you and the value of our life in him.
Since the incarnation when God, born of a virgin, became man - no longer is God separate from you on a mountain, or speaking to you by a prophet.
Now in his flesh he has come to unite his death, with your death, and his life, with your life, so that in him we are made righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith.
John’s epistle confirms this when he writes:
13 By this - by God’s Holy Spirit and faith - we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
God remains hidden. He reveals himself by his Spirit through the word. If you wish to know him don’t look into the heavens as the angles told the disciples who looked up as Jesus ascended to the Father.
11b …This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11b
The ascension is not the end dear friends!
Gentle Mary laid her child Lowly in a manger;
He is still the Undefiled But no more a stranger.
Son of God of humble birth, Beautiful the story;
Praise His name in all the earth; Hail the King of glory!
The eternal victory is found in Christ’s glorious return to judge the living and the dead. Death is no escape. All will be judged. Some will depart to be with the Lord and others will be cast into a hell of their own choosing.
The good news though, is that the Lord is on his throne and he still calls those who have ears to hear.
Listen, come, and drink the living water from the river of life that is Jesus.
Let the little children come to me he calls and as a little child born in a manger he came to be the savior of the world. And as the God/man in death he fulfilled all righteousness for you so that you too might be righteous.
Have no fear for in Christ you are forgiven and he has a place of everlasting comfort for you that awaits all who believe and trust in Christ.
Because as [Jesus] is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
But you are perfect in him … From the manger Hail the King of glory!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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