WHY JESUS CAME TO EARTH Matthew 1:23 I. INTRODUCTION- a. While the story of Christmas is the story of the birth of a Child the Child of Bethlehem there is so much more to the story of Christmas. b. Christmas was a moment of fulfillment it was the culmination of hundreds of years of prophecy. c. The Old Testament is filled with prophecies concerning God s promise of a Messiah a Savior. d. The Old Testament speaks of the coming of Christ the manner of His birth the location of His birth His human ancestry His life His death and His resurrection. e. The story of Christmas is a story that started in the Garden of Eden and ended on a hill in Jerusalem. f. The story of Christmas is the story of salvation it is the story of our need of a Savior our need of One who can save us and deliver us from a lost life and lost eternity. g. Christmas is the story of how that Savior came into the world and by His own sacrifice provide the salvation that we all so desperately need. h. The Christmas story is filled with fascinating human profiles and personalities. i. Imagine being Mary a young virgin carrying the Son of God imagine being Joseph her loyal and faithful husband imagine experiencing visitations by angels sent by God. j. The scenes of Christmas are truly magnificent and amazing.
k. Imagine the Messiah the King of Kings being born in an outdoor manger imagine the first to worship Him were lowly, dirty shepherds the outcasts of society. l. And look again at the magnificent star illuminating the heavens leading a group of Magi from a foreign land to come and see and worship the Child. m. There is no greater story there is no greater drama than the true story of Christmas. n. During this Christmas season it is my goal to help us rediscover all of the beautiful, majestic, and divine elements in the Christmas story. o. We will reexamine the people and the scenes of Christmas and I pray when we are through we will love Jesus like we have never done before. II. THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM- a. The miracle of Christmas is not that a baby was born that is a miracle that happens in this world every day. b. The miracle of Christmas is that the baby born in Bethlehem on that first Christmas Day over 2,000 years ago was God in human flesh. c. The birth of Jesus is the most unique birth in human history no such birth had never happened before no such birth has not happened since and no such birth will ever happen again. d. To say that the birth of Jesus was a miracle is an understatement of unstated proportions. e. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem by the power of God He was born to a virgin His mother was a special and wonderful woman just a young common girl who had never known a man.
f. The birth of Jesus was an incarnation a word which means in the flesh. g. By the miracle of the incarnation and the virgin birth Jesus the Second Person of the Trinity God Himself the Person of the Trinity who created all that there is became a human being. h. The story of Jesus does not begin in Bethlehem Jesus existed before He was born in Bethlehem as God Jesus is eternal He has always been and He will always be. i. In Bethlehem He who is fully God left the glories of Heaven left the adoration and worship of angels left the perfect and unhindered fellowship of the Holy Trinity to became a human being. j. In many ways the human experience of Jesus was like the human experience of every other person. k. Jesus was born into a family He had a mother and an earthly father who loved Him and cared for Him and Jesus had brothers and sisters who were born to His parents after His birth He was part of an earthly family. l. When Jesus was born He was a baby in every sense of the word He cried and He cooed and He did what babies do then He grew into child and Jesus kept growing until He became a man. m. The Bible says that as Jesus grew He developed physically, socially and spiritually Jesus learned a trade He developed friendships in many ways He lived a normal life and He gained favor with His Father in Heaven and with man. n. But while Jesus was fully human and in this world He voluntarily placed limitations on the expression of His divine nature Jesus never stopped being God.
o. Even when Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem when Mary kissed the face of her baby she kissed the face of God! p. To understand the true meaning of Christmas we must understand why Jesus who is God left the glories of Heaven to become a man. III. JESUS BECAME A MAN TO FULFILL THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT- a. In Luke 24:44 Jesus said All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. b. There were more than three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament about the promised Messiah. c. Most of those prophecies concerning Jesus have already been fulfilled and by the time Jesus comes again every Old Testament prophecy concerning Him will be fulfilled. d. The Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as the New Testament and everything the Old Testament says about Jesus must be and will be precisely fulfilled. e. In Isaiah 7:14 the prophet wrote Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV) Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. f. Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be miraculously born of a virgin and that His name would be called Immanuel which means God with us. g. Isaiah wrote this not one year before it happened not ten years but hundreds of years before it took place. h. In Micah 5:2 Micah wrote a prophecy that is both specific and startling.
i. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born Micah said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and that He would come from the distant past signifying His divine nature. j. Micah 5:2 (NKJV) But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting. k. Again long before Jesus was born in Jeremiah 31:15 Jeremiah prophesied that the birthplace of this coming One would suffer a massacre of infants. IV. l. Matthew 2:16-18 reveals the fulfillment of Jeremiah s prophecy Matthew 2:16-18 (NKJV) Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more. Fulfill prophecies JESUS BECAME A MAN TO SHOW US THE FATHER- a. When Philip one of the disciples of Jesus said to Jesus John 14:8 (NKJV) Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. b. Jesus replied John 14:9 (NKJV) Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. c. If you want to know what God is like then study the life of Jesus if you want to hear God speak then read the words of Jesus if you want to know how God works...then study the works of Jesus.
d. If you are searching for God if you want to find God then you will find Him when you confess and turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus by receiving Him as your Savior and Lord. e. John 14:6 (NKJV) I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Fulfill prophecies show us the Father V. JESUS BECAME A MAN TO SAVE US FROM OUR SIN- a. 1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV) This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. b. Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins to save us from a lost life and a lost eternity and He will do so for every person who will turn from their sin and receive Him as their Savior and Lord. c. Jesus made salvation possible for us by taking our sins upon Himself and dying on the cross for us. d. 1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. VI. e. While the cradle was there at Christmas the point of Christmas is the cross where Jesus died for us and the point of Christmas is an empty grave where Jesus rose from the dead to secure our salvation. Fulfill prophecies show us the Father save us from our sins JESUS BECAME MAN TO SYMPATHIZE WITH OUR WEAKNESSES- a. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
b. Jesus may be from above but He came here below He came into this world He lived in this world with all of its ugliness and pain just like we do Jesus is Immanuel God with us. c. Do you know why you can go to Jesus with whatever is going on in your life and know that He hears you and understands you? d. Because Jesus came down here to experience everything that we have experienced apart from sin. e. Are you in pain?... Jesus knows what pain is like are you lonely? Jesus knows what it is like to be lonely have you been abandoned? Jesus knows that that is like are you suffering?... no one who has ever lived suffered in the ways that Jesus did have you been mistreated?... no one was mistreated like Jesus was. f. Whatever you experience in life you can be sure Jesus has experienced it too a million times over. g. Jesus knows what is happening in your life He knows how you feel He knows what you need He has been there and He has done that. VII. h. And because He has conquered all and because He is God if you will trust Him He can and He will comfort you and see you through anything. Fulfill prophecies show us the Father save us from our sins sympathize with our weaknesses JESUS BECAME A MAN TO SECURE OUR HOPE OF HEAVEN- a. Jesus came down so that we could go up because Jesus came down and did what He did those who trust in Him have a secure, sure and certain hope of a heavenly home. b. The Bible says the moment a person turns from their sin and receives Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord they are saved forgiven of their sin given eternal life made a child of God and their name is written in the Lamb s book of life.
c. Jesus Christ is the only way to God and He is the only hope of Heaven without Jesus you have no hope of Heaven. d. Colossians 1:27 says Christ in you, is the hope of glory. VIII. CONCLUSION- a. Jesus became a man to fulfill Old Testament prophecies to show us the Father to save us from our sins to sympathize with our weaknesses and secure our hope of Heaven. b. Many years ago in England there was a ten-year old boy named Charlie. School was out for Christmas and Charlie s family had decided to spend the holiday in the country. The boy pressed his nose against the bay window of the vacation home looking at the falling snow. Charlie s mom came into the room and invited him to go for a drive and he quickly accepted. They snaked the car down a twisty road, the tires crunching the snow as they went. Charlie was thrilled with the drive but his mother soon became anxious, as the weather suddenly got worse. As the increasingly heavy snowfall continued to come down, visibility lessened. And as she took a curve, the car started to slide and it didn't stop until it was in a ditch. Charlie s mother tried to drive out of the ditch, but she couldn't do it. Little Charlie got out and pushed and she pressed the gas, but they were just digging themselves in deeper. They were really stuck and they needed help. A mile down the road there was a house. And off they went and knocked on the door. "Of course," the woman told them, "Of course you can come in. Please come in and warm yourselves. The phone is yours." She offered them tea and cookies and urged them to stay until the help arrived. An ordinary event? Don't suggest that to the woman who opened the door. She has never forgotten that day. She has retold the story a thousand times of the visitors who came to her door that day. And who could blame her. It's not often that royalty appears on your porch. For the two travelers stranded by the English winter were no less than Queen Elizabeth and the heir to the throne, ten-year-old Charles.
c. The message of Christmas is that Royalty has walked down our streets Heaven's Prince and earth s king has knocked on our door and God has moved into our neighborhood He is one of us Almighty God is here and He has you on His heart today. d. The God who loves you and the God who wants to save you is not far away He has drawn near He has come to be with us He is our Savior He is the Christ of Christmas and He wants to save you.