Jesus...who Will Win The Victory Series

 200353.ser

Preparations for Christmas

“Jesus, The One Who Will Win The Victory”

CLBC November 9, 2003 a.m.

Subject: The Conflict Between Satan and Christ.

Theme: The Promise of Victory

Passage: Genesis 3:15

It is unbelievable that in just a few weeks, we shall be singing Christmas Carols; we shall

have a Christmas Program entitle “The Not-So-Silent Night”; we shall be sharing in a Christmas

Eve service, and we shall celebrate the birth of Jesus. For many it will be a happy, and blessed

time.

But there is another side to Christmas. For many, it will be a time of discouragement, of

loneliness, of depression. More drinking than usual will take place. More drunk drivers will be

locked up. People will overspend, overeat, over indulge and pay a heavy cost in emotional

reaction, in marriage wrangles, in anger, resentment, bitterness, hatred and guilt which a few

presents under a tree will not remove.

More than that, no matter how many Christmas pageants are presented, no matter how

often the Christmas story is told, a majority of people will still have no real understanding of why

we celebrate Christmas. They have never understood who Jesus is, nor why he was born in

Bethlehem, nor why his birth was necessary. They may decry the moral mess the world is in, they

may have strong feeling about murder and rape and child abuse, and war, and suffering. but they

really do not know why there is evil in the world, nor why pain and suffering are part of life.

On the other hand, we who are Christians may feel that we know the answer to all these

questions, but we too need a refresher course from time to time, and so as we draw closer to

Christmas I want to go back and replay the story - the old, old story of why it was necessary for

God to send His Son from heaven to win an eternal victory over sin and Satan, and death and hell.

The story begins in a garden, a perfect paradise. in which God has created our first

parents. Now, right there of course we are in trouble, so far as educated people are concerned.

They may or may not believe in evolution but they certainly doubt the reality of the creation of the

universe by God, and the idea of a first man and first woman being formed by God and brought

into a holy, marriage relationship from which all of the population of the world will be brought

forth.

And of course, the story of the temptation of our first parents by a spirit being called

Satan, who spoke to the woman from the body of a serpent - now of course that isn’t true. Why

they have even seen professors of religion from well known universities interviewed on television

who have laughed at the myth of creation and the temptation story. So of course it’d not true.

But the Bible says it is true!

Genesis chapter 3 says that there is a very real spirit being called Satan, who is also

referred to throughout scripture as that old serpent, the devil. The Bible says that God created a

vast host of spirit beings to love Him and serve Him and worship Him. The Bible says that one of

those leading angels was swelled up with pride and desired to be like God, even to lead a rebellion

of the angels against God, and that as a result he and his rebellious followers were cast out of

God’s presence.

The next stage in the story occurred here on earth, in this physical sphere, miraculously

hung in space, in perfect relation to the solar system to receive light and heat, and all the

conditions necessary for physical life. The Bible says that God made everything that was made

and then made a man and a woman, the first human beings to rule over that world. God loved

them and communed with them.

The Bible tells us that Satan had access to this earth and to our first parents, and that he

came to them, studied them and then prepared his attack to lead them to rebel against God also.

Oh, his attack was subtle. He came as a creature of beauty, and spoke to the woman.

He first suggested God might not be good, then denied that God’s word was true, and

then accused God of being unjust in withholding something from our first parents. And he

succeeded.

Eve came to doubt God’s goodness, then to distrust God’s word, and then to disobey

God’s command. In it she set the pattern which has caused such grief to mankind ever since. And

with his eyes wide open, Adam joined his wife in her sin and sold the human race down the river