Get Christ Out Of Christmas

Get Christ OUT of Christmas

December 6, 2015 Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: Get Jesus out of the manger and into your daily life.

Focus Passage: 2 Corinthians 4:3-7

Supplemental Passage: "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 NASB)

Introduction: In Bethlehem, today, it is Christmas. It was Christmas yesterday. It will be Christmas tomorrow. It will be Christmas on the 4th of July. They are stuck with Jesus in the manger. In fact, the town square is called “Manger Square”. While it is good and fine to celebrate the birth of Christ, His story is NOT about His birth; it is about His death and resurrection. While the shepherds and Magi worshiped the Christ-child, we worship a risen Savior! When we keep Jesus confined to Christmas, we simply are not presenting, nor are we living, the Gospel. The sacrifice for our sins was not made in a baby; it was made in the sinless person of a 33 year old Jesus.

I. Born to Die

a. Prophecies of the Messiah do not end with His birth

b. One of the gifts the Magi brought was myrrh. Myrrh was NOT the gift for a newborn. It was spice used in preparing a body for burial.

c. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. (Isaiah 53:8-9 NASB)

d. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12 NASB)

e. "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10 NASB)

II. Lived to Die

a. Jesus lived a sinless life so that He could BE our sacrifice. He was the blemish-less lamb of God.

b. The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 NASB)

c. Jesus called out “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” It was a call for people to remember Psalm 22.

III. Rose from Death

a. Just as Jesus should not be confined to the manger, He should also not be confined to the Cross. He said, “It is finished” The sacrifice was complete; He no longer does anything to pay for our sins.

b. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? "He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, (Luke 24:2-6 NASB)

c. In the resurrection of Christ, we have the blessed hope of eternal life. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB)

Application/Invitation: If all we do is keep Christ in the manger, how can we tell them of the Love of God demonstrated on the cross? How can we tell them of the hope that is in Christ for salvation? How can we tell them of the promise of Him to return?