MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Colossians 2.9
S: Incarnation
C: Jesus as God
Th: I Love It When a Plan Comes Together
Pr: JESUS IS THE ETERNAL GOD COME IN THE FLESH.
KW: Choices
CV: “We will clearly communicate the transforming truth of the Bible.”
Type: Propositional
I. LEGEND
II. LIAR
III. LUNATIC
IV. LORD
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Think through the choices you have about Jesus.
• Choose Jesus as Lord and Savior
Version: ESV
RMBC 14 December 08 AM
“I love it when a plan comes together.”
…is the theme for our messages during this Christmas season.
I get so excited during this time of the year, not just because of family gatherings, though I enjoy them immensely.
It is not because of all the excitement of the season and the great music we hear, though it does bring me great joy.
I get excited because it is a time we celebrate how God’s plan all came together.
This is a time we celebrate that what God said He would do, He did.
He made good on His promises to us.
For the last two weeks, we have been studying why the life of Jesus, which includes the Christmas story, is credible.
We came to the conclusion that…
The eyewitness testimony about Jesus is reliable.
We discussed how the testimony of the New Testament writers has been confirmed over and over again by historical and archaeological evidence.
These eight different authors reflect accurately either what they saw or heard, or possessed a personal connection with someone who did.
Last week, we saw that…
The Scriptural testimony described the Messiah.
We considered what the Hebrew Scriptures said about the coming Messiah.
He would be the seed of Abraham.
He would come from the tribe of Judah.
He would be of the line of Jesse and David.
We also saw that the Messiah would be a suffering servant, and that He would be pierced.
There are forty other promises as well.
What we observed is that…
Jesus fulfilled the promises of the Hebrew Scriptures (Isaiah 7.14, 9.6; Micah 5.2).
Jesus did it!
He proved that He was the Messiah.
Promise after promise, He fulfilled.
But we want to reconsider three very important ones as they coincide with today’s study.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Do you see what those three verses had in common?
They speak to the deity of the Messiah.
His name is Immanuel.
“God with us.”
The given son would have the appropriate names of deity.
Wonderful Counselor.
Mighty God.
Everlasting Father.
Prince of Peace.
And His origin?
Though He is born in Bethlehem, He is actually from before that…from the long past…from before there were days.
Jesus fulfilled so many of the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures.
But here is the question?
Was He really God?
The Hebrew Scriptures said He would be.
Did He live up to that billing?
Our answer to that is “Yes!”
Jesus is the eternal God come in the flesh (Colossians 2.9).
Paul writes in Colossians…
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form… (NIV)
The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, built and designed the heavens and the earth, for without Him was not anything made that was made.
Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was with God and was God.
He loved humanity so much that He left heaven, a perfect place, with perfect provision, perfect praise, and a place of perfect satisfaction, to enter into a world full of sin and trouble.
The eternal Son of God, the powerful Creator of everything, journeyed from heaven into earth, stepped from eternity into time.
He chose to be born of a woman, in a lowly stable, in a poor village called Bethlehem.
He moved from spirit into a microscopic human embryo implanted in the womb of a virgin named Mary.
He had not yet formed eyes, or hands, or feet, or a brain.
God was contained as an act of His own will, in the womb.
He, Who was and is perfect light, placed himself in total darkness for nine months.
When he was born, he looked like any other baby, a six or seven pound bouncing baby boy, unable to walk and talk, unable to feed himself, completely dependent on Mary and Joseph for his every need.
It is hard to imagine this kind of love.
It gives no thought to the expense.
It gives no care to the cost.
There is only One that truly loves like that – God Himself.
This is the story of the Incarnation.
And over the next several minutes, let me show to you the evidence of this claim.
We are not making this up.
As impossible as this all seems to our minds, let me show you why I believe this uncommon incident is true.
First note that…
The New Testament writers consistently affirm the deity of Jesus (John 1.1, 14; Hebrews 1.3; II Peter 1.1).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
The Word was God.
The Word became flesh.
Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature.
Jesus is our God and Savior.
John, Peter, Paul and the writer of Hebrews all saw it the same way.
Jesus was God.
But how did Jesus see it?
Jesus candidly claimed deity (John 8.58).
When Jesus was confronted with a very antagonistic Jewish leadership, note what He says.
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him…
“Before Abraham was, I am,” may be not good English, but it was an accurate way to describe Himself.
“I am” may not sound like much to you, but His audience at the moment knew exactly what He was saying.
“I am” is the name God used to describe Himself to Moses at the burning bush.
God identified Himself as the self-existent one.
He has no past or future.
He is eternal.
So when Jesus said “I am,” they picked up stones to kill Him, because He said He was God.
And Jesus keeps repeating the “I am” name so that we will get a full account of what God is like.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the first and the last.
I am the light.
I am the bread.
I am the way.
I am the truth.
I am the life.
I am the resurrection.
But there is more…
Jesus had the audacity to forgive sin (Mark 2.5-7).
Note this early story in the gospels…
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
You see, this takes a lot of cheek.
It takes a lot of nerve.
You see…
If you do something against me, and somebody else comes along and says, “I forgive you,” what right have they to say that?
The only one that can say that meaningfully, besides me, is God Himself.
Since sin, first and foremost, is a defiance of God and His law, only God can do it.
Jesus understood, even from the beginning of His ministry, that He was God and He had the right to forgive.
Today, people considered most holy have been those who are most conscious of their own failures and sins.
We think these people are good because they are fighting their wrongdoing honestly, by the grace of God.
But Jesus comes along, and with a straight face He says, “Which of you can convict me of sin?”
Now, if I said that, a line would start forming right here.
And it might be a race to see who would get here first to testify that was in no way true.
But Jesus could say that, for…
Jesus lived a sinless life (Mark 14.55).
Even His enemies struggled to find wrongdoing beyond His claims of who He was.
Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.
You see, in the end, they had to make it up.
The New Testament writers agreed.
They called Jesus unblemished and spotless.
Jesus knew no sin.
Jesus was without sin.
Even Pilate found Him completely innocent.
Does any of that make sense?
Try spending three days with any human being, much less three years, and you definitely will find faults.
But these people claim just the opposite.
There was none.
So that’s the evidence.
The question is still there.
Was Jesus really God?
It is a question, at the very least, I ask you to consider carefully.
Think it through and choose wisely.
For…
Here are the choices we have about Jesus:
• The eyewitnesses are lying, and the story is nothing more than fiction and legend.
In recent weeks, again, we saw that Jesus was a historical figure, observed by those both for and against Him.
So it is the least likely of the choices.
Second…
• His claim to be God was false and Jesus knew it. Therefore, he was lying.
Now, to give this full consideration, you have to confront the Jesus of the gospels.
Does He sound like a liar?
Does His actions look like it?
Does the lie make sense, etc?
Third…
• His claim to be God was false and Jesus did not know it. Therefore, he was loony.
Once again, ask the same questions.
Does He sound like a lunatic?
Does His actions come across like one that is this way?
Does it make sense?
Now, if it does not make sense to you that Jesus is either a liar or a lunatic, then note what you are left with…
• His claim to be God was true, and therefore, he is Lord.
We are left with the “Master of the Universe!” who came to earth, because of His unending and uncompromising love for us.
This is so incredible, it is too hard to imagine.
ILL Incarnation (S)
Being from the South, David Slaigle loves ribs. He remembered hearing about this particular restaurant that had amazing ribs, and a bunch of his friends and him drove 50 minutes to get there. The place was packed, and the food was great. It was "all you can eat rib night," and rib bones were piling up as fast as the line to get in. Eating ribs is messy business. Barbecue sauce gets on your face, fingers, and clothes; dirty napkins pile up next to half-eaten bowls of baked beans and coleslaw. When his crew had eaten all they could eat, they paid their tab and waddled out to the car.
That’s when he reached into his pocket for his keys and came up with nothing but lint. Starting to panic, he looked through the window at the ignition. He was hoping that he had locked his keys in the car, because in the back of his mind a more disgusting possibility was taking shape. When he saw that the ignition was empty, he knew exactly where his keys were — the keys to his car, his house, and his office. Only seconds earlier, those precious keys had slid right off his tray and followed a half-eaten corn cob and several bones to the bottom of a trash can. He had thrown away his keys on all you can eat rib night.
It was a long walk home, and his friends certainly weren’t going to do his dirty work for me. So he dove in. He fished through bones, beans, barbecue, corn, cake, coleslaw, and a host of saliva-soaked napkins. A shiny layer of trashcan slime had coated his arms before he finally grasped hold of those precious keys.
As I meditate on the Incarnation this Christmas season, I think about our dumpster-diving God.
I mean no disrespect by calling him that.
On the contrary, I have a soaring adoration for the infinite God who left a pristine, sinless heaven to search through the filth and rubbish of this fallen world for something precious to him — me.
Here is the beauty of Jesus:
• He is the Lord that saves (Acts 4.12).
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Simply, He has chosen to love His creation – you and me.
Will you respond to that love?
Will you choose to follow Him?
For Further Study: Exodus 3.13-14; Matthew 1.23, 8.29; Mark 14.61-64; Luke 4.34, 41; John 14.6, 20.28; Romans 9.5; Colossians 1.9
COMMUNION:
If you are a believer in Jesus and follow Him…
If you have embraced Jesus as the Master of the universe.
Then our time of communion is for you.
We come together at this time as a community that shares this one thing in common.
We love Jesus.
We embrace Him.
And we remember Him.
He is much more than a baby in a manger.
He is Lord of all.
And He demonstrated His love…
He died for us.
He paid the penalty of our sins by dying on the cross.
So we take a few moments today, to say thanks to our Lord for doing for us what was impossible for us to do for ourselves.
We rejoice in His grace and mercy.
We are united together because of the work of Jesus.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
If you are a member of the body of Christ, please join us.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by _______________________, let us take a moment and thank Him for favoring us with his mercy, love and kindness.
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
____________________ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
Colossians 4.5-6
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (NIV)
BENEDICTION:
Now…
May the joy of the angels, the humility of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, and the peace of the Christ child be among God’s gifts to you this Christmas.
Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral
Breeden, Larry The Preeminence of Christ
McMillan, Otis An Awesome Journey
Other:
Geisler, Norman, and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough to Be an Atheist. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004.
Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. New York: The Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1975.
Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence of Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998.
