4th Sunday of Advent
“The PURPOSE of Messiah”
Why did He come down?
INTRODUCTION
This year we have revisited the Christmas story by focusing on the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah available to Jews and Gentiles hundreds of years before His coming.
The prophecies revealed his person, practice, passion, purpose as well as the period and place of His birth.
So far we have covered His Person, Practice and Passion.
THE PERSON OF MESSIAH – Who will He be?
THE PRACTICE OF MESSIAH – What Will He do?
THE PASSION OF MESSIAH – How will He help us?
Today we will focus on the PURPOSE of His coming.
THE PURPOSE OF MESSIAH - Why did He come to earth?
Why did Jesus have to take on flesh and come down to earth?
There are many reasons why He came down to earth but we will focus on those purposes directly stated by Scriptures.
Each purpose relates to a desperate need of mankind.
Each purpose calls for a specific response.
I.HE CAME TO REPRESENT THE FATHER TO US
Since the eternal Son of God did not come into existence at Bethlehem we find no birth narrative.
John wrote to convince all people of the divine eternal nature of Christ.
John goes all the way back to the beginning.
In 18 short verses John laid out 10 foundational facts regarding Christ.
•Jesus has always existed.
•Jesus has always enjoyed close association with the Father
•Jesus possessed all the attributes of Deity. (was GOD)
•Jesus is the only source of genuine life and light
•Jesus is the creator of the world
•Those who respond with saving faith become sons of the living God
•Jesus took on human flesh
•Jesus manifested the attributes and glory of the father even in the flesh and was full of grace and truth.
•The realization of grace and truth comes through Jesus
•Jesus came to explain the Father.
Verse 18 is the focus of our attention today.
We could not relate to God or understand His true nature.
Jesus came to represent God in an understandable way.
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Jesus came to more fully represent the Father’s nature to us.
The word means to explain, to expound, to introduce, or reveal.
Jesus knows the Father intimately.
They have coexisted from eternity.
No human has ever seen the Father; only manifestations and frightening ones at that.
So Jesus came to explain the Father in such a way that would not otherwise be possible.
How does the infinite relate to the finite?
How does the unlimited become comprehensible to the limited?
Jesus came to bring enlightenment concerning the Father both by His Words and by His life.
Scripture is abundantly clear on the family resemblance.
He is the image of the invisible God, Col 1:15
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Heb 1:3
Jesus came to explain the Father in terms that we could actually understand.
When we look at Jesus we see the Father.
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? John 14:9
In Jesus we see God’s love, compassion, mercy, kindness, grace, and faithfulness as well as His power, wisdom and life.
Jesus came to represent the nature of God in such a way that we could understand and more fully embrace him as our Heavenly Father.
Response? Get to know Him and You will know the Father.
The eternal God chose to reveal Himself through the person of Jesus Christ.
II.HE CAME TO REVEAL TRUTH
Man was completely ignorant of eternal reality.
We were unable to discern the basic questions of life.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Romans 1:21-23
Where was truth to be found?
Therefore Pilate said to Jesus, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:37
Jesus clearly identified His purpose for coming into the world.
“To testify to the truth!”
The word “testify” means to bear witness, report, bear record, give evidence to.
Pilate asked a very probing question, “What is truth?”
It is a question we would do well to ask today.
This generation’s answer to this question is increasingly disturbing.
“There is no standard of truth or right and wrong or morality. Everything is relative to the culture or your feeling at the moment.”
“There is no absolute truth. And of that I am absolutely certain.”
Most philosophers will agree to a definition of truth.
Truth is that which correspond to reality.
The disagreement comes on the identification of reality.
Jesus came to reveal and identify what is real; what is true.
In fact, He claimed to be the ultimate reality. “I am the truth.”
He came to testify or bear witness as to what is real.
He testified concerning many realities.
He answered man’s basic questions.
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
Where is real life found?
He came to preach the truth.
He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for." Mark 1:38
John called Jesus the light of the world.
In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the Light of men. John 1:4
Jesus was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. John 1:9-10
Paul testified that Jesus was the light to King Agrippa.
…I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ Acts 26:17-18
So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating
nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. Acts 26:22-23
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. John 1:17
Life only makes sense when interpreted in light of the words and walk of Jesus Christ.
He is the center of all things.
Look at the literature and art inspired by Jesus Christ.
In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. Ephesians 1:8-10
Response? Listen to Him. Structure your life according to His teaching. Make Him the center of your thinking. Test everything according to His words and walk.
III. HE CAME TO RESCUE & REDEEM THE LOST
We were dead in our trespasses and sin.
We were lost, without hope of life.
Jesus came to deal with the sin that brought such a lost condition.
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mar 10:45
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 1Jo 3:5
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. 1Ti 1:15
And Jesus said to him (Zaccheus), "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:9-10
“I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD. "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment. Ezekiel 34:15-16
The wages of sin is death and all have sinned and come short of God standard.
The soul that sins must die.
Christ provided a remedy. A free gift to us.
It was not fee to Him, it cost Him his life.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and in Him we have redemption, that is the forgiveness of sins.
The price for our rebellion had to be paid.
Jesus was born the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 1Pe 1:18-20
Response? Come to Him as your only way of Salvation.
There is no other means of salvation. He is the Mediator between God and man.
IV.HE CAME TO RECONCILE MAN TO GOD
Having dealt with the issue of offenses against the Father, Christ is able and anxious to restore our relationship with Him.
Isaiah wrote that our sins formed a barrier, a gap between us and God.
Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Isaiah 59:2
Absolute holiness could not establish and maintain fellowship with sinfulness.
Something had to be done in order to restore this broken relationship.
The fault was all on our part. We were the ones who walked away and violated the trust.
Yet God Himself took the initiative to bring about reconciliation through Christ without a compromising His holiness.
It was not enough that we should have our sins forgiven.
We needed a positive righteousness.
He gave us the righteousness necessary to have full fellowship with God, the righteousness of Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Eph 2:13,18
God is not mad any longer.
Christ came to heal our broken relationship.
It is the core of our message to the world.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Colossians 1:21-22
Response? Believe it. Accept it. Enjoy it.
V.HE CAME TO RESTORE LIFE
Life as God intended for His creatures took a drastic and deadly turn at the fall of Adam.
God said, “The day you eat, you shall die.”
Romans says that because of that one sin, death passed upon all men.
Man would never know life either here or hereafter because of sin.
Yet be assured that because of the Righteousness of One, Christ Jesus, life is available to all who will come to Him.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Joh 10:10
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:7
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3:4
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20
Response? Receive it. Live it.
VI.HE CAME TO RUIN THE SATAN’S WORKS
Ever since Adam forfeited his God-given rule over creation, Satan has ruled the earth.
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1 John 5:19
We were all under the influence of the evil one.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 2:1-2
Jesus came to ruin the devil’s plans.
He came to crush the serpent’s head.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 1Jo 3:8
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Heb 2:15
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Col 2:15
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. Joh 12:31
Were it not for the coming of Christ, we would still be slaves to fear and driven to continually operate according to the devil orchestrated course of this world.
Satan would continue to hold the rights of ownership, hold the majority stock in our hearts.
Satan would still maintain authority over the earth abdicated by Adam.
Jesus came to bring us freedom from Satan’s tyranny.
Response? Stand against the evil one.
Claim your victory.
CONCLUSION
Jesus came for a specific purpose.
Man of our treasured Christmas songs herald the glorious truths of His purpose for coming.
Born to die that man might live.
Born that man no more may die.
Born to give us second birth.
Man shall live forever more because of Christmas Day.
Peace on earth good will toward men.
No more let sin or sorrow grow nor thorns invest the ground.
In Christ alone we have hope.
Better understanding of God because He came to REPRESENT the Father.
Light for darkness because He came to REVEAL truth.
Salvation because He came to rescue and REDEEM the sinner.
Peace with God because He came to RECONCILE man to God
Pass out of death into life because He came to RESTORE life
Freedom from Satan’s tyranny because he came to RUIN Satan’s works.
It’s a story that needs to be shouted from the mountain top.
Unto you is born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord!!!
