Why Is He Coming Question Mark ?
John 1:1-18 Romans 3:9-20
We are beginning a new series entitled “Question Mark—Christmas Season? We have a lot of people who want to celebrate Christmas, but really do not understand what is at the root of Christmas. Some only know of Santa Clause, some only know of the spirit of Christmas, and some only of happy holidays. But in the church, we know that at the center of Christmas is Jesus. However even in the church we are somewhat confused over the role of Jesus, beyond him being a baby in a manger.
In our series we are going to look in more detail, so that we can understand what is actually going on with Jesus and should be going on with us. We are going to look at Why is He Coming, What Is He Doing and Where Is He now. One of the reasons it is difficult for many people to even begin to understand the Trinity, the belief that God is One who reveals Himself in three persons is that we think Jesus began, when Mary got pregnant and that his first glimpse of this world was in Bethlehem where he was born. As a result we always think of Jesus as a man and we limit Jesus, because we give him the attributes of a human being today. We try to limit what Jesus can do by putting him in a human form.
The reality is, Jesus existed not only before Mary and Joseph, but even before Adam and Eve who were the very first human beings to exists. So if Jesus existed before Adam and Eve, He was in some other form. He was a Spirit as God is Spirit. The Gospel of John has very little to say about the Christmas story compared to Matthew and Luke, but John takes us back further in history to help us understand who Jesus is, and why it is He is coming.
John tells us, that in the beginning Was the Word, and the Word was With God, and the Word was God. John makes it clear, that the Word is Jesus. Everything that has been created has been created through Jesus. That includes everything in heaven and everything in earth. Before God created human beings, God created the angels. There are angels and there are archangels. The big three among the angels appear to be Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer (also called Satan).
Whereas Michael and Gabriel joyfully served God, Lucifer because of his pride thought like we sometimes think, “why should I obey God, I’m just as smart as God is.” Lucifer somehow managed a rebellion and gathered a third of the angels to rally with him and they fought a battle in the heavens. God cast them out of heaven and they fell upon the earth and became the demonic spirits that exists in our world today.
As a place for final punishment for them, Jesus tells us that the lake of fire was created for the devil and his angels. You may recall, when Jesus was casting out demons, they would often plead with him, please do not send us to the place of torment. So before there was humanity, there was this lake of fire that the devil and all his followers would eventually be thrown into. Only God knows why there is a delay in the judgment.
God creates humanity with the desire of their being a type of unity and harmony between God and His creation. God creates the garden of Eden with a perfect paradise. There is no sickness, no disease, no pain, no and suffering. Everything is in perfect harmony with the will of God. God puts Adam and Eve in charge of all the earth and gives them two commands. The first command is, “I have blessed you with many wonderful things, enjoy them and have a great time with it. There are thousands of trees with fruit. East as much as you want.” The second command was,” there is one tree in the garden, that I want you to leave alone. If you eat its fruit, you will die.”
Oh by the way, I forgot to mention that Session voted last week, that nobody is allowed to go in the first room off the hallway upstairs from the nursery. But the door is not locked and we don’t want anybody getting sick from what’s in the room.
Now back to Adam and Eve, they had everything going for them. The one thing God asked in return was that they would put their trust in Him, and worship Him freely as the rest of creation. God wanted them to love Him, because they wanted to, not because they had to. God even warned them, that if they rejected His commandments, they would surely die. So God gave them everything they needed to know. He let them make their own choics.
Now Satan knew that he was headed for the lake of fire with his angels. His final means of getting back at God was to take God’s creation with Him. He wanted Adam and Eve to die. If he could get them thrown into the lake of fire with him, that would be some sort of victory in the midst of his defeat.
Now some of you have been thinking, what is in that room that Session does not want you to see. Some of you are making plans to go by the room, even though you were warned about the sickness. Some of you never even thought about the room until I told you it was forbidden. We have a nature, that once we are told something is forbidden, it becomes a temptation. Every law we run into gives the sin nature in us a chance to rise.
Satan convinced Adam and Eve, if they disobeyed God, not only would they not die, they would become like God themselves. God was just trying to keep them from having a good time. After all, what’s the big deal about eating fruit from just this one tree. Who was going to miss it?
When they gave themselves over to their desires, they knew immediately they had cut themselves off from God. Have you ever done something you convinced yourself of that it was not that big of a deal, and the moment after you did it, you knew it was a big mistake or you were filled with regret
Adam and Eve felt separated from each other and were afraid of God’s presence. Sin had entered into their nature, and it was only going to grow and get worse and worse. There was nothing they could do to be made right with God, because they took the initiative in breaking off the relationship. They jump-started the process of death and put it in to motion, and it not only affected them, but all of creation.
We quickly find lying, deception, domestic abuse, anger, jealousy, greed and murder taking place and all of this is in just the first family. Sin is running out of control and it is being passed on to every human being that is being born. Jesus is coming because God is not going to idly sit by and let Satan have a field day with the very people God loved.
We have the very first promise of Christmas in Genesis 3 and God gives it to Satan of all things. God tells Satan Genesis 3:15 (NIV) 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." God is promising that a woman will give birth to one who will destroy Satan by crushing his head. Satan is going to have a field day with humanity, but it is not going to last forever. People will say things such as, if there is a God why is there so much evil in the world. What they don’t know is that God has already decided to deal with the problem.
The false assumption people make is that there are good people and there are bad people and if we just got rid of the bad ones, everything would be okay. Our society gives a myth about what is going to make for a wonderful Christmas. If it’s a white Christmas. If I can make it home for the holidays. If I deck the halls. If we decorate the tree. If I say happy holidays, If I get the right present. Somehow these things are suppose to change everything, and everybody is going to get along with each other and there will be peace on earth and the spirit of Christmas will unite us all.
God realizes there is something else that keeps us from having a merry Christmas, and that’s our rejection of Him and His words. We talk about good people but God sees us as something else. He said, Romans 3:10-18 (NIV) 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
How many of us can admit, yes I have fallen in that category? How many of us will admit, there are some areas in which I’m still struggling in some of those categories? Do you understand why God is not obligated to stop us from going to hell or the lake of fire. He’s letting us do exactly what he warned us against. There are people with higher moral values than others, but there are no good people who can stand in God’s presence with absolutely no sin in their hearts.
Why God loves us, I am not even sure. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding why God would even want to put up with me. Like the apostle Paul, the right I know I should do, I don’t do, and the wrong I know I shouldn’t do, I either do or think real hard about doing it. That sinful nature in me will not die on its own.
You know you should apologize, but you won’t. You know you shouldn’t buy it, but you do. You know you should do it, but you won’t. You know you shouldn’t do it, but you do. You know you should say it, but you don’t. You know you shouldn’t say it, but you do. Just go ahead and say it with me. “I need help.”
God knew that we could never defeat our own sinful nature. He would have to come to give us the power to win the battle. Why is He coming, John tells us: John 1:10-13 (NIV) 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
Why is He coming. He is coming to give each of us the right to become children of God? If he is coming to give us the right to become children of God, then what were we before he comes to us.
Now he does put two preconditions on receiving the right. The first is that we receive him, and the second is that we believe on his name. Now if we don’t receive him, and we don’t believe on Him, then we forfeit the invitation to become children of God.
Do you know who is the only person in the bible that looks at a group of religious people and tells them to their face,” you are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out his desires?”
John is making it clear, that being a part of humanity is not the same thing as being part of the children of God. Jesus is coming to make that clear. To become children of God is going to take a supernatural act on God’s part. That is why Jesus says we must be born again.
The angels came to the shepherds and said “ I bring you good news of great joy, that will be joy to all the people. A savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.” How many of you know good news, is not really good news unless you fully understand the situation.
If I said, “I have good news, I have a 9mm gun in my pocket and I’m going to guard the door.” What would you be thinking? Has he lost his mind? Why isn’t he respecting this place? What kind of an example is that for the kids?
But if someone had ran into here and said, there is someone shooting people in the fellowship hall, and he’s on his way here, and I said the same thing “ I have good news, I have a 9mm gun in my pocket and I’m going to guard the door, would your response to my statement be the same as before. Probably not? You recognize there is a connection between what might happen to you and my statement.
We try to tell people that we have good news in that Jesus is coming to save them from their sins. Yet it’s not good news to them, because they find it offensive that you would consider their behavior sinful. As a matter of fact who are you to decide what is sin and what is not. They think that Jesus is optional and that there are no consequences for rejecting him and what He’s done on their behalf.
They know nothing of the fact that God does not consider them one of his children and that the path they are on is going to lead to the lake of fire. We know it is politically incorrect to say such things, and we certainly don’t want them to think we are narrow minded or believe in old superstitions. So we let them go on their way.
Jesus is coming to be a light in a world of darkness. People did not have a hard time believing in Jesus. They saw him, they saw the miracles he did, and they heard his teachings. They rejected him because they did not want to change. He said in John 3:19-20 (NIV) 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Why is Jesus coming. He’s coming to let us know, that God has a standard for our behavior and that we have fallen short of it. There is a definite judgment waiting for us, if we do not put our hope in Jesus Christ.
I doubt if you are going to find this written on very many Christmas cards this year. I know you won’t find it on Holiday greetings and season greetings card. Jesus is coming to let us know, we are all on the same level, all headed for the same destination, all in need of the same Savior, and all without hope without Jesus. God loves us too much not to tell us the truth about what is to come.
The good news is only truly good news, when you know the bad news that’s associated with it. The good news of the coming of a Savior involves the bad news of admitting we’re not living right and we need to make a change. Jesus offers us the right to become children of God. How much are you yielding your will, to allowing Jesus to rule in your life? Jesus really does not care about them taking down a manger scene on the public square.
This Christmas what are you going to do with your anger? What are you going to do with your drinking? What will you do with your language? What are you going to do with the extra blessings God has put in your life? What are you going to do to bring someone closer to God? What are you going to do when someone asks for your forgiveness. Jesus is coming to be broken and to shed his blood for you. How are you going to allow that to make a difference in how you live this Christmas? Try giving people some gifts, that does not cost money, but rather costs a change in your heart, your attitude, or your action.
