?READING THE CHRISTMAS STORY FROM COVER TO COVER?, LUKE 2:1-7; John 19:40-41
JOKE--- Finding a lamp on a beach, Bob began cleaning it, so he rubs it, bam! Out comes a genie. For setting me free, I will now grant u 3 wishes. ?Cool? says Bob. ?OK Genie dude, I want a billion dollars.? Poof! As the smoke clears, there in his hands, Bob was holding a paper with Swiss bank account numbers in his name.
?Cool? he says.
?Next, I want a Ferrari? Poof! Parked next to him was a brand new red Ferrari with vanity plates that says ?Bob?! Again Cool!
?Finally? Bob says, ?I want to be irresistible to women?
Poof! Bob turns into box of chocolates.
INTRO--- Have you ever wondered why the Lord of the Universe chose to come into this world 2000 years ago as a tiny baby instead of a conquering king?
We are a society which loves to look at baby pictures. My friend there is nothing more beautiful, cuter or more approachable than a new born baby. Babies are irresistible. When a baby enters the room the first thing even strangers want to do is to come near the child and touch it. But would you dare to draw near a conquering King? Not on your life, instead, many would flee.
The manger speaks powerfully of a God who wants to identify with the poor and the humble, the unfortunate ones, the struggling mothers, the homeless, the fearful, the hurting, the classless, the regular guy on the street. The manger speaks to every one who feels insignificant. The manger makes a statement ? there?s Someone who cares about you so much that He was willing to enter the muck and mire of a living hell, a place of struggle and suffering and disease and war called earth just to be with you. No, this God is not gonna watch from a distance.
Folks that?s the point of the manger scene! And even still this Christmas the Christ child welcomes us all to come near and touch Him and fellowship with Him forever.
PRAY---
TRANS---I was reading through the Gospels again when I noticed something so amazing that this sermon practically took on a life of its own and wrote itself. You see, my amazing discovery was that when Jesus was born in the manger he was wrapped in swaddling cloths. But then I also read that when he died at the cross, once again, he was wrapped this time in a very similar burial shroud. And in between his two coverings we learn all about Jesus? mission of self-sacrifice to the world. Because of His sacrifice, there are three coverings we need to examine this Christmas:
I. JESUS WAS COVERED AT THE CRADLE
A. Look at vs. 7---Swaddling clothes were strips of cloth wrapped around a newborn infant to keep it warm.
1. Now the swaddling clothes, which bound the infant Lord following His birth, were symbols of the cold condition of all humanity.
a. Mat. 3:1-2--- In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
b. Human hearts had grown ice cold toward God as each person did what was right in his or her own eyes.
c. The swaddling clothes are a symbol of God?s warm love that Jesus would restore in our hearts.
2. According to the American Heritage dictionary, swaddling clothes were also used to bind the hands and feet of the infant to keep it still.
a. The bindings were also symbolic of the world?s slavery to sin.
b. Romans 3:23---Now Paul said, ?all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.?
c. John 8:34---Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.?
ILLUSTRATION---Shackles and chains are used in our society on a daily basis. From prisoners to enemy combatants the message of the bondage they provide is always the same. You have lost your freedom and your will and are forced to obey the one in charge over you.
Now Brother Bruce took me to the jail once. And believe me when you leave the world of green grass and fresh air behind those steel reinforced doors as they slam and clink tight behind you, you understand the concept of loss of freedom. Through the sin of Adam, all humanity lost our freedom and were forced to obey the one in charge over us: Satan.
3. But the bindings of swaddling clothes on the baby Jesus also symbolized the necessary sacrifice for that sin.
a. On the cross at Calvary, Jesus hands and feet would again be bound, but this time to the tree.
b. But instead of cloth the binding would be nails.
c. And he, being perfect, would pay the penalty of death for our sins.
I. JESUS WAS COVERED AT THE CRADLE
II. JESUS WAS COVERED AT THE CROSS
A. John 19:40---As according to Jewish burial customs, His body was again wrapped in linens so that he would no longer be unclean to touch.
1. However, before the cloth covered Jesus, He was covered in His own blood which was shed as an atoning sacrifice for your sin and my sin.
a. Romans 3:25---God presented him [Jesus] as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away sin through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished?
ILLUSTRATION--- George Vandeman wrote: "It was May 21, 1946. The place - Los Alamos. A young and daring scientist was carrying out a necessary experiment in preparation for the atomic test to be conducted in the waters of the South Pacific atoll at Bikini. "He had successfully performed such an experiment many times before. In his effort to determine the amount of U-235 necessary for a chain reaction--scientists call it the critical mass--he would push two hemispheres of uranium together. Then, just as the mass became critical, he would push them apart with his screwdriver, thus instantly stopping the chain reaction. But that day, just as the material became critical, the screwdriver slipped! The hemispheres of uranium came too close together. Instantly the room was filled with a dazzling bluish haze. Young Louis Slotin, instead of ducking and thereby possibly saving himself, tore the two hemispheres apart with his hands and thus interrupted the chain reaction. By this instant, self-forgetful daring, he saved the lives of the seven other persons in the room. . . Nine days later he died in agony. This man simply stood in between death and 7 other people, but:
2. Jesus was covered by the sins of the whole world which had to be accounted for by a blood sacrifice.
a. 1 Peter 2:24--- He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
3. Finally, He was covered with a burial cloth, because His dead body was no longer Holy and perfect.
a. When they took Him down off the cross, Jesus? body was defiled and filthy with your sin and my sin and the sin of the rest of the whole world.
b. Once they took Him down off the cross, Jesus? dead body was like all other dead bodies unclean to the touch and had to be wrapped so that they could anoint Him with burial spices.
I. JESUS WAS COVERED AT THE CRADLE
II. JESUS WAS COVERED AT THE CROSS
III. THAT IS WHY YOU WERE COVERED AT THE CAVE
A. John 19:41---Notice the burial linens were not only clean once again, they were neatly folded where Jesus? body formerly laid.
1. You see when God the Father raised Jesus Christ into perfection, once again His body was Holy and pure.
2. And because He rose again, He conquered the one enemy man has never been able to even contend with: death!
3. Because not only did He shed the precious pure blood required to atone for your sin and my sin; He not only paid the death penalty required for our sin; But He also conquered death so that we who follow after Him shall not perish but have life everlasting.
CONCLUSION--- At a parochial middle school, a boy stands with back arched and hands clenched. "Go ahead, give it to me," he says. The principal asks, "How many times have you been to my
office?" The boy says, "Not enough, I guess." "You?ve gotten the paddle each time." "Yeah, and I can take whatever you dish out."
The principal pauses for a moment to think and then quietly
says, "Today you learn about grace." The boy asks, "You gonna let me walk?" The principal replies, "Yes, I?m going to let you walk.? The boy studies the face of the principal. "No punishment at all?" "Oh, there has to be punishment," says the principal. "What you did was wrong, and there are always consequences to our actions."
"I knew it," says the boy as he holds out his hands. "Go ahead." The principal takes hold of the paddle and then hands it to the boy?s teacher. He tells the boy, "I want you to count the blows." The principal then extends his own hands toward the teacher and says, "Ten strokes."
The paddle snaps across the outstretched hands of the principal. Shock registers on the boy?s face. By the fourth stroke, tears well up in the boy?s eyes. "Stop! That?s enough!" the boy yells. But the paddle continues to crack across the principal?s hands. The boy counts out loud,
"Five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten." The principal stands with sweat glistening on his forehead, tears pouring from his eyes and his hands
swollen and red. He reaches over, puts his swollen hand on the shoulder of the boy, and whispers just one word: "Grace."
