HE SHALL BE GREAT
LUKE 1:31-32
A roving reporter stopped six people on the sidewalks of New York City and asked: “What was the most important happening in history?” Five replies, from two men and three women, were as varied as might be expected:
“The settlement of Jamestown by the English.”
“The splitting of the atom.”
“The defeat of the Japanese.”
“The invention of the wheel.”
The sixth answer came from a 14-year-old schoolboy:
“The birth of Jesus Christ.”
The birth of a baby is a common thing, thou we as individuals each think our children were different. But in reality one is just like another. But not so with Jesus, it was different, it was a miracle birth, a virgin birth,.
I-NOTICE THE PREPARATION OF HIS BIRTH:
When my wife was expecting our first child, we were prepared for the time we would have to go to the hospital. But when the time came, I got excited and left the packed suitcase in the driveway.
Well there was much preparation for the birth of Jesus
A-There Was Preparation In Prophecy:
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Truly Christ was wonderful in the way He fulfilled the many prophecies concerning Himself.
God promised Abraham a son who would be a blessing to the world (Genesis 12:1-3). Then Scriptures revealed that the Messiah would come through the Jewish tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10), and through the family of David (1 Chron. 17:11-13).
Isaiah 7:14 predicted: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The fulfillment of this prophecy is impossible without supernatural intervention. Christ fulfilled this prophecy in His supernatural, virgin birth.
The birth of Messiah was to be in little Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). This was foretold 700 years beforehand!
Two infidels once sat on a railroad train, discussing the life of Christ. One of them said, “I think an interesting romance could be written about him.” The other replied, “And you are just the man to write it. Tear down the prevailing sentiment about His divinity, and paint Him as a man—a man among men.” The suggestion was acted upon and the romance written. The man who made the suggestion was Colonel Ingersoll, the noted atheist. The writer was General Lew Wallace, and the book was called Ben Hur.
In the process of constructing the life of Christ, General Wallace found himself facing the greatest life ever lived on earth. The more he studied, the more he was convinced Christ was more than man. Until one day, he was forced to cry “Verily, this was the Son of God!” He said what really changed his thinking was the prophecies that were fulfilled concerning Jesus.
B-There Was Preparation In Paradise:
Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This deeply meaningful title for Jesus reminds us that God’s plan of redemption was set in place before He even created the beings who would be redeemed. God wasn’t “surprised” by the fall of Adam or any other evidence of the fallen nature of man. God isn’t making it up as He goes along. It is all going according to plan. -David Guzik
I read the story about a Deacon in a certain Church who was in charge of the mission program in his Church. He was constantly praying for God to send out missionaries to the mission field. One Sunday morning during the worship service, his daughter came forward and accepted the call to be a missionary. He was shocked and said O God, I didn’t mean my daughter.
Well God gave up His only begotten Son to go down to earth, and die on a cruel cross so man could be saved as he accepted His sacrifice.
When Jesus said He would go, I imagine there was a hush in Heaven, and maybe the angels cried, Holy, Holy, Holy.
C-There Was Preparation In Palestine:
God prepared parents of John the Baptist, He prepared Mary and Joseph for the birth of Jesus. He also prepared the Shepherds, the Wise men and all who were involved in the birth of Jesus.
There was hope among the people that the Messiah would come.
The American prisoners in Vietnam who survived the torture and the brutality of their captors and the long years of solitary confinement did so because they held on to the hope that one-day they would go home. The prisoners who gave up that hope perished.
All of us live by hope. It is the hope for a better tomorrow that makes the things we put up with today bearable.
II-NOTICE THE PURPOSE OF HIS BIRTH:
A-It Was To Reveal God:
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
When my youngest daughter was a young child, I showed her a picture of Jesus. I asked her who it was and she answered God. I thought as first she was wrong, but then I realized she was right for Jesus is God.
God wrapped Himself in human flesh and toiled among His people as a servant.
Daniel Webster was dining with a company of literary gentlemen in the city of Boston. A minister of considerable literary reputation sat opposite him at the table, and said, “Mr. Webster, can you comprehend how Jesus Christ can be both God and man?”
Mr. Webster, with one of those looks which no man can imitate, fixed his eyes upon him, and emphatically said: “No, sir, I cannot comprehend it. If I could comprehend it, He would be no greater than myself. I need a superhuman Savior.”
B-It Was To Redeem Man-Kind:
Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
I once saw a cartoon of man after Christmas as he looked at the drooped tree and broken toys. He said, we have overeat, overspend and overworked. He had missed the meaning of Christmas.
All have missed the meaning of Christmas if we have forgotten that Jesus came as our Saviour to redeem us. And because He did, He ought to be precious to us.
Several years ago, I was preaching a revival in South Alabama. I was riding with a Deacon who before he got saved was a bootlegger. As we passed a certain spot in town, he said preacher that is a precious spot. I asked him why? He replied, because it was during a tent revival that I met Jesus, and got saved. He was saying Jesus was precious to him.
C-It Was To Ruin Satan:
I John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
We can just seen the heart of God grieving over the destruction the devil has wrought over this earth, and grieving that man has allowed the devil to do it all. Jesus came to put a stop to all that by overcoming the devil completely by His life, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. -
Note the purpose of Jesus: to destroy the works of the devil. Not to neutralize them, not to alleviate them, or not to limit them. Jesus wants to destroy the works of the devil!
A man who had a drinking problem was talking to a preacher about the devil. The preacher told him that the power of the devil had been broken. He said, well then who is that living in me? (He was living in his own strength.)
Five year old Billy was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. "It’s dark in there and I’m scared." She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, "It’s okay, Jesus will be in there with you." Billy walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark and said, "Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me a can of tomato soup?"
Fears are not so easily erased away with clichés. Max Lucado says this concerning our fears. "Satan’s modus operandi is fear. To manipulate you with the mysterious, to taunt you with the unknown. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of God, fear of tomorrow - his arsenal is vast. His goal? To create cowardly, joyless souls."
Many people are unnecessarily afraid of the devil, fearing what he could do against them. If they only knew that as we walk in Jesus, the devil is afraid of us! As we walk in Jesus, we help in seeing Him destroy the works of the devil!
III-NOTICE THE PLEA OF HIS BIRTH:
A-We Are To Prove It:
I Thessalonians Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
We are not to have blind faith, but we need to have a valid reason for our faith. We need to be like those in Berea in Acts 17 who searched the Scripture.
“When you study the Bible,” Dr. Armstrong told us, “work hark to understand exactly what it means. Learn Hebrew and Greek. Immerse yourself in the history and culture of those ancient biblical times. Translate each word carefully, prayerfully. But when you’ve cracked open the secrets and exegeted the truth of God’s holy inspired Word, then sit back quietly and read the words again. Only this time, let their exquisite beauty wash over you like cooling rain on a hot summer day.” —W.A. Criswell
B-We Are To Pursue It:
Matthew 2:1-2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2: Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
We are pursue Jesus like the wise men. Someone said, wise men still seek Jesus.
One of Hitler’s bodyguards was a man named Kurt Wagner. He adored Hitler and reverenced him as a god. At the end of the war, with Hitler a suicide in a Berlin Bunker, Kurt’s faith was shattered in his Feuhrer, and he planned a suicide. Going for a final cup of coffee, he picked up a discarded Gospel tract and read it—first carelessly and then with interest. As a result of reading this Gospel tract, he sought out a godly pastor who led him to Christ. Kurt was transformed from a hardened man into a peace-loving man, and he became a new creation in Christ, because he received Him as his Lord and Savior.
C-We Are To Publish It:
Luke 2:17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
If the cradle of Christ had such an effect upon them as to publish this abroad, how much more such you and I tells of the good news of Christ.
L. C. Hester of Whitehouse, Texas, is a plumber. He packs a New Testament with his tools. He is known as “the witnessing plumber.” A minister said of him: “That witnessing plumber has won hundreds to Christ since he became a Christian. Many will listen to a workingman who will not listen to a preacher, you know.”
Sometime ago a man took his worn New Testament to a bookbinder to bind it with a fine Morocco leather cover and to print “The New Testament” on the edge in gold leaf letters. At the appointed time he returned to find his New Testament beautifully bound. The bookbinder had one apology, however: “I did not have small enough type in my shop to print out fully the words on the edge, so I abbreviated them.” Looking on the edge of his Book, the man saw—T. N. T.
This is true! It is God’s dynamite. The Bible says: “The Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation.” (Romans 1:16)
D-We Are To Ponder It:
Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Mary had good reason to meditate. What had brought her to Bethlehem? An emperor’s great decree from Rome, and gossiping tongues in Nazareth. God works through all kinds of people and all kinds of events to accomplish His plan.--David Guzik
J. Wilbur Chapman once came to F.B. Meyer with the question, “What is the matter with me? So many times I seem half empty, and so many times utterly powerless; what is the matter?” He put his hand on Chapman’s shoulder and answered, “Have you ever tried to breathe out three times without breathing in once?” Thinking it might be some new breathing exercise, Chapman answered, “I do not think I have.” “Well,” said Meyer, “try it.” So he breathed out once, and then he had to breathe in again. “Don’t you know,” said Dr. Meyer, “that you must always breathe in before you breathe out, and that your breathing out is in proportion to your breathing in?”
We must fill the reservoir by prayer and a meditative study of the Word before we can draw out for our service.
CONCLUSION:
Two families living side by side in the mountains of Kentucky had been fighting and quarreling for years. The feud started when Grandfather Smith’s cow jumped over the stone fence of Grandfather Brown and ate his corn. Brown shot the cow. Then one of the Smith boys shot one of the Brown boys, in fact, two of them, while the Browns had shot only one of the Smiths. Bill, the oldest of the Brown family, decided to even up matters, especially since it was his own father who had been killed. But Bill was called away to war. While he was away his mother had a hard time providing for the family.
One Christmas the head of the Smith family took his wife and children to church. Usually he stayed outside, but it was so cold he decided to go in and wait. The sermon was on Christ, the Prince of Peace. It struck Smith’s heart. On his way home he passed the home of the Browns and he began to realize what a crime he had committed in killing the breadwinner. He prayed. He did more. He determined secretly to help them. He hired a small boy to carry a basket of food to the Browns every day.
When Bill came home, and heard of this kindness, he decided to find out who the generous helper was. He followed the little boy—to the door of Smith’s house. He could not believe his eyes. When Smith answered his knock, he smiled and declared:
“Shoot me, Bill, if you want to.” But Bill said he had come to thank him for taking care of his family while he was gone. Then Smith explained to Bill how he had come to a change of heart. He had heard the story of the first Christmas, the story of the Prince of Peace. It changed him.
