Sermon Central
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The Plan Of Christmas Series
Contributed by Billy Ricks on Dec 21, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: God had a precise plan for us that began before the first pebble was placed on the earth. It was designed to have a direct personal impact.
Intro: Do you remember the Looney Tunes cartoon with Wile E Coyote aka Ralf E Wolf and Sam the Sheepdog. Wile E is always planning and scheming to capture and eat the sheep. Wile E seems to always have the best plans, like the time he lulled Sam to sleep with sleep dog sleep music. But int the end Sam’s plan to win the sheep always succeeds. Sam’s plans were never in response to Wile E instead they were planned before Wile E ever set out to steal the sheep.
God’s plan for Christmas was not God’s plan B or a response to the disobedience of man. We have to be careful when we tell the Christmas story that we make it clear that the birth of Jesus was not the beginning of the plan!
Ephesians 1:3 – 4 “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. 4 For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love”
Revelation 13:8 “All those who live on the earth will worship him (anti-Christ, beast), everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.”
God’s had his plan for Christmas together long before the silent night Jesus was born. Away in a manger was not a knee jerk response it was a well thought out and prepared plan.
Last week we saw God is a promise making and keeping God. This week we are going to look at His plan of salvation that was climaxed in Christmas and Calvary.
I. The precise nature of the plan
The Plan – “Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.” Luke 2:11
A) Jesus was sent at a specific time – (Today)
Today. It was a specific time that Jesus came. Daniel 9:24-27 even tell us that He would be crucified at April 6, 32AD. The star that the wise men saw. The census that was decreed by Caesar Augustus. God planned to the millisecond the time Jesus would come and fulfill the prophecies of Scripture. Galatians 4:4 tells us in the fullness of time Christ came. When it was time for the plan of Christmas the plan of salvation to be complete Jesus came!!
Listen this we should learn. God always has perfect timing for us!
B) Jesus was sent to a specific place (“was born for you in the city of David”)
Micah 5:2 tells us that the messiah will come to Bethlehem. Jesus the bread of life was born in the house of bread.
Truth God knows where you need to be and He will meet you to complete His plan for you!
C) Jesus was sent for a specific purpose
Acts 2:23-24 “Though He was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail Him to a cross and kill Him
Galatians 4:5 tell us,
“to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
The word redeem means to pay a ransom to secure somebody’s freedom. God however, went above and beyond that. He freed us from slavery to sin and then adopted us. We are heirs to all of God’s creation!!
Susannah Wesley defined “sin” to her young son, John Wesley declaring...
“If you would judge of the lawfulness or the unlawfulness of pleasure, then take this simple rule: Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, and takes off the relish of spiritual things—that to you is sin.”
In freeing and adopting us and fulfilling the plan and purpose for Christmas God went above and beyond. God is waiting to go above and beyond for you!
II. The personal working of the plan (“was born for you”)
His plan wasn’t just to rescue us from the punishment of sin it was to release us from the controlling power of sin. Christmas didn’t just usher in the savior it also gave us a clear look at our Sovereign Lord.
A) His plan to change us (It begins with adoption it ends with transformation (glorification))
1) His plan is to change what we look at (Keep your eyes on Jesus)
Again and again we are encouraged to look to Jesus to change our perspective.
Psalm 121:1 “I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
