Luke 2:1-7 – CHRIST’mas – Bible study

Luke 2:1-7 Christ-mas This morning, I would like to consider with you the holiday that we are celebrating. What is Christmas? Some would say it is a holiday, one of several selected days on the calendar when family and friends gather to enjoy one anothers company. Others would say that it is a time of celebration, although they might be vague on exactly what it is they are celebrating. To them Christmas is a time to give and to receive gifts. To many, Christmas is a time of profit, a time when retails income finally exceeds retails expenses. Yet others might say it is nothing good at all, just a time of the year when loneliness is amplified and misery becomes intolerable. I suppose all of these have some truth, at least to be the people that believe them to be true, but what is Christmas according to the Bible? On many occasions as your pastor, I have turned to this text during this time of the yearnot to look for new truths for this is such a straight-forward and old story, I doubt that there are any of those. We turn to see the true story of Christmas and as our street sign has been sharing for the last week or so, the true story is in the first six letters of the word. The correct English pronunciation of this holiday is Christmas; however, I believe it would best be pronounced Christ-mas. What is the true story of Christ-mas? I. Christ-mas Is A Sin Story. A. There is no other place to start the Christmas story than with sin. 1. Had there been no sin, there would be no Christ-mas. 2. The true beginning or Christmas actually goes all the way back to Adam and Eve and is recorded in Genesis 1-3. a. In that account, God created Adam and Eve and placed them into the Garden of Eden. b. It was a perfect world and they were a pure people; but sadly, they did not stay that way very long. c. Satan came and tempted the couple to disobey God and both of them yielded to that temptation, casting the whole world into sin. d. But instead of going back to Genesis lets go forward to Romans to see some truths. B. 1. Unbeknown to some and unbelieved by many, Adams sin has repercussions all the way to you and me. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 1. Notice that Paul said "one man" is responsible for some of the conditions of our present world. a. What man? His name is mentioned in \#14\. It was Adam. b. What conditions? Three are listed. (1) "sin entered the world" – God did not created the world with sin. God created it pure. Sin was Adams contribution to the world. (2) "and death by sin" – God had told Adam that in the day that he ate the forbidden fruit, he would surely die. (a) Adam did die. (b) There are four stages of death: i. Spiritual death ii. Physical death iii. Total death iv. Eternal death (c) Adam and Eve experienced the first part of death immediately and in a few moments, I will try to explain why they did not experience all of death. (3) "so death passed upon all men" – But Adams sin and death were not limited to him alone. (a) No. He created a situation for all of mankind. (b) That condition is that we all die. (c) Why? The short of it is because God is punishing all for Adams sin. (d) There might be nicer ways to say it but that Is the bottom line! 2. Someone will say. a. Thats no fair! I agree. b. Thats not right! Maybe not. c. I dont like it. I understand. d. But whether it is far, or right, or you like it or not, we have a problema SIN PROBLEM. e. Gods broad brush has painted us. 3. But lets not pretend that we would not have sinned as well. a. Had God allowed Adam and Eve to live as sinners and to have children who were not sinners, we would have still sinnedeveryone of us. b. Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world, lacking nothing and needing nothing, and they sinned. c. Why? Because the devil was determined to make them sin and because even with the flesh was pure it was still weak. d. You may not believe me but stay tuned because, the Lord willing, I will show you why God condemned us all of Adams sin in a moment and I hope you will see that it is a good thing. C. But there is one main point we need to understand. The Christmas story is a sin story. If there had been no sin, there would have been no Christmas. II. Christ-mas Is A Love Story. A. You might wonder, "How can you say that God loves us after what He did to us? He condemned everyone because of one mans sin!" 1. It is because God made ONE provision for sinnersjust one. 2. God allowed that a substitute could pay for a sinners sins. 3. That may sound like a small provision, but it is not. That is very, very major. B. The provision was exercised immediately. 1. It was that provision which allowed God NOT to physically execute Adam and Eve the day that they sinned. Ge 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 2. God made the first coat for the human race. a. What was it made of? Animal skins b. Where did God get animal skins? God could have made them from nothing, but nothing suggests He did. The deduction from the text is that God took the skins off an animal. That means an innocent animal had to die. 3. The Bible does not give us any of the details, but may I suggest to you that God killed two animals as substitutes for the two sinners, then He used their sins to make clothes for Adam and Eve. a. God is God and God can and will do whatever pleases Him, but I do not think God ever took pleasure in the killing of one of His creatures to substitute for a human beings sin. b. But image how Adam and Eve would have felt. (1) We dont know what animal God killed to make that skin but they did. (2) They had named every type of animal there was and would have recognized what kind of skin it was. (3) Indeed, while I dont know how long it took for someone to figure out cotton and wool, every time they got dressed, they had to remember again what their sin had cost some innocent animal. 4. Now, this provision (substitution) had two short comings. a. It could not remove or pay for any sins. Animal substitution could only hide the sins for a short period of time. That is, no animal could remove a human beings sins. It could only delay the human payment that still had to be made. Thats why in the Old Testament, they had so many sacrifices and they were made so often. b. Each sacrifice only covered one persons sins. For example, it took "skins," plural, to make coats for Adam and Eve. One animal did not cover them both. Neither did one sacrifice cover them both. C. Now, you should still be at Romans 5 so lets look at why it was good for us that God has punished us with Adams sin. 1. We saw in \#Romans 5:12\ that because of Adam, we are all sinners and will all die. 2. We all die because we are sinners and the proof that we are all sinners is that we all die. Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 3. There are several truths in this verse. a. Let me highlight some words to get just one truth out. Romans 5:18 as the offence of onecame upon all men even the righteousness of one came upon all men. b. What is Paul saying? He is saying that since God allowed one sin to damn all, He can also allow one Sacrifice to cleanse all. c. That does not diminish our responsibility to believe and repent, but it completed Gods responsibility to provide a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world! 4. And why did God it? a. Why did God allow Adam to damn all and Jesus to die for all? John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. b. Christmas is a LOVE STORY. III. Christ-mas Is An Only Story. A. Nothing has ever rivaled the story of Christmas and nothing ever shall. 1. There isnt another story that even attempts to explain sin and there isnt another story that could ever remove sin. 2. It is the Christmas story and the Christmas story alone. Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 3. This story is so unique that some have tried to dilute it with snowmen, jolly fellows dressed in red, and flying reindeer. I am not being critical, just honest. 4. This story is so unique that some have tried to alter it by limiting the power or the reach of the sacrifice made by this Holy Child. 5. This story is so unique that some have forbidden its sons, its symbols, even the greeting of the Holy Day itself. B. And there is no other story that can save you from your sins.