What Kind of Savior was Born in a Manger?

Now you know as I was. I was thinking about what we should talk about today is Sunday before Christmas and I was asking the Lord what passage should I talk about being the thought came to my mind why don't you just talk about the verse that you guys been memorizing all month anyway. I mean it's a Christmas verse with lots of great information in it. Great spiritual truth about our Savior coming at Christmas and so that's what I want to do. Let's say the verse we know it right ready ready for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. So that's what I want to talk to us about. We want to take that person apart look at the spiritual truth in it, put it back together for our lives so okay right with God, because it's only message I got. So it's gotta be okay now before we dig into the first, let's do what we've been learning and that is first let's look at the context in which this verse is found, we begin at Luke chapter 2 verse one here we go, and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, and everyone went to their own city in order to be registered so Joseph went up from Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem to the city of David, because he belonged to the house and the line of David to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and expecting a child. They had to go from Nazareth up in Galilee all the way to Bethlehem is a very long journey, especially for a young woman who was about to give birth to a child. Verse six and while they were there in Bethlehem, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the end, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were greatly afraid. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people in here comes our verse for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Now here in the Luke chapter 2 verse 11 we learned three very important things about this Savior that was born that night in Bethlehem and I want us to look at this together. So here we go. The first thing that we learned is that this Savior was a promised Savior. The angel says for today in the city of David and what is the city of David, well we just saw it in the context back in verse four the Bible says so Joseph went up from Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem to the city of David, so city of David is what is Bethlehem right and why did Joseph have to go to Bethlehem.

Well, the Bible says verse four of this chapter because he belonged to the house and the line of David and so therefore he was required by this Romans, census to go back to his ancestors hometown. The town of Bethlehem, but you may not know this. We know that Joseph was a descendent of David, but you may not realize that Mary was also a descendent of David there two different genealogies for the Lord Jesus given in the Bible, one in Matthew's gospel one in Luke's gospel ones for Joseph and his line once for Mary and her line, and what we discover is that Joseph was a descendent of David through David's son Solomon. While Mary was a descendent of David through David's son Nathan. So both his mother and his father were descendents of David and return to the city of David for their registration, which is where their baby was born on. None of this was a coincidence.

None of this was an accident. Remember we said that our Savior was a promised Savior and his birth in Bethlehem fulfilled two promises that God made about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Let me show them to your promise number one is that the Messiah would be of the house and of the line of David second Samuel chapter 7 God said to David when your days are over and you rest with your fathers.

I will raise up your descendent who will come from your own line. David and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. God repeated this promise in Isaiah 11 150 set a branch will arise from the stomp of Jesse, who was Jesse David's father right in the spirit of the Lord will rest on him. Righteousness will be the belt around his loins, and faithfulness the belt around his waist.

The point is that God promise that the Messiah would be David's direct descendent, which indeed he was both through Joseph and through Mary, but there was another promise God made about the Messiah that Jesus's birth in Bethlehem fulfilled and that is promise number two that the Messiah would be born in the city of David Bethlehem.

Micah chapter 5 verse two. In the Old Testament says, but you, Bethlehem out of you will come forth. The one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times, he will shepherd his flock and they will live securely for his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

And God kept his promise to dignity.

Yeah, even though we had to discombobulated the entire Roman Empire and move people all over the Roman Empire for the census pay. There was no problem. God knew just what he was doing that was the only way to get Mary and Joseph from Galilee to Bethlehem so this child could fulfill the promise that God gave that the Messiah would be born there in David city. In fact, God made over 30 promises in the Old Testament about the birth the life, ministry to death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and God fulfilled every one of them kept everyone of those promises with absolute and perfect precision.

The bottom line is that in over 30 ways our Savior was a promised Savior number two. Not only was he a promised Savior, but he was also a personal savior.

Remember what the angel said to those shepherds. The angel said for today in the city of David there has been born for who you he didn't say there has been born for the cosmos or there has been born for the world or there has been born for the Roman Empire or there has been born for the nation of Israel he said to those individuals shepherds today. There has been born for you because Christ is a personal savior for you. Many Redskins fans we have Eurasian hand. God bless you, I swear. What a tragedy. What a tragedy. And it just seems like we can get this thing right in this town.net. I don't know but you know I checked this week and I discovered that in the 14 years he's on the Redskins that Dan Snyder has fired six different coaches. One of them was North Turner and I personally thought the way that that was handled was not the most sensitive way of handling things. Not the most personally a nice way of handling things.

But when asked about that. Dan Snyder said and I quote hey it's all about winning." Nine stamina to understand that we understand that an owner's goal is not to be a personal owner's goal is to be a winning owner. We understand that real, but you know I got great news for you. The Bible has great news for you and that is that the Lord Jesus Christ didn't come into the world to be a winning Savior. He came into the world to be a personal savior in the great news and he came into the world. Therefore caring about you and me caring about people. He came into the world as a Savior that cares about our feelings and are paying our heart aches in our struggles, our joys and our sorrows and anxious to intervene and help us with all of these things now. I've been a follower of Christ for 43 years and I gotta tell you, to this day I do not understand why God cares about me. I don't get it, but he does. The Bible says he does. First Peter chapter 5 verse seven, Peter says cast all your cares on him say the next five words with me because he cares about what you wow how great is that when Brenda and I were raising our children. They would often come home with the with problems so you know some happened on the playground. Something happened in the classroom.

Something happened on the bus. Some happened at soccer practice and a somebody pushed him, somebody took the ball away from them. Somebody would let him play dodgeball and you know, in the grand scheme of our life. These things were very trivial, very small, except that because we were personally involved in their lives they were trivial to us because if it was important to them. It was important to us. Write what you that way with your children.

Yeah, of course. And you know what, in the great to know that when we come to God. Even with things that look trivial in in in in light of the universe. In light of running the world they maybe trivial to other people but they're not trivial to God because we are his children. He is our personal savior.

He came to take care of us personally, and if it's important to us. I don't care what it is, lost keys, a parking space at the mall, a pair shoes that fit you keep in that old jalopy running what ever it is financial problems, trouble at work.

If it's important to you folks. It's important that great news. What praise the Lord for that half that we could stop right here frankly and go home with our hearts encourage, but I got more all right because as 1/3 thing.

This verse tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ and that is not only was he a promised Savior. Not only is he a personal savior. The third he's a powerful Savior. Look what the verse says it says for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Now this word Lord.

The word record curiosities. The standard word the Jews throughout the New Testament to apply to Jehovah God himself and in using this word here in Luke 211 to refer to the Lord Jesus Christ what the Bible is trying to tell us is that we are not dealing with a baby in the manger here the person that we are really dealing with the being that we are dealing with is Jehovah God himself wrapped in human flesh and that's really important because it's great to have a promised Savior. It's great to have a personal savior who wants to get involved and help with the problems of our life, but it is not powerful enough to do anything. Then what good is a but this verse says don't worry about that. The Savior you God is powerful enough to do anything he needs to do because he is the Lord and just lest there be any doubt whatsoever about that.

He proved it by rising from the dead. A man a man so let's summarize the verse says, for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And what we learn from this verse is three things about our Savior number one he's a promised Savior born in the city of David, just the way God promised number two diesel personal savior who was born for you and for me, and finally he's a powerful Savior because he is Christ the Lord. Now that's as far as were going to go in the verse right now because were going to stop and were going to ask our most important question in we all know what this question is and this is like the last one before Christmas so this is like our Christmas so one okay this is the one that has lights and bells and and tinsel on it. Okay, we already died and it allowed netted Prince William and Bethesda and on the Internet and in the edge. Here we go now Christmas. So what wan to pray. That was great.

That was great. You know, yes, the Lord Jesus Christ was born to fulfill a promised coming but you know he was also born to fulfill a promised mission, and this is in that verse two and I want to show that to you as our so what for today. Look at the verse it says for today in the city of David there has been born for you a what Savior, who is Christ the Lord, Savior okay so what does that mean well I looked it up in the dictionary word Savior, and the dictionary says the Savior is a person who saves somebody from something profound. Yeah well okay, if that's what a Savior is then what is it that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to say Eva, you and me from that's worth knowing what the Bible answers a question the Bible says all of us have seen Amanda and fallen short of the glory of God and we all know this. Down deep in our heart. In one of my favorite passages in the Bible is John chapter 8, where the raw Jewish religious leaders bring this woman before Jesus who was caught in the act of adultery and they demand that Jesus command her to be stone because that was the penalty for adultery and I love what Jesus said. Jesus said, he said, let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone.

Listen to what happened in the Bible says and those who heard this, each of them being convicted by their own conscience, began to file out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the youngest and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in front of him and friends.

I wonder if you and I've been there. If you and I wouldn't of been one of those people who just filed out I would've you would've to my conscience would've convicted me that I was in no position to pick up the stone and fill with this woman I don't think you would've been the first to pick up the stone and throw out or because we all know that were not perfect. We all know that we've done things wrong. We all know that were sinners to yeah okay well that leads to a problem, though, because sin has consequences and listen to the Bible tell us about that. There's a penalty for sin.

Romans 623 says the wages of sin is what death, eternal death, eternal separation from God in a horrible place. The Bible calls tell and this is what Jesus came to save us from me make that clear.

He came to save us from the penalty of our sin, which we all admit we've got and listen to Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament tell us about this. It says he the Messiah was pierced for our transgressions. Where did this happen on the cross. Yeah, and he was crushed. It says for our iniquities. Where did that happen on the cross and the punishment that brought peace to us in our relationship with God fell on him.

Where did that happen folks on the cross. All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord laid on him the Messiah, the sin of us all. Where did that happen on the cross. That's right, and the rest of the Bible reiterates this true first Corinthians 15 three the Bible says Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. One of the major ones of which is what we just read Isaiah 53 Colossians 1 says Jesus made peace between us and God by the blood through the blood of his cross. Revelation 59. The Bible says Jesus redeemed us to God by his blood shed where on the cross right. Revelation 15 says Jesus freed us from our sin by his blood shed where on the cross.

Yeah, I'm finally Jesus himself said I came to give my life as a ransom for many. Where did he do that cross. That's right, Francis is the work of Christ on the cross for us.

His work is that he died for our sins on the cross that he took the penalty of our sins upon himself on the cross that he made peace between us and a holy God on the cross that he redeemed us to God on the cross that he freed us from our sins on the cross and that he ransomed us back to God on the cross. This is why Jesus came into the world to be our Savior and go to the cross and save us from the penalty of our sin.

Now where does all this leave us today. My friends will depends parents if you're here today and you trusted Christ as your personal savior man. All of this leaves you praising God and really understanding what the meaning of Christmas is all about that. This promise Savior.

This personal savior. This powerful Savior love you so much that he came into this world on that very first Christmas day to end up going to the cross and bailing you out of your penalty for sin, freeing you from it reconciling you to God paying for ever for your sin pay. How can you not say Amen and hallelujah that a man and then you get for Christmas this year. The presence are great.

Just remember, this is what Christmas is all about. This is what the present is that started the whole thing. God gave the world his son to go to the cross and save us from the penalty of our soon now. I said were all this leaves us the pants because if you're here and you've never trusted Christ as your personal savior that all of this leaves you in great need of fixing your eternal death problem and how do we do that, it's very simple. It's by coming to the cross and embracing what Jesus did for us on the cross. Remember what he did. He paid for our sins, he redeemed us back to God. He freed us from our sins, he made peace between us and God. He took the penalty of our sin upon himself so we don't have to pay it. All of this he did on the cross depending embracing what he did for us on the cross as our one and only remedy for sin in the side of a holy God and my friends. Please remember that what Jesus did for you and me on the cross we cannot do for ourselves can't be done. This is why the Bible says not by works of righteousness which we have done not by church membership, not by baptism, not by saying the rosary, not by taking communion, not by being bar mitzvahed, not by trying to do good deeds, not by doing volunteer work, not by the works of righteousness which we have gone but by his mercy poured out on the cross. What is a Bible say God saved us. You know 43 years ago I was on walking down the street to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and there was this gentleman standing on street name Bob Eckhart, and Bob was handing out literature about the Lord Jesus Christ and he was being laughed at and mocked the people were split not even cursing at him and everything, but I stopped to talk to because I was in great need.

You see for years I've been trying to figure out how to fix myself because I was a mess and the matter what I tried, I couldn't do it. Finally I came to the point that I understood. I need external help to do this and I don't know where to get it and then I was trying to figure out how do I make sure that I know I'm going to heaven because I was scared to death of dying and I figured out I need external help for that to and I try to go to Eastern religions and drugs and back to Judaism and everything to find this external help and I couldn't find it anywhere. So I was a desperate man and when this guy began talking to me and began telling me things like you know your sinner set up. I got no problem with that. I agree and he said you need someone else to save your saliva problem with that either. I said I Bob I totally agree with that audit humbled me friends to the point I knew there I just couldn't figure out where to go to get the hell and that's when he began telling me about Christ which I do not really hurt her know much about, but I thought well I want to give what he says try I give my life to Jesus Christ and I'm telling you, for 43 years for the best decision ever made in my life. Friends caught his 18th listen listen listen God is 18 to save you understand that he's 18 to save you in his heart he sent Christ into the world to go to the cross because he wants to save you. But there's one thing God insists upon and that is that we humble ourselves and come to him admitting that we can't save ourselves come to him admitting that he's the only one who can do it for us. Or to put it another way that we come to him renouncing every way of saving ourselves friends and were willing to let the Savior do the same thing with me. We got at the Savior do the same. So that's what I'm going to offer you the opportunity to do right now to humble yourself before Almighty God, to admit that your sinner and that you can't fix or save yourself, but you're willing to depend on his work on the cross on your behalf to get the job done and I hope if you're here and you've never trusted Christ you will take advantage of this opportunity to do this, but our heads together with our heads bowed in our eyes close. Nobody looking around is what were going to do would just compress short prayer, one phrase at a time, telling God when we just said so I'll pray out loud you pray silently here we go, Lord Jesus, I come to you today and I admit that I'm a sinner and I admit that I cannot fix or save myself because I've tried and I admits that I need external help and so today I renounce every effort in every way of saving myself and I embrace what Jesus did for me on the cross is my one and only remedy for soon my one and only hope for getting into heaven, and my one and only hope of escaping the death penalty. I brought on myself so I open my heart to you today and I invite you into my life as my Lord and Savior apply the finished work of the cross to my heart and life.

Today, in your mercy in Jesus name I pray with our head still about in our eyes closed. If you prayed that prayer with me. Nobody looking around I really want to pray for you real quickly, but I wonder if you'd be kind enough just to slip your hand upsilon operate with you. You can put right back down accomplish accomplish men or Jesus for all these folks who raise their hand confirming their heart today right as they sit here that you have honored if they've been genuine. What you honored what they've asked and that this is the beginning of an entirely new life for them. Lord move into their heart, with power and apply the work of the cross to their life just like you did for me. 43 years ago.pray this in Jesus name, amen