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 another’s 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
retail’s income finally exceeds retail’s 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 year—not 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 let’s go forward
to Romans to see some truths.
B. 1. Unbeknown to some and unbelieved by many, Adam’s 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 Adam’s 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 Adam’s
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 Adam’s sin.
(d) There might be nicer ways to say it but that
Is the bottom line!
2. Someone will say….
a. That’s no fair! I agree.
b. That’s not right! Maybe not.
c. I don’t like it. I understand.
d. But whether it is far, or right, or you like it or
not, we have a problem—a SIN PROBLEM.
e. God’s broad brush has painted us.
3. But let’s 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 sinned—everyone 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 Adam’s 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 man’s
sin!"
1. It is because God made ONE provision for sinners—just one.
2. God allowed that a substitute could pay for a sinner’s
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 being’s sin.
b. But image how Adam and Eve would have felt.
(1) We don’t 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 don’t 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 being’s sins. It could only delay the human
payment that still had to be made. That’s why in the
Old Testament, they had so many sacrifices and they
were made so often.
b. Each sacrifice only covered one person’s 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 let’s look at why it
was good for us that God has punished us with Adam’s 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 one…came
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 God’s 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 isn’t another story that even attempts to explain
sin and there isn’t 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.
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