Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. The story of Christmas is about God, the Creator, becoming human, totally God and totally human.
And that's the only way that anyone could ever be truly worthy. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light.
Merry Christmas. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, He Alone is Worthy, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.
As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.
877-544-4860. More on this later in today's program. But now, let's get started with the teaching for today.
Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? In this sin-torn and broken world, we have been asking century after century, eon after eon, millennia after millennia, is there anyone worthy? Is anyone really righteous, really set apart, worthy to follow, worthy to rescue us?
And Christmas is the answer, yes. In Jesus, in this baby born in Bethlehem, the worthy one has come. He alone is worthy.
He alone is worthy. There was a story told by Phil Yancey about a woman he knew whose son and the mother were playing that little guessing game, you know, where you say, I'm thinking of such and such, and yet you're trying to give little clues along the way and guess. And they got to one point and the little boy said to his mother, he said, I'm thinking of a mammal. And the mother started trying to guess, you know, different animals and all of this. And she never did get it.
Finally, she says, I give up. What are you thinking of? He said, Jesus. Makes you pause for a moment, doesn't it? Jesus. It's one thing to say he became human. That's what Christmas is. But when you put it in that kind of terms that he became a mammal. Well, humans are mammals, so it's an accurate statement to say that the Son of God was a mammal.
That's how human he was. So the story of Christmas is about God, the Creator, becoming human, totally God and totally human. And that's the only way that anyone could ever be truly worthy. The whole story starts in a beautiful lavish garden where God made the pinnacle of his creation, this man and this woman, put them in the garden and said, you can eat of the fruit of any of these trees.
It was lavish. I wish the whole world could know this about God. And if you're here and you're just wondering about Christianity or maybe even don't even have totally good feelings about the whole of the gospel message, maybe you've been hurt by religion.
I don't know. But I really wish you and I wish the whole world could know this about God, who he really is. He's not a no God. He's a yes God. He is a God who is for you utterly, completely for you. And I have no idea how it could possibly be that this God who loves us so could become known as someone or his followers, known as those that are mainly against things. No, God put probably thousands of different fruit trees in the garden, said to Adam and Eve, have your fill, enjoy it all.
This is paradise. There was only one tree. There was only one prohibition out of all the thousands. So don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle. And yet they did. And no sooner had Adam and Eve both tasted of that fruit that they were deceived into thinking would make them more like God, though they were already like God. No sooner had it happened than the awful, awful shadow of shame just engulfed them immediately. Before that, they know no shame. They were in paradise. What Adam and Eve had in paradise was perfect love and acceptance, perfect unfettered fellowship with one another and with God. Never once did they have that awful, dreadful feeling of I've been a disappointment to you. Never once did they have that terrible thought that I don't measure up and I'm probably going to be rejected because of that.
Never once. They had just known freedom and acceptance. And if you've ever, by the way, if you've ever had even a moment in your life where you felt completely loved and totally accepted and you could be utterly yourself without fear, you've tasted a little bit of heaven. That's what heaven is. And that's what paradise was until they ate of that fruit.
And then this horrid shame came upon them and it's a horrible feeling. And they began hiding from each other and they began hiding from God. And yet they remembered that God had given a prophetic word to Eve and said the seed of the woman, Eve's seed, offspring, would be an enmity with the seed of that serpent who had deceived. And that there would be the time in which the serpent would strike at the heel of the seed of that woman, but that the seed of that woman, that woman's offspring would crush the head of the serpent. And so maybe Adam and Eve are thinking that when they have their firstborn son, that he's that seed. Cain is born. And it doesn't take them long to realize that their child has some of the same problems they have, some of the same insecurity, some of the same sin, just like any parents who recognize that very quickly as my child seems to have been born in sin.
They are not perfect at all. And so many thought this is probably not that one, but maybe it'd be the second born, Abel. And they realize, no, he was born in sin also and neither one was perfectly worthy.
They could recognize that. And I'm sure they had days where they said boys will be boys as Cain and Abel tussled with one another, but it was worse than that. One day Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fields, some fruit, and the Lord didn't seem to favor the offering. We don't know exactly why. And Abel, the younger brother, brought in an offering to the Lord from the flock, and the Lord showed His favor towards it and liked it.
We don't know why. And Cain, instead of saying, wow, my little brother just got blessed by God and God is pleased and I'm so happy for you. I love you, my younger brother.
And I'm so glad, nothing better than my baby brother being honored. Instead, sin and shame caused his heart to seethe with jealousy and envy. And the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't stand it. And he rose up and he killed his baby brother. And century after century after century, eon after eon, a prophecy was waiting to be fulfilled that there'd be a seed, there'd be an offspring of a woman that would be worthy, would be righteous, would be strong, would resist temptation, and instead of giving in to the serpent would crush the headship of the serpent, crush the headship of evil.
But who and how could it be? Christmas answers that question. And only Christmas answers that question. Because God saw that there was no human being who was born righteous or lived righteously. All the Bible says have sinned. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's no one that's righteous, Paul said in Romans.
Not one. God knew. His plan was unveiled. The only way that there could be a truly worthy human being would be if God Himself came and became human. That's what Christmas is. It had to be God in that feeding trough in the barn in Bethlehem because no one else was worthy. No one else could be that righteous. No one else could be in that position because everyone else was born in sin, but not God.
So Jesus, the Bible teaches, was God. It's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we all seek moments of encouragement and hope as a heartfelt thank you for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. When you give today, we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, Thanksgiving and much more. This unique resource can be yours. Make your gift to the ministry today and get your blessing box.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. If he were not God, then he could not be perfectly righteous and worthy, and he could not pay the infinite price that was due, the infinite offense of our sin against God. But he also needed to be fully human. That's why he came.
It was the first real ministry encounter of its sorts in my first church. I was first year of ministry, and I'd been, as a seminary, trained in pastoral care, but I hardly knew what to do at this moment as I stood by Lester's bed at the hospital, and his grown son was there. And Lester was in so much pain because the cancer was in his bones by this time.
It's agonizing pain. And it somehow comforted Lester if he were to moan, and he would just moan with a deep, long breath. And every time he'd say, O me.
Another breath, O me. And his grown son, who's a fine man, I really liked him, he was a loving son, a fine man, stood next to his father's hospital bed and held his father's hand. And then he did something I couldn't, I was stunned and appalled, honestly, not at first knowing what he was doing. Lester moaned in pain, O me. And his grown son leaned over the bed and said, O me. Lester moaned again, O me. And his son echoed again, O me. I thought, is it possible a grown son would mock his dying, would mock this father's dying moan?
And I thought, surely not. So I just stepped back and watched because Lester was being ministered to, and I was going to learn something about ministry as I beheld a really holy scene. Afterwards, we stepped into the hallway, and his son explained, when Lester was at home, a bright spot would be if his grandson, little two-year-old Wesley, would come around. I had seen little Wesley before, blonde-haired kid full of life bouncing around all over the place, and it blessed Lester to have him around.
But his son told me what happened was that when Lester was at home, he didn't walk hardly at all, but when he did, he'd use his walker and he'd take a step and he'd feel that pain and moan, O me. O me. And one day, little two-year-old Wesley came over and put his little hand on the base of the walker and helped. And with each step, as Lester moaned, O me, Wesley would help and say, O me.
O me. And that's why that grown son was whispering, O me. O me, to his dying father, because he was telling him, there's a two-year-old boy who somehow understands. He was reminding him of empathy and love, and you're not alone. Why did God have to become human?
Well, the first place to represent you, but then so that the writer of Hebrews could say, we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with us and our weakness. He was tempted. He was tormented. He became tired. He toiled. He wept. He ached. He hungered.
And he even died. So that you can know for sure God really gets you. He really understands you.
And you're never alone. And when the time came that this Messiah who loved the world, loved people, fed the poor, taught the masses, healed the sick, strengthened the weary, and forgave sinners, that when he came to the pinnacle of his ministry, people who did not understand him but hated him, put him on a cross. And he cried out in agony as he neared his last breath and said in Aramaic, Eloi, Eloi, Lama, Sabatani.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But he might as well have said, O me, as he bore the weight of the sin of the world. I love the artwork of Sister Grace Remington who one day just spent time drawing a picture of Eve as if she were meeting the expectant Mother Mary. And that image of shame on Eve's face and compassion on Mary's face that ministered. And Sister Grace wrote this about what she drew. She said, whatever innocence Mary had, she was not spared the experience of living in a fallen world.
First century Palestine was no Garden of Eden. I wonder, the nun wrote, whether Mary was able to give her yes precisely because she knew the pain of life. She knew how desperately we needed God. She knows the gift she's carrying is for Eve as much as it is for herself.
She doesn't need Eve to get herself together or to even drop the apple before inviting her in. Whatever your apple of shame and regret is, God doesn't require you to get your act together before you meet him, nor drop the apple to prove that you're somehow clean. He takes you, put the apple juice on your chin and the shame on your heart and the longing and ache in your soul, and he welcomes you and he loves you because he really understands. That's why God became a mammal.
That's what Christmas is all about. He is worthy because he's God and a sinless human being. He is worthy to save you, to hold you, to welcome you. He alone is worthy.
And that's the gospel. Alan Wright, our Good News message. He alone is worthy.
Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back joining me in the studio, sharing his parting Good News Christmas thought for the day here in just a moment. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we all seek moments of encouragement and hope as a heartfelt thank you for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. When you give today, we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, Thanksgiving and much more. This unique resource can be yours. Make your gift to the ministry today and get your blessing box.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan, our parting Good News thought for the day at the conclusion of this message, which actually was presented at a special Christmas Eve service sometime ago. And He Alone is Worthy, a great way to wrap up our series on this, Pastor Alan. Well, it just is built upon this really beautiful image that this Cistercian nun had drawn and became very widely distributed to show Eve.
What if she had met Mary? But in the image where Eve is kind of reaching towards the distended belly of the mother of the Messiah and Mary's foot on the serpent and like the whole hope of what God would do. Sin came into the world, but God had a plan. And so, and that's part of my blessing for all our listeners is that regardless of whatever you might be walking through this Christmas season, that you would let the gift of the Savior lift you from all shame of any past regret or sin. He came to forgive that sin, and He came to redeem. So may it fill your soul with great assurance and great joy.
He alone is worthy. As we're looking towards the end of the year, just a gentle reminder here before life gets too incredibly busy with holidays. As a listener-funded organization, Alan Wright Ministries exists to proclaim the good news of the gospel, and we could not do it without your help. End of the year giving is very important. Yeah, Daniel, especially those that if you've thought about maybe helping us, this would be an excellent time to do that as if we could start coming to the end of the year. We know that there are many wonderful ministries and charitable opportunities that compete for our attention. If you've been blessed and you want to see the gospel of radical grace announced to others, your year-end giving is vital for us to be able to continue the ministry.
And we want to not only continue being on the radio stations where we currently serve, but we have dreams of continually expanding. Really, Daniel, almost every dollar that's given we can say is going to enable us to announce this message of grace in a very powerful way to thousands and thousands of people. Your contribution helps sustain the broadcast of Alan Wright Ministries in your city when you give a single gift, a gift of any amount, special year-end gift, or come on board with a recurring monthly gift. Thanks for supporting Alan Wright Ministries when you call 877-LITE-60 or visit pastoralan.org. Again, that's 877-LITE-60 or pastoralan.org. This good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
