Christmas Message Chapter :

In the book of Ruth, we're introduced into the concept of the goel. It means kinsman redeemer. What it is, is somebody that wants to redeem somebody out of bondage, out of slavery, out of debt. But there were some requirements for that, to be a kinsman redeemer, to be a goel.

The two requirements, first of all, you had to be willing, you couldn't be forced. Which reminds us the words of Jesus, who is our kinsman redeemer. He said, nobody takes my life from me.

I lay it down willingly. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. On today's program, we have one of David McGee's associate pastors with us.

Welcome, DA. Merry Christmas, Bob, and Merry Christmas to all you listening from Cross the Bridge and Pastor David. DA, what are some of the things that we need to be remembering as Christmas is quickly coming up Friday? During all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, Bob, we can't forget that Jesus came to offer his life as a sacrifice. He came to die so that we could live.

Let's hear more about that. Here's David McGee with his teaching, Why Did Jesus Come to Earth? As you look around, as you see the nativity, as you see the trees, as you see the different things and the gifts and the greenery and all this thing, it all causes us to wonder why, why did Jesus come to earth? And a lot of people have wondered this. They've written books about it, had discussions and whatnot. But you know, what we want to do is look at what the Bible says, because thankfully Jesus has actually told us why he came. And we can learn a lot by looking at the reasons he said he came and the reasons he said he didn't come. When we start talking about Christmas, we have to ask ourselves, you know, is this just a holiday that we recognize once a year? The answer determines a whole lot about each one of us, because each one of us has to answer that question.

And how we answer that question not only determines how we live, but actually determines how we die. Now, there are things in our discussion that we'll go ahead and throw out on the table and be open about. December 25th, is that the date? We don't know. We're not sure. It's the date that we've agreed upon. And for me, you know what?

That's enough. We've agreed on this date. Let's call this the date because, you know, this is when we've chosen to celebrate it and to put it in June at this point, it'd be a little weird. So in probably in actuality, it's probably not the date. The shepherds probably wouldn't have had the sheep out in the fields in the dead of winter.

They'd have them corralled or in the cave or in a manger type of thing. So I'm not sure of the date, but you know what? Even that, when I mentioned the lands, the sheep that the shepherds were watching, who got that announcement, there is so much prophetic fulfillment in the Bible that it is past a mathematical probability that the Bible is true. What I mean is there's so many confirmed prophecies in here that is a mathematical improbability that the Bible is not true.

It's definitely true. It could not have predicted the future. Such things as those shepherds who were watching those sheep, those sheep were actually the Passover sheep that were used as sacrifices to place the blood upon the doorpost that the angel of death passed over, symbolizing Jesus Himself, that when His blood is applied to our lives, we are forgiven and the angel of death passes over and we can receive eternal life through Him.

So the date, eh, probably not, but we've agreed on the date. The cards that get sent, and if you've sent me cards with these things, please, I love them, I cherish them, I think they're awesome, but you know, a lot of them, they have this little barn sitting there and it looks really cute and it's really heartwarming and stuff, but you know, I've been to Israel a lot and there's not a lot of lumber there and the manger was probably not a barn. It was probably a small cave, which is where they used to keep animals and would feed them and whatnot. And also sometimes above the little barn, you see this, it's not even the star of Bethlehem, it's the supernova of Bethlehem over the little barn. And let me help you with this, there's a lot of fascinating things that could have been. A supernova, probably not, because Herod said, hey, when did this thing appear and where's it going and that sort of thing. And had it been a supernova, I think he would have noticed it. What's the big supernova that's making it like daylight in the middle of the night.

It's really, and I would encourage you to do some study on your own. We're not going to get into it today, but there was some movements in the constellations of the lion, which was symbolic of the tribe of Judah, which was of kingship and royalty in the nation of Israel. They were quite fascinating that were going on that I believe had to do with the star of Bethlehem rather than the supernova. So, you know, let's admit those things. Let's look at those things because I want to take a real look at this stuff. Now don't please, if you're, you know, maybe you've come here and you go, well, I came here to get encouraged and, you know, and now you've told me that we do it on the wrong date and you knocked down the manger and you blew out the star of Bethlehem.

Thanks a lot. I'm really encouraged. Thanks there, Pastor David. But see, I want to give you some real stuff to think about, to contemplate, and for you to make the decision. Is Christmas just another holiday? Or is it something much, much deeper?

Now I'll be upfront that I believe that it's something much, much deeper, that it is actually that God came from heaven to earth temporarily, so man could go from earth to heaven to live eternally. And that's part of the Christmas story. But I have reasons. This isn't just conjecture. I have reasons that I believe this. And, you know, with this celebration of Christmas is there's a hope.

And not just I hope it works out or I hope my favorite team wins, but a hope in the sense of an assurance of waiting on the passing of something. See, because with some of the things in Christmas, you have to ask yourself, is there something here that changes everything? And there is. When you consider that word Immanuel, God with us, that does have the power to change everything. And so when we talk about these things, what we want to do is look at the Bible, see what it has to say, see what it has to do with the celebration, and more exactly, what it has to do with you.

Now we're going to talk about different aspects and issues. One of them, and if you have your Bible, you can turn there, in Matthew 1, 1. This is the start of the New Testament. This is the first gospel in the line.

It may have not been the first chronological written gospel. We can talk about that another time, but it talks about the genealogies. And I've taught, and I've told you before, that in every genealogy in the Bible, there is something in there.

There's a reason that's there. We've connected all sorts of incredible stuff when we've been through these genealogies. Now, as we look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ, there's some interesting things that pop up. It says, verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. It was the twelve tribes.

Now, so far, you probably recognize these names. And Matthew, who was a tax collector, interestingly enough, has more statistics and more numbers than any of the other gospels because of his love for numbers. He, in this genealogy, divides 14, 14, 14, 7 being a biblically perfect heavenly number.

But let's move to verse 3. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Now, Tamar is somebody that we can read about in the book of Genesis. She was married, and her husband died. And biblically, what was supposed to happen was the brother was supposed to then marry her to look after her and to continue the line. The father-in-law in this case kind of shirked his duty, and he didn't do that. He said to her he would do this, but he didn't do it. And Tamar, in an act of desperation, dressed up as a harlot, as a prostitute, covered her face, and actually was a prostitute to her father-in-law to get his attention.

It's not a good way to get your father-in-law's attention, but I can't make this stuff up. This stuff is in there. So, Tamar does this and then comes back, and she has his signet and his ring and some other stuff, and he knows he's done wrong, and he repents, and the situation turns better. But here in the genealogy of Christ, we have this Tamar who played the role of a prostitute, and yet it's recorded.

Let's read on. Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Verse four, Ram begot Amenadab, Amenadab begot Neshan, and Neshan begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab. Rahab. There's another interesting character.

While Tamar played the role of a prostitute for a couple of days, Rahab, well, that was her profession. We read this in the Bible. But there was a man that came, Joshua, came to this city, and there's a beautiful story that she threw out a scarlet thread. We call it the scarlet thread of redemption, and she throws this thread out to say that she wants to be rescued by this man named Joshua, and there's an interplay there that's just beautiful because Joshua is his English name, his Hebrew name is Yeshua. The reason that's interesting is Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus.

So we have Jesus rescuing, or, you know, the picture of Jesus, Joshua, rescuing a prostitute long before we come to the story of Mary Magdalene in the New Testament. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor DA Brown. Hey, Bob, we're excited about what God is doing to Cross the Bridge with Pastor David, and we want to take a minute to pray for some listeners in these cities in Idaho, Mountain Home, Pocatello, Salmon, Sandpoint, and Twin Falls, and Decatur and Mount Vernon, Illinois.

God, we thank you for everyone tuning in today. We pray that they would have an expectant heart. Hey, you want to speak to them right now, knowing all situations that are going on in their life. Lord, we pray if they're going through some sickness, some health issues, that you would please heal them. And God, that you would remind them that you love them, you know what's going on, and you have a good plan, and you will be glorified in their life. And Lord, we pray for the pastors and churches in this area. We pray that they would be excited about following you. Lord, that they wouldn't grow weary in doing good. And Lord, that you would remind the pastors that they are loved, they are called, and that you're going to bless them. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Back to our genealogy, we've got a woman who played the role of a prostitute, we've got a woman who was a prostitute, and then we, verse 5, Simon begot Boaz Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, and Obed begot Jesse.

Ruth, let me mention this, because this is important. The book of Ruth will help you understand the Christmas story. You can't understand the Christmas story without understanding the Hebrew Scriptures. In the book of Ruth, we're introduced into the concept of the goel, is the Hebrew word. It means kinsman redeemer. What it is, is somebody that wants to redeem somebody out of bondage, out of slavery, out of debt, but there were some requirements for that, to be a kinsman redeemer, to be a goel. The two requirements, first of all, you had to be willing, you couldn't be forced, which reminds us the words of Jesus, who is our kinsman redeemer.

He said, nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down willingly. The second requirement was you had to be related to the person you were redeeming. This is a very important concept.

Why? This is why Jesus had to be both God and man. He needed to be related to us in order to redeem us. That's why he came through Mary. And Mary, there's another sanitized, we've kind of sanitized that whole portion of the Bible. But to understand that Mary was a young girl, unmarried, Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Now, betrothal is much more than being engaged.

In order to split up after you were betrothed, you needed to get rid of divorce. Imagine Mary popping up to Joseph and saying, Joseph, I'm pregnant. And Joseph, knowing he's been sexually pure with her, goes, what?

And she says to him, it's okay. It's the Holy Spirit's. Can you imagine the wide range of emotions that Joseph felt at that moment? On one hand, he probably thought, I'm betrothed to a lunatic. On the other, who is he?

I'll kill him. And yet, he didn't do anything like that. Now, you need to understand that with a word, Joseph could have had Mary executed. And we have to understand that at some point, that young man felt pain at what was going on.

There was confusion. Now, he ended up being spoken to in a dream. God uses dreams five times in the first two chapters of Matthew, first two chapters of the New Testament. God speaks to people five times in dreams. I believe he still speaks to people through dreams. But Joseph, who would have had to be the one to cast the first stone as the accuser, doesn't do that. God speaks to him through a dream and he accepts, he accepts that it is God who impregnated Mary.

That's an amazing thing to consider. That weighs heavy towards the incarnation. We use the incarnation, that's when God became a man so that people could become the children of God.

So, let's read on and see who else we can find in this list. Verse six, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Well, if you know much about the Bible, you realize it's speaking of Bathsheba. Bathsheba is the woman who David fell in lust, love with, and plotted the murder of her husband. It is a blemish on the nation of Israel and on David's kingship. And yet, you know what's weird?

It's in there. Why did Jesus put these people in his genealogy? Well, in part, this is what he had to work with.

People. He had no choice. And you know what? Honestly, we can kind of relate to this, can't we? I mean, it's Christmas, we're getting together with our family and you've probably hid certain things from your uncle Ed who's a little imbalanced and, you know, different things and different family members and you're like, ah. And yet, Jesus mentions them. Interesting thing is, Jesus was actually proud of his humanity. He used that in a good way. But he came.

Why? Why did he come? Well, let's look at some of the things he said. Matthew chapter five, verse 17, he said, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

What's he talking about? There were certain prophecies about the Messiah that had to be fulfilled and Jesus fulfilled not just one or two of them or some of them or part of them, he fulfilled every single one of them. Again, mathematically impossible.

I figured it out mathematically and you get into compound probabilities but it would be if you covered the entire state of North Carolina nine feet deep and marked one silver dollar and you blindfolded somebody and they got to choose one. Those are the odds that Jesus fulfilled 32 prophecies. Jesus fulfilled over 300 distinct prophecies.

Mathematical improbability, which again begs the question, who is he and why did he come? But again, he tells us, he doesn't leave it a mystery. He said, I came to fulfill, not to destroy but to fulfill. And it's interesting how we've spun the whole Christmas thing to be something so much different than what it is. And Jesus says, Matthew 10, 34, he says, do not think I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

I love to ask this. When's the last time you saw that on a Christmas card? I used to be able to say, I've never seen that on a Christmas card.

And then last year, a dear friend here made up a little Christmas card with that exact verse on the front of it. And in Luke 12, 51, a similar verse. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you not at all, but rather division. So Jesus came to bring division. I mean, the earth was already divided. Why did he come to bring division? Division between the religious people who didn't feel like they really needed God, but they could depend upon their own goodness and those who really knew they needed God to bring division between those two.

And there were and was and is sharp division between those groups still. One group actually began to feel like they were good enough for God. And let's think about that good enough for God. How good is good enough?

Well, see therein lies the problem. Good enough for God, the standards perfection. Now you may think of yourself as a good person, but honestly, perfect? I don't think so. And if you think you're perfect and you're married, just ask your spouse.

And when they quit laughing, they'll say, no, no. So the standards perfection, and let's understand something that God's nature is righteousness. He's perfect. He can't just lower or change his nature. He cannot be in the presence of sin.

And he may want a relationship with us or with you or with me, but since we have sinned and he can't be in the presence of sin, he can't have a relationship with us by nature. In other words, it's like, if I can use this analogy, it's like a fire with a dry leaf. If I take a dry leaf and I place it in the fire, the fire is not deciding to consume the leaf.

It's the nature of the two items that causes the consuming fire to consume the leaf. So it's a real problem in trying to have a relationship with God when the standard is perfection. And so part of the fulfillment of the Messiah was to come and live a perfect life and be tempted, but not sin. And the Bible records that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are, but he never sinned. See, to be tempted is not bad or wrong.

To give in or yield to the temptation is what sin is. Now, John 12, 27, and this is getting towards the garden. Jesus says this. He says, now my soul is troubled, but what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Jesus in the garden pleads with the Father and says, Father, if there is any other way, let's not do this, but not my will, but your will. Now, that's an interesting thing because in that moment, you need to understand that if there was any other way to heaven, surely the Father and his love would have allowed it and would have said, well, as a matter of fact, son, you can get there through Buddha and Confucius and Muhammad, so let's not do this thing.

But that's not what happened. Evidently, Jesus is, was the only way to heaven. He told us I am the way, the truth, and the life. So we need to understand that if we call ourselves a Christian, we cannot say that there's many ways to heaven because that's calling Jesus a liar, the one we claim that we're following. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven, and I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life, and I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him, and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ, or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12-515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27117, and share how God is working in your life.

You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Thanks again for listening and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.