The Real Story Of Christmas - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. When you think of just how profound this is, the Word became flesh. God became flesh, the transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, glorious God. He becomes like one of us, a baby boy. He becomes one of his creatures. God became something he had never been without erasing all that he'd always been. That's a mystery.

That is really difficult to understand. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. He is the eternal one. He is the revealed one. He is the promised one. And then verse 10.

He is the rejected one. Up till now, it seems like you're anticipating this is great. This story is going to really be wonderful. It's a happy ending story.

It could be a Hallmark movie. You know, it's working in the right way. And then all of a sudden you find the reality of it all. He said he was in the world and the world was made through him. The world did not know.

What a sad statement that is. Not that he was just in the world, but he made the world. Not that he's just among men, but he made men. And they reject him. He said in verse 11, he came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. Not now he moves from the whole world to the nation Israel, specifically Judah.

He comes to Israel as the Messiah and they reject him. They say we want nothing to do with you. You're Beelzebub. You're the Lord of the Flies. You're of the devil. And Jesus said when you did that, you just committed an unpardonable sin. Because I can't help you now.

There's no help that I can give you. His own reject him. Amazing statement. The eternal one. That's the baby. The revealed one. The promised one.

The rejected one. And then it turns in verse 12, he's the saving one. He said, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. Even those who believe in his name. As many as received him. Notice it doesn't say he gave them the power to be children of God.

They didn't need any power. That'd be exousia. Now this Greek word is the right. He said if you receive the son, if you receive the word, if you receive Jesus Christ. That's what this verse says. If you just receive Jesus Christ. He said he gave you the right to become the children of God.

That's been true since then. That's an amazing statement. To the Jews it was profound because they never thought of it that way. They always thought of it as what I have to do for God to be pleased with me in order to be a child of God. I have to live out my life through the law the best that I can. There's always some kind of religious antidote to this.

There's always some way of we have to do this on our own. He says no, you just have to receive him. If you receive him, he said, you'll be called the children of God. And even though the word here is tekna, which is a sort of a nominal word for children. The Apostle Paul said in Romans that not only are we children of God, but we cry out Abba, Father.

Abba, the Aramaic word which in English would be daddy. This is profound to the Jews. Wait a minute, he can be my daddy? I can have that kind of intimacy with God because I just received the son? Yes, that's what the word of God says. Yes, you've got the right. You're a child of God.

Wow, what a statement. He said as many as received them, he gave the right to be children of God even those who believe in his name. Believe in his name. What's it mean to believe in his name? That I believe that's his name?

I believe, what's his name? In Hebrew, to the Jewish mindset, the name means everything you are and all you do. That's your name. That's how you have a good name. You see, a good name isn't a first name that rhymes with your last name like it is in our culture. A good name means there you have the character to back up your life. You believe in his name.

And I always have to say this because usually someone's always here, it's profound. And remember what his name is. His name is Yeshua. That's his name, Bar Joseph. That's his name. His name is not Jesus Christ.

Okay? Jesus isn't Hebrew, it's not even Greek. We turn it into a name. There's nothing wrong with Jesus. That's sort of for Joshua or Yeshua. But his last name is not Christ.

Okay? It doesn't say that in his mailbox. It doesn't say this is where the Christ lived. He is Jesus the Christ. Christos means Messiah. He is Yeshua the Messiah. But all that that means, who he is, he's God. He's the eternal one. He's the revealed one. He's the promised one. He said you've got to believe in all of that in order to be saved. He says and don't mistake this. I love verse 13. Who were born, those who are children of God, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God. You can't inherit salvation. You cannot.

I say this all the time in application to us. Please understand God doesn't have any grandchildren. He only has children. This is a decision everybody has to make on their own. The Jews thought that they could inherit their relationship with God because of their forefathers and they were wrong. You can't do that. It doesn't occur that way.

Not the way you were born or the blood. It's not the will of the flesh. It's not that you really go seeking God out and God says well you found me. What's Romans say? How many seek God?

None. God says I seek you. I look for you. You see, salvation always begins with God. For God so loved the world. He sent his only begotten son. God is seeking us.

He seeks out you. This is initiated completely by God. He says not of the will of man.

It's not something that man can do on his own. He said it's all, he said, of God. So what's he told us so far? He's told us that the baby that was born in Bethlehem is the eternal one. He's the revealed one. He's the promised one. He's the rejected one.

And he's the saving one. And then in verse 14, the whole story of Christmas in one verse. Notice what it says. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It's the first time the Logos has shown up since verse 1. He hasn't said anything about the Logos since verse 1. In verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then he says now, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Wow.

That's Christmas. The Word became flesh. It's the most profound thing that ever happened. Because we know the Word is God.

God became flesh. That's a mystery. How do you explain that? How do you understand that?

I mean, we know all of the factors about it. We know that he was born of a virgin. We understand that. We understand that over the centuries, we've come away with a theology that says he's truly God and truly man, or fully God and fully man.

We know all that. But when you think of just how profound this is, the Word became flesh. God became flesh. The transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, glorious God becomes like one of us.

A baby born. He becomes one of his creatures. God became something he had never been without erasing all that he'd always been. That's a mystery.

That is really difficult to understand. That's what the Word is. And God became flesh and dwelt among us. And then these words, we saw his glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What an interesting thing for John to say. We saw the glory.

We saw it. John never got over this in his whole life. Remember, he's writing here on 90.

90 AD. This is 60 years later. And he can't help himself. We saw the glory. We saw it. Hold your place and go with me to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1.

Now notice what John writes in verse 1. He said, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked on and touched with our hands concerning the Word of life. And the life was manifested. And we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, was manifested to us. And we have seen and heard and proclaimed it to you also so that you may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. He said these things right so that our joy would be made complete.

John, this is what he's saying. I saw God. I talked to him. I touched him. I touched him. That's the glory he's talking about. I touched God.

I did. John says I can't get over that. What a remarkable thing this is. John said it was incredible. You see, one of the things that's so amazing about God is that we say, well, no one has seen God at any time. That was true.

That's true, except when he showed up. You see, once he showed up and you say, I'd like to know what God's like. OK, I'll tell you how to find out. Read the gospels. You want to know what God's like?

Read the gospels. Because there he is. You see, and the word was God.

You see, that's the point. He says that is what happened. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He says, and we saw his glory. Not in a way that you would think it. This isn't transfiguration. This isn't, wow, look at him. He can barely look at him.

He's shining all white and light like in the book of Revelation chapter one or in the transfiguration. He said, no, I saw his glory. I heard him speak. And he's going to define what part of the glory really had an impact on him.

This tremendous mystery. We beheld his glory. He said he's the only begotten. The only begotten.

Please understand what he means when he says that. When he says that he is the only begotten. Monogenis. It means he's the one and only.

Mono, single. He's the one and only of God. Don't let some cult member try to tell you, see, he was begotten of the Father. He was born of the Father.

That's not what the verse says at all. He's the one and only. He's the one and only that truly loved. For example, in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, it says that Isaac is the only begotten of Abraham. Was he? Wasn't Ishmael begotten by Abraham? You see, no, he's not talking about that. He's talking about the fact that he is the one and only, the loved one. You see, that's what he is. He said he's the only begotten of God.

It has nothing to do with orientation of how he came into being. It has to do with his relationship with God. And it says, and he is full, he says full of grace and truth. That's his glory.

We were singing not long ago, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Charles Wesley. The great founder of Methodism. And Wesley said this in that song that was amazing. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

What a great statement that is. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Incarnate deity.

That's what happens at Christmas. God went to infinite lengths to make himself someone you can know. He said he is full of grace.

And truth, full of grace and truth. How many other things is he full of? He doesn't say anything about that. He doesn't talk about his love, his mercy, his wisdom, his knowledge, his power, his justice, his holiness, his immutability, his compassion, his omniscience on the presence, omnipotence, his anger, his wrath, his kindness, his patience.

Doesn't talk about that. He said, no, he's full of grace and truth. That's a summary of John. What was it like to touch him? What was it like to be there with him? What was it like to walk with him for three and a half years?

What was that like? He said, I'll tell you, he's just full of grace and truth. He's true. Remember in John 8? Jesus said, when you find me, you find the truth. And the truth will set you free.

When you find me, you find the truth. And John says, we found him. And he says, and he's full of grace.

Full of grace. Notice, he says in verse 15, John testified about him and cried out, saying, this is he whom I had said. He who comes after me is of higher rank than I, for he existed, not was born, existed. He says, before me. He said, for of his fullness, we have all received.

And then I love those words. Grace. Upon grace. What a great way to express this grace upon grace. How much grace, grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon grace. You want a picture of the grace of God?

Go to the Gulf or to an ocean, stand on the seashore and watch the waves come in. They're always coming. That's the grace of God. He said, my grace just keeps coming and coming and coming. Grace upon grace upon grace.

That's what he says. That's why Paul said, look, in Romans five, he said, we stand in grace. That's where we stand. That's where we have our being. He said in verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

Isn't that amazing? He starts out with the word, the logos, and he said the logos is God. And then he starts talking about him, the logos.

And now he's as clear as he can be. Who is him? Who is the logos?

Jesus Christ. He said, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten, the one and only, he said, God. Notice, the one and only God who is in his bosom of the Father, he has explained him.

He has explained him. That's Christmas. I mean, we get caught up in so many of the other things. We talk about Christmas on so many levels, and we see this sweet story, and there's no room at the inn. And she was in labor, and she's writing a little borrow.

We're not sure of that, but we think she's writing a little borrow. I mean, we make up all kinds of stories about all this. I don't want to destroy your imagery for Christmas, but we sang the song. There were three wise men that came from the east. Well, they weren't there at Christmas, by the way. They were there way later than that. And we don't know if there were three, but we know this. They didn't ride camels. I know your nativity sets belong for that. They rode horses.

They're Persians. You see, we make these beautiful, romantic stories about the imagery, but this is the reality. The reality of what really is going on at Christmas is the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the logos of God, the eternal one, the revealed one, the promised one, the rejected one, the saving one, the glorious one, Emmanuel, God with us. Phillips Brooks may have said it best in Lolulotan of Bethlehem, how silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in. This year I beg you, think about the meaning of Christmas, how extraordinary this was, because your hope, your security, the promise of heaven for you, is all because of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

It's so profound and so important. You realize that if you believe in the incarnation of the Word of God, of God himself in human flesh, just what we read, all the other issues that might be in your head if you're a skeptic are resolved. Well, I'm not really sure he could walk in water.

No one can. You see, I'm not really sure that blind people saw. I'm not really sure he fed 5,000 people with just a few pieces of food.

I'm not really sure about a lot of things like that. Well, listen, if that was God coming in the flesh, then he's God. So if you believe that, you shouldn't have trouble that he walked on water.

He's God. You see, all of the other skeptical things that we think about somehow are dismissed if you understand and believe in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And that's the message of Christmas. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Let's pray. Father, we're so familiar with the Christmas story that we can miss it. We think even from a biblical point of view, we think of all of the things that happened on that night and we thought about this, this extraordinary little baby being born. Thank you for John giving us the theology behind that birth. Thank you for his insight into this baby born in Bethlehem because he's none other than God incarnate. Father, I thank you for this miracle of his birth because after that birth, his life and death have so much meaning now. To people just like me who have put our faith and trust in as many as received him, he's given the right to be called the children of God. Thank you, Father, that I'm your child. Thank you for each of these people who know you through Christ. In Jesus' name we thank you.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .