The Stars & Scars of Christmas | Part 2

We serve a God with scars.

Listen closely to Truth Finding featuring the powerful lessons and insights from beloved pastor and Bible teacher, Adrian Rogers. In the Nativity story, the star pointed the wise men to Jesus. But we cannot have the stars of Christmas without the scars of Christmas. We have to remember Jesus was born to die for our sins. And these scars show us that Jesus suffered as we do. And he sympathizes with our pain.

He knows, he cares. He did not have to suffer, yet he moved into our suffering and took it on himself so that we could be saved from our sins. If you have your Bible, turn now to the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 24, as Adrian Rogers concludes the stars and scars of Christmas. Did you know that the only man-made thing in heaven are the scars of Jesus Christ? Jesus visited earth and when he went back to heaven, he took some souvenirs of his visit with him. Those souvenirs are the scars in his hands and the scar in his side. He has kept those scars as a lasting memorial of his humanity through all eternity. When Jesus comes again, one of the ways that we will know that it is the dear Savior of the many ways are the blessed scars. Put in your margin, Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 6, And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? And he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. When he comes again, when he comes again, he will bear those blessed scars.

So, I want us to think about the stars and the scars of Christmas. And the three things as we think about God in human flesh that I want you to learn about the scars of the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, the scars tell us that as a man, Jesus suffered. Now, it's very important that you understand this, that as a man, Jesus suffered. In John chapter 20, verse 17, Jesus invited Thomas to examine those scars. They were brute testimony to the fact that Jesus indeed was pierced with those hideous nails. Now, here's a big question.

Why? Why would God Almighty who could do anything, whatever he wants, whenever he wants, why would he choose to suffer? Second point, not only do the scars of Jesus tell us that as a man, he suffered, but the scars of Jesus tell us that as a man, Jesus sympathizes, that Jesus understands. When I go into a home that's been a death, a tragedy, the loss of a child or whatever, I try never to say I understand because it's an insult to the person who's suffering.

They say, no, you don't understand, and they're right. Nobody really knows the hurt. Nobody really knows the pain in the human heart except Jesus. Our Lord suffered and our Lord sympathizes, and the pain that he allows us to have is really proof of his love. The pain that he allows us to have is proof of his love. After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God said, cursed is the ground.

Now, listen to this, for your sake. He didn't say for your punishment, but for your welfare. For your sake, thorns and thistles would it bring forth to you. God put a curse on the environment in which we live because the worst thing could happen to us would be for us to have the sickness, the infection of sin, and to feel no pain. There is the protecting purpose of pain. Thank God for pain, it tells us something is wrong. Pain has a unifying factor. Do you know what unifies a church? Suffering.

Do you know what brings people together? Suffering. The Bible says when one member suffers, all members suffer with it.

Dr. Brand said, I can tell the health of a human body by its reaction to pain. If it doesn't react to pain, there is something wrong. You can tell the health of a church by its reaction to pain.

How much does a church care for the homeless, the sick, those with broken hearts and broken hopes and broken homes? A church is unified by pain. Pain has a protecting purpose. Pain has a unifying purpose, and pain has a correcting purpose. The Word of God allows pain to protect us. And if it weren't for the pain, we would never know that we're being hurt. You put your hand on a hot stove and there's a message that goes immediately to your brain and says, it's hot down here. And the brain says, well, move.

And it moves just like that. Now, you don't realize you're doing all that thinking, but you're doing that because that pain says that you need to protect yourself. Pain comes in all kinds of forms. There is physical pain. There is emotional pain.

There is spiritual pain. And Americans want to kill pain at any cost. That's the reason we have so many sedatives. That's the reason kids get on drugs, to kill the pain. That's the reason some adults are on drugs, to kill the pain.

Now, there is a legitimate use of medicine. But many are trying to dull their sensibilities. They turn to their parents and they turn to drugs. And I want to tell you, when kids get on drugs, they really don't care what their parents think.

They are in another world. Some turn to alcohol. And it's kind of pathetic to see adults addicted to alcohol criticizing young people addicted to drugs. Why do people turn to alcohol so many times to kill the pain? A man's drunk. He says, I'm feeling no pain. He says, I'm going to drown my troubles.

Those troubles can swim. The Japanese have a proverb, first the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes the man. Why do we do this? Why do people have an affair?

Why do they commit adultery? Many times, trying to kill the pain of insecurity and loneliness. One of the biggest sedatives that we have today is television.

People watch television because they can't face themselves and they live in a make-believe world. The problem is that many people take a sedative when they need a Savior. The pain is to tell us that something is wrong. Now, Jesus gives us peace and joy, not primarily to remove the pain.

That'll be done at the rapture. But to help us to endure the pain. Now, when we see scars in the hands of Bethlehem's babe, they are a testimony to His humanity, a God with scars. They tell us, as God, He suffered. As man, He suffered. As God, He sympathizes. As man, He sympathizes. He knows how we feel. He understands. And Jesus will hear the cries of a blind beggar before He hears the cries of a proud Pharisee. Now, here's the third thing. Not only do the scars of Jesus tell us that as a man, Jesus suffered, and not only do they tell us that as a man, Jesus sympathizes, but the scars of Jesus tell us as a man, Jesus saves.

That is so important that you understand this. Why was He nailed to that hellish cross? Why did He step out of glory? Why did He allow Himself to be pierced? Why were those nails put into His quivering hands and to those precious feet? Why? Well, the Bible says without shedding of blood is no remission of sin.

Now, I want to remind you something, friend. Jesus did not have to suffer. He could have refused the cross. Jesus said, no man taketh my life from me.

I lay it down on myself. Jesus was the only man who ever chose to die. You say, what about his suicide? He doesn't choose to die. He only chooses the time of his death. He's going to die anyway.

And a new statistic out on death, one out of one people die. Jesus was the only one who had no sin in himself. He could have refused death. He said, no man taketh my life from me.

I lay it down on myself. It was not those nails that held him to the cross. It was love. He did not have to suffer, but he did suffer. May I ask you a question? Those of you who have children and those children suffer, those children are in trouble.

Those children are in pain. Would you rather not know about it, or would you rather know about it so that you can move in and do something about it? Suppose you and your wife are celebrating an anniversary. You're taking that once-in-a-lifetime vacation, and you're in a hotel in Hawaii, and you have a child here left at home, and that child is in an automobile accident. Question, would you want your vacation interrupted if your child was in an automobile accident? I mean, after all, if nobody told you, you didn't know, wouldn't you just rather be over there in paradise not knowing that your child was suffering, because when you know your child is suffering, then what does that do to the vacation?

Immediately you pack, you leave everything, and you go back home. Which of you would say, well, I'd rather not know. I'd just rather live in my oblivious happiness? Of course not. Of course not. There's not a parent, there's not a mother or father in this room who would say, if my child is suffering, I don't want to know about it.

You see, theoretically you could say, I'm going to Hawaii. Nobody called me about anything. I don't want to know about anything. We're just interested in our joy, our felicity, our good time.

No. If you love somebody, when they hurt, you hurt, and when you can do something about it, if you can, you want to, and if you can't do anything about it, you still want to be there to hurt with them and suffer with them. The question I say is not, why does man suffer? Why did God suffer? I'll tell you why God suffered. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. Isaiah 53, verse 3, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

He loves us. There was a wayward boy who had so disgraced his parents, and they had given him chance after chance after chance, and he had failed, embarrassed them, and hurt them, and wounded them, and refused them, and rebelled against them. One man, this was his son, was talking to another man, and the other man gave this suffering father this advice. He said, I'll tell you what I would do. If that were my son, here's what I would do, and this man giving advice to the brokenhearted father was telling him how he should just cast this son off and be done with him and seal him off, and he said, if that's my son, that's what I would do, and this father said, yes, and if he were your son, that's what I would do, but he's not your son.

He's my son, and I can't do that. He is my son, and friend, God loves us. There's no one here that God does not love. There's no one that God does not want to save, and you see, he's God in human flesh, and the question is, why does God suffer?

We might say that he does suffer, and we might say that he might be a sympathizing Savior, but he suffers that he might be a Savior who sympathizes that he saves. Put this scripture down, 2 Corinthians 5, 19, to wit. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. God was in Christ. Why did God become a man? Our dominion was lost by man.

It must be legally regained by man. 2 Corinthians 15, verse 21, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. You say, well, I didn't vote for Adam. I don't think I ought to be held responsible for his sin. You ought to be so grateful, dear friend, that God, who not only counts the human race guilty in Adam, also counts the human race by faith justified in Christ. I'm so grateful that I have in Jesus a redemption that Jesus did for me what I could never do for myself, and I had rather be a saved sinner than an innocent angel in Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive.

Listen to this, Hebrews 2, verse 9, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. The scars tell me that Jesus saves, that Jesus saves. When my first son was born, Steve, my pastor said to me, Adrian, you will understand something different now about the love of God. Before you have a child of your own, you think of the great love the Savior had when he died for us, but when you have a child of your own, you think of the love of the Father who gave his son.

That is so true. That is so true for God. So loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. God was in Christ. He was God, but he was man. As God he was sinless, but as a man he suffered because there needed to be a sinless substitute.

Without shedding of blood is no remission. Think not only of the stars, but the scars of Christmas. Listen, Jesus came to earth that we might go to heaven. Jesus was born of a virgin that we might be born again.

Jesus became the Son of Man that we might become the sons and the daughters of God. Jesus died that we might live. The scars tell us that as a man Jesus suffered. The scars tell us that as a man Jesus sympathizes. The scars tell us that as a man Jesus saves. Hallelujah, he does. Now let me come to the conclusion of this message, and I want to lay several things upon your heart.

Listen carefully now. Jesus had some scars, and if you follow Jesus, so will you. God had only one Son without sin, but he didn't have any Son without suffering. Philippians 3 verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.

If you think you're going to get out of this world unscarred, you're not going to do it. There's no fine print in the contract, and there is the suffering that comes with serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 6 verse 17, the apostle Paul says, I bear in my body the scars of the Lord Jesus. Now Paul could say that literally because the lash had been laid upon his back, but he's using the word here stigmata. I bear the nail prints in my body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

May I tell you, friend, listen carefully now. Those of you who are going to a sedative rather than the Savior, your scars may be your greatest ministry. What was it that caused Thomas to believe? Thomas said, except I see the scars I'll not believe. Jesus said, all right, Thomas, put your finger here. Put your finger here.

Put your hand there. Do you know what a scar is? A scar is a wound that has healed. And when Thomas saw the scars, Thomas saw him crucified, but now Thomas sees he is raised, he is victorious, he is overcome. And Thomas believed. Did you know that there are people who are going to believe in Jesus when they see your scars?

Did you know that? When you can testify that Jesus has healed me. Here are my wounds, red and raw and bloody. But Jesus has healed me.

I've seen it happen so many times. As you know, Joyce and I have a little boy in heaven. When our son died, to us it was like a crucifixion. And deep and red was the wound. But we carried it to Jesus. And Jesus healed it. The first scripture that I saw after our son died, I never even noticed it in the Bible before.

Blessed be God, the God of all comfort, the Father of all mercies who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort others with the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. I've seen Joyce put her arms around mothers who've lost little ones and give comfort. Do you know how she could do it? With her scars. With her scars.

With her wound that has been healed. Are you hurting today? Is there a pain? Is there a problem?

Is there a heartache? Don't listen to me. Bring your wounds to Jesus. He understands.

He cares. Bring your wounds to Jesus and use your scars for Jesus. Use your scars for Jesus. That may be your greatest testimony.

Not that you've sailed through life without feeling any pain. Not that God has protected you as his little darling, but that God has been with you as a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was at all points tempted like as we, yet without sin. I want you now in your mind to imagine our risen Savior. I want you to see him on the throne of his glory, and I want you to see in his hands the print of the nails that will save them for all eternity. And I want you to see those nail-scarred hands reaching to you right now.

And if you've never done it, would you not like to put your hand in that hand and say, save me, Lord Jesus? Thank you that you are the God-man. Thank you that as a man you suffered, as a man you sympathize, and as a man you save. Pray it in me. I want to guide you in a prayer, and in this prayer you can ask Christ to save you, and I promise you on the authority of the Word of God that he will save you and he will keep you.

Pray this prayer. Dear Jesus, thank you that as a man you died on the cross for me. God of very God, you did not have to suffer, and yet you did. You chose to suffer because you love me, and I receive you by faith as my Lord and Savior. Save me, Jesus. Pray it in me.

Did you ask him? Then pray this way. Thank you for doing it. Lord, if you'll just give me the strength, I'll make it public.

I'll not be ashamed of you because you died for me. In your holy name, amen. Welcome to God's forever family.

We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call 1-877-LOVEGOD and order The Stars and Scars of Christmas. This message is also part of the powerful Christmas series God in Human Rights, and it's available on our website. And if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, this is also part of the powerful Christmas series God in Human Flesh. For the complete collection, all four dynamic messages, call that number, 877-LOVEGOD, or go to lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us to order at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks so much for studying in God's Word with us today. We hope you enjoyed today's message. And remember, God has not only of the stars, but the scars of Christmas. Jesus had scars, and if we follow him, so will we. Let your pain point people to the gospel. Testify of how God healed you. And if you're suffering today, bring your wounds to Jesus.

Use your scars for his glory. And be sure to join us next time for more timeless truth on Love Worth Finding. Well, the end of 2020 is approaching, and I know a lot of people have said, I can't wait for this year to be over. You know, Love Worth Finding has experienced, even in these confusing, troubling times, an opportunity to make a difference for the kingdom. We believe that this is one of the best times ever to make that kind of eternal difference. Love Worth Finding is giving opportunity. One of our generous partners has given a gift with the hope of encouraging you to give above and beyond before we reach the end of the year. Help us get the messages of Adrienne Rogers, that profound biblical teaching, into more lives. Give a gift right now by calling us at 1-877-LOVEGOD, or go to lwf.org slash radio. Help us finish 2020 strong opportunities in 2021.