"Three Christmas Questions"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now, let's get to the Word of God. Now when we think about Christmas in modern day America, I think most people immediately are inclined to think of, you know, little baby Jesus in the manger. But folks, what we really ought to be focusing on when we talk about Christmas is the full grown Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

Listen to what the Bible says, Matthew 16. It says, From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and be raised to life on the third day. And in Matthew 16, Jesus makes it clear to his disciples that his primary purpose in coming to earth was not to serve as the central figure in a manger scene, but rather it was to go to Jerusalem and to die on the cross. And in light of that, we want to ask and answer three important questions today that relate to Christmas and to the role of the Lord Jesus Christ here on our earth. Number one, our question is, what was the problem that the Lord Jesus was out to fix by going to the cross? Number two, why did it have to be Jesus who died on the cross instead of somebody else? And number three, how does the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christmas fit in to all of this? So we got a lot to cover.

Let's start. Question number one is, what was the problem that Jesus was out to fix by going to the cross? Well, friends, this is a theological question, and it therefore requires a theological answer. And to get the answer, we have to go all the way back to the very beginning to the Garden of Eden. Genesis Chapter two, verse 15 says, Then the Lord God took Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it. God made Adam, the Bible says, from the dust of the ground, and God then put him in the Garden of Eden and gave him two jobs. Job number one was to cultivate and take care of the garden.

Job number two was to enjoy living every day in intimate personal relationship with Almighty God. And, you know, there in the garden, God only gave one restriction to Adam and Eve. Genesis 2 16 and the Lord God said to Adam, You may eat freely from any tree in the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat, for if you eat of it, you will surely die.

So long. Wait a minute. You know, there's a seeming contradiction here because, as we all know, Adam and Eve did eat from that tree and they did not die. In fact, Adam lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old. Well, friends, let me answer that seeming contradiction exactly the way the Bible answers it by telling you that the Bible teaches that there are two kinds of death. There is physical death and there is spiritual death. It's true that Adam and Eve did not die physically right away, although they did die physically eventually. But the Bible teaches that spiritually their death was immediate. Genesis chapter one through three tells us that before they ate from this tree, Adam and Eve walk with God. They talked with God. They had a deep, intimate relationship with God. But as soon as they ate of this tree, all of that radically changed.

Genesis three eight. Then Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from God's presence among the trees of the garden. Now, Adam and Eve, they had never run away from God before. They had never hidden from God before.

They had never been afraid of God before. So what happened that all of a sudden destroyed the free and open relationship they had had with God up to this point? Well, folks, what it was is that the part of them where they connected with God, their spirits had died exactly the way God said would happen if they disobeyed. And, you know, not only did their spirits die, but Adam and Eve sin caused the whole human race to die spiritually. And that's problem number one that the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross to fix for us.

Let me explain a little bit more about this first problem. The Bible says that by their disobedience, Adam and Eve injected, if you will, a defective gene into the entire human race. The Bible calls it a sin nature. It is an inborn propensity to do wrong that's embedded in every single human sperm and human egg. And every person born from the union of human sperm and human egg inherits this sin nature like it or not. You say, come on, you don't really believe this, do you? I mean, you don't really believe every person is born with an inbred tendency to do wrong, do you? Friends, I have raised four two year olds and I believe this totally, totally I believe this. Maybe you've seen here in Washington the ads on buses and billboards sponsored by the American Humanist Association this Christmas.

The ads say, and I quote, Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness sake. Well, but you see, that's the problem, isn't it? If we could be good, if we could do right, if doing right and being good came easy for goodness sake or for any other reason, well, Enron would still exist. Martha Stewart would never have gone to jail. Plaxico Burress would still be playing football. Elliot Spitzer would still be governor of New York. The world would be a kinder and gentler place and you and I would get in a lot less trouble than we get in.

No, no, I'm sorry. Being good does not come easy for the human race. And the Bible tells us why that's true. And it's interesting that science is finally catching up to the Bible in this regard. Time magazine, an article entitled Science and Original Sin. And I quote, The doctrine of original sin says that at birth, we all inherit Adam's sinfulness, but it is also a claim about human nature. It says that we are inclined to do wrong. That we all have a hereditary dark side, that sin results from biological drives pass through the human lineage ever since its origins makes scientific sense.

End of quote. Hey, you know what God's been telling us this in the Bible for centuries, friends, and it's wonderful to see scientists finally catching up. Now, because we all have this Adamic sin nature, the Bible says that this makes us all liable to God for the very same penalty.

The very same death penalty that God pronounced on Adam and Eve. This is why Romans 512 says, Therefore, just as to one man, Adam, sin entered the world and death through sin, watch so death spread to all men. And this is why every descendant of Adam and Eve comes into this world spiritually dead, just like Adam and Eve were. This is why Ephesians chapter two, verse one says that we are born dead in our trespasses and our sins with dormant, lifeless spirits disconnected from Almighty God. You remember the song that Bette Midler sang from a distance a few years ago where the refrain goes on. God is watching us from a distance.

Well, I hate to tell her, but she's wrong. God is not at a distance from the human race. God is not far away from the human race. In fact, God is up close and personal to the human race and transmitting all the time.

It's just that our receivers are broken. This is problem number one that the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross to resolve for us. You say, But Lon, OK, so maybe we're spiritually dead and maybe that keeps us from having an intimate relationship with God. But Lon, is this problem so monumentally important that God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross just to fix this? Well, actually, this is an important problem that needs to be fixed. But no, there's a second problem that the Lord Jesus Christ came to fix for you and me on the cross.

And here it is, folks. Problem number two is that people who enter physical death in a state of spiritual death face eternal separation from God in eternity in a horrible place the Bible calls hell. Now, it's not very popular in our world today to talk about hell, but the fact that we don't like to talk about it doesn't change the fact that this place exists. Listen to what Jesus said in the Bible about how he was telling the story of two men, a rich man who died and went to hell and a fellow named Lazarus, a poor beggar who died and went to heaven.

Here's the story. Luke, 16 in hell, the rich man being in torment, Jesus says, lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham in heaven far away with Lazarus by his side. And the rich man cried out and said, Father Abraham, please have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am in agony in this fire. And Abraham said, gosh, I'm sorry, because between us and you, that is between heaven and hell, a great chasm has been fixed, kind of like a spiritual Grand Canyon, if you will, so that those who want to go from here in heaven to you cannot stop there a minute. You know, it's interesting to note here that things are so bad in hell that people in heaven urgently want to go there to help the poor people that are there.

And the Bible says they can't. And the verse continues, nor can anyone cross over from where you are, that is in hell, to us in heaven. Friends, would you notice four things the Lord Jesus tells us about hell here? Number one, he tells us it is a real place where real people go. Number two, he tells us that it's a place where people are conscious and awake and aware for all of eternity. Number three, he tells us that it is a place of torment and agony and fire. And finally, number four, and most tragic of all, he tells us it is a place of no return.

Remember what the Bible says, there is a great chasm fixed. And once a person is there in hell, there is no way ever, ever to reverse our eternal destiny. Listen, friends, Jesus went to the cross for you and for me because he knew the awful reality of hell. Jesus would not have died on the cross for a myth. Jesus would not have died on the cross for a legend. He knew this was a real place and he went to the cross to save you and me from having to go there.

So let's summarize. What did we learn? We've learned there is a twofold problem that Jesus was out to rectify on the cross for you and me. Number one, he was out to resuscitate our dead spirits and reconnect us to God. And number two, he was out to deliver us from eternity in hell. And that leads to our second question, which is, well, why did it have to be Jesus who died on the cross to fix this instead of somebody else?

Well, good question. Remember what we've already learned, that God's law demands that the death penalty be paid for each member of Adam's race. This was the penalty for disobedience that God pronounced, promised and decreed in the garden on Adam and Eve and every one of their descendants. And, you know, the Bible repeats this penalty down through its pages. Ezekiel 18 for the soul that sins, it will die. Romans six twenty three, the wages of sin is death. Now, in the Old Testament, God set up a system of animal sacrifices to teach us a great truth about all of this. And that truth is that God will accept a substitute.

God will accept someone else dying in our place, paying this penalty for us. But that substitute had to meet one very important requirement. That substitute had to be without blemish.

It had to be perfect and spotless and flawless in every way. And one more fact, the Bible also makes it clear that these animal sacrifices were just a temporary fix for our sin. Hebrews 10 for says, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, to achieve a permanent solution for man's sin. Sooner or later, the Bible says a man had to die for mankind. But remember, it had to be a perfect man, a spotless man, a sinless man, a blemish less man.

Well, all of a sudden, guess what? You and I are disqualified. None of us could possibly meet that test and die on the cross to pay for somebody else's sin because none of us can possibly live a sinless life. This being true, my friends, the only solution God had to fix our problem was that he had to take on human nature himself. And he had to live a sinless life here on earth himself. And he had to go to the cross and pay for our sin himself as this spotless substitute. And folks, this is exactly what God did in the person of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4 15, he that is Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he was without sin.

Second Corinthians 5 21 says God made him that is Jesus Christ, who had no sin to become sin for us on the cross. Hey, may I point out to you that the Bible says the Lord Jesus frequented the temple in Jerusalem often, but that he never offered a sacrifice for sin there. You know why? He didn't need to on the cross. May I point out to you, Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them. But never once does the Bible ever record Jesus praying, Father, forgive me.

You know why? He didn't need to. This is why First Peter Chapter one says you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, look, a lamb without blemish or spot. Why does the Bible go to such great lengths to establish this point that Jesus was spotless, that Jesus was sinless? Because, folks, if Jesus had had a sin nature like you and I do, he would not have qualified as this perfect substitute for sin in God's sight and his death on the cross would have meant nothing more than your death on the cross or my death on the cross.

And that leads us to our third question. And that is, all right, so how does the virgin birth of Christ and Christmas fit into all of this? Well, remember, we've already learned that every human body that comes from the union of sperm and egg, every such body has a sin nature in it. Since that's true, folks, a normal human birth could never have produced the kind of body that Jesus needed. It had to be an abnormal birth, a birth where human sperm and human egg never met, a birth that produced a body for Jesus that was human but not sinful. So how are we going to get God into a body that's human but at the same time not sinful?

Well, that's exactly what Christmas and the virgin birth is all about. By the virgin birth, God produced a body for Jesus that was not the result of the joining of human sperm and human egg, and therefore, Jesus had no sin nature. And therefore, Jesus was able to live a sinless life. And therefore, when Jesus offered himself on the cross as our substitute, when he offered his death for our death as the sinless Son of God, it was an acceptable sacrifice. It was a sacrifice that not only could God accept, but a sacrifice in his holiness God did accept. To put it another way, friends, the virgin birth was the only way that God could create a body for the Lord Jesus to take to the cross and offer in our place a body that was unblemished, that was untainted by sin, and a body whose death could serve as an acceptable substitute for sinners.

So let's summarize what we've learned today, okay? We've learned that God's justice demands death as the penalty for sin from every descendant of Adam and Eve, for all of us. We've also learned that Jesus Christ's death on the cross as the sinless Son of God satisfies this demand of God's holiness and God's justice for every person who avails themselves of it. For such people, people who avail themselves of the death of Christ on the cross, there has been, don't miss this, a real, literal, human, actual death paid for us as members of Adam's race. It's just the great news of the Bible is we don't have to pay it.

The Lord Jesus paid it for us. And folks, once our penalty for sin is paid in the sight of God, once next to our name in heaven, God writes, paid in full by the death of Christ, well, all kinds of good things happen now. God now in His justice and in His holiness is free to grant us eternal life. He's now free to grant us a place in heaven. He's now free to exempt us from hell.

He's now free to revive our dead spirits and to reconnect us to Him in intimate relationship. You say, all right, Lon. So you keep talking about I need to avail myself of the death of Christ. How do you do that?

Well, let's talk about that and we're done. You know, we avail ourselves of the death of Christ the same way we go to the doctor. It's real simple. When you go to the doctor, what do you do? Well, the first thing you do is you humble yourself and you walk in and admit you got a problem. Well, that's what we need to do. We need to come to God and humbly admit we have a problem. Our problem is we're spiritually dead and we're facing eternity in hell.

Secondly, what do you do when you go to a doctor? Well, you have to humbly admit that you can't fix this problem or solve it on your own. And that's exactly the condition the Bible says that we're in. All of our good works, all of our human effort. We can't pay that death penalty with human effort. This is why the Bible says Romans 3.20, no one, the Bible says, will ever be justified, will ever be acquitted in God's sight by human works. Church membership, baptism, saying the rosary, being bar mitzvahed, going to confession, trying to keep the Ten Commandments, trying to do good deeds, giving money to the church, singing in the choir, doing volunteer work. Listen, those are all fine things to do, but none of them are going to pay the death penalty you and I owe Almighty God.

This is why Titus chapter 3 says that our salvation is not by works of righteousness, which we have done. Finally, when you go to the doctor, what do you have to do? Well, you've got to humble yourself and be willing to accept, to take the prescription that the doctor prescribes. I mean, what good is it to go to the doctor, tell him you're sick, he figures out what's wrong, gives you the prescription and you won't take it? Well, some of us do that, but it's not very smart. Smart people go to the doctor and when he figures out what's wrong and gives you a prescription, you take it.

Well, listen, smart people take the prescription that Almighty God is offering us for our problem. And the prescription is to renounce all of our own effort to try to save ourselves, to try to earn our way into heaven and be right in the sight of God, instead to embrace the death of Jesus Christ on the cross as our one and only way of paying the debt we owe in the sight of God. This is why Acts 16 31 says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lean on the Lord Jesus Christ. Place all your reliance in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will, I love that word, you will be saved. Friends, the prescription God offers is for you and me to stop relying on anything we've ever done or could ever do to earn our way into God's right sight and instead to embrace the death of Christ on the cross as our one and only payment for sin and our one and only hope of eternal life in heaven.

Let's bow our heads together. Father, I want to thank you for the many of us here who have already done this. I want to thank you, Lord Jesus, that you loved us so much that you were willing to come and live a sinless life and die on the cross so that we could have eternal life, so that we could escape hell, so that we could be reconnected to you in living relationship that allows us to achieve the potential for life that you built into us, God, that heals us and makes us healthy people again. Father, may that truth dominate our Christmas season. May that truth be the central focus of our Christmas season and may that truth enrich our Christmas season, Lord Jesus, as we focus on that, not trees and tinsel, but the love of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Lord Jesus, thank you for the plan of salvation and thank you for offering it to us and we pray these things in Jesus' name. And God's people said, Amen. We hope you will join us next time when Lon seeks to answer one of life's most important questions, So what?