Glorious Way Church

The Truth About Christmas

• Pastor John Greiner

Share episode

What if the true essence of Christmas is not about gifts or decorations, but about a profound spiritual transformation that sets us free? Join us as we journey through the scriptures, particularly the powerful messages found in Hebrews, to uncover the deeper meaning of Jesus' birth. We explore how Jesus' human experience allows Him to relate to our struggles intimately and how His sacrifice liberates us from the fear of death, presenting Jesus as the ultimate mediator, bridging the gap between humanity and divinity.

Speaker 1:

If you've got your Bibles with you, bend down and pick them up, please, and let's wave them around. Make Jesus glad and the devil mad. Praise God. All right, let's say this together. So, Heavenly Father, I'm so glad for Jesus, I'm so glad for these precious young ones that presented Him to us this morning. I'm stirred in my heart and now I'm ready to receive your holy word. I'm ready to make adjustments going into 2025. We're not just here to think about the Christmas tree, about the gifts, but we're here to honor the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in Jesus name. And the Lord of Lords in Jesus' name, amen, praise God.

Speaker 1:

I'm not going to keep you much longer, but I do want to bring a message that will kind of bring all of this back together, and I'm going to read out of Hebrews, chapter 2. Boy, that's not a Christmas message. Well, it is a Christmas message, but I'm going to read it. Hebrews, chapter 2, starting with verse 14. You can follow along, but I'm going to read it. Hebrews, chapter 2, starting with verse 14. You can follow along, but I'm going to be reading out of the Passion Translation and verse 14, it says since all his children have flesh and blood.

Speaker 1:

So Jesus became human to fully identify with us. He did this so that he could experience death and annihilate the effects of the intimidating accuser who holds against us the power of death. By embracing death, jesus sets free those who live their entire lives in bondage to the tormenting dread of death, for it is clear that he didn't do this for the angels, but for all the sons and daughters of Abraham. This is why he had to be a man and take hold of our humanity in every way. He made us his brothers and sisters and became our merciful and faithful king, priest or high priest before God, as the one who removed our sins to make us one with him. He suffered and endured every test and temptation so that he can help us every time we pass through the ordeals of life. And so tonight, or today rather, I want to just share a simple message the truth of Christmas, the truth of Christmas and for these young people, the precious children, god relates to them on their level of understanding, and I want to appeal to a little higher level of understanding to all of the rest of us here, because it's not just happy birthday Jesus.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's part of it, but that's not all of it, and probably the more important part, are these deep truths that we have discovered here in the book of Hebrews. You know, the gospels were for spiritually dead people, the gospels. There was a demonstration for the people that were alive then and Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So the things that are written in the Gospels are, on one level, the really Old Testament, because Jesus had not yet died on the cross. But now the book of Hebrews is written, now after the death, burial and resurrection, written to the Jewish people that had gotten saved. And now he's giving there in Hebrews, chapter two, the message that Jesus is better than the angels and he didn't die for the angels, he died for us and he became really.

Speaker 1:

You know, the Bible says in John, chapter one, that Jesus in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, god was skin on. I like to say Another. I think the Message Bible says he pitched his tent.

Speaker 1:

And so in Micah, chapter five, verse two, the prophet Micah prophesied about. It says but thou, bethlehem, ephrata, though thou be a little among the thousands of Judah, in other words, the thousands of towns and villages and cities in Judah. Bethlehem was a just little tiny village, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting. So it's just, it's not like Jesus was born. I mean, jesus has always been there. His footsteps have let footprints all through eternal, the eternal ages before, and he is the one that we honor today. He came down here and was born not just as the son of God, he was born as the son of man. He was born as our legal representative.

Speaker 1:

And now you know, the birth of Jesus changed everything. It changed everything because people were dwelling in darkness. I mean ever since the birth of Jesus changed everything. It changed everything Because people were dwelling in darkness. I mean ever since the fall of Adam. God's plan was to fellowship with man. God's highest way of fellowship was with his creation, adam. And Adam was the God of this world until he sold out and committed high treason and obeyed the devil and gave. It was such a legal thing that he gave away his authority and dominion to Satan. And Satan has ruled through the ages, through the eons of time until Jesus was born and he lived a sinless life and you know, our children brought it forth so beautifully today through all their songs and their demonstrations. A lot of them talked about the real truth behind it, which is what we're talking about, and it changed everything. The birth of Jesus changed everything. So now we have a Savior and now we have an access to full fellowship with God.

Speaker 1:

You know, I just want to scoop up these kids and hold every one of them. I mean, they're so precious and you know, it makes me think about my kids when they were little and my grandkids when they were little, growing up. But now I treasure my children, I think, even more than I did when they were kids, because I can truly fellowship with them. They're grown up now and actually I can actually lean on them, I can receive back from them, they can talk to me on a level and it fills my heart and Gladys and I have such joy when we're spending time with our adult kids. And even now our grandkids have grown up now and they're getting into the same thing. Yeah, we have wonderful memories of them being little, but I'm telling you there's a whole nother. There's a whole nother level of fellowship, and this is what God is is hungering and thirsting for. And the real meaning of Christmas is that we can do that. We can have fellowship with God Almighty and we have fellowship with Him.

Speaker 1:

So I just want to leave you with three thoughts here that we get out of the book of Hebrews on this next level of understanding of what it means that we're celebrating, and that is that the truth of Christmas means that the Christ child speaks prophetically to us in three areas, speaks prophetically to us in three areas. And the first thing is that you know it's obvious that babies are innocent. Did you see this fancy baby carriage? We had all these babies in here. They participated. I mean, they participated. They're little. I mean, some of them were trying to lift their hands and some of them were. You couldn't see all of it. Gladys and I were just getting such a kick out of it, but babies are innocent.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing that I wanted to talk about the truth is that Jesus was born to restore innocence to humanity. He was born to restore innocence. You know, his death, burial and resurrection means we are justified, just as if I'd never sinned. I mean, that's how innocent we are when we receive Jesus. And you know, as some of them appeal to those of us here today, maybe we haven't been living right, doing right, maybe we've never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Speaker 1:

I remember what it was like when I was lost. I was guilty, I was ashamed. I was raised in church, I'm raised a Catholic, but I always felt as I grew older I mean as a kid, I loved going to church as a child, but then, as I got older, I felt guilty. I was surrounded with guilt and shame. Jesus came to justify.

Speaker 1:

Jesus is the only one that can make you comfortable in God's presence. He can restore innocence to you if you'll receive him. He's a merciful and faithful high priest. What is a high priest? Well, he's one that represents us to the Father. Think about we have a relationship with the creator of the universe. He's an awesome God. He's a powerful God. You know, really, for me he was an intimidating God. I was afraid of God. It's different between the fear of God and being afraid of God. The fear of God just means you reverence him, that you love him, that you put him above anybody that you would respect down here. You know, we, we respect people, but we. We reverence God and and so we need someone to go between us and him, and and the Bible says that there's one we have an advocate with the Father, jesus Christ the righteous. He represents us. He pleads our innocence when we are, in fact, guilty. All we have to do is own it, and maybe we need to own it today. Maybe we need to recognize where we are and where we've been living.

Speaker 1:

Maybe you grew up as a Christian. Maybe you were a Christian, a true Christian. You were born again, there's no question. But maybe you're backslid A lot of backsliders I've noticed since COVID. A lot of people just gave up on church. I mean, the facts are, across this country there's been a departure from church attendance. You know what I say. I mean, if you're able to go to church there's some people can't go to church because they're ill and infirm and so forth and so on. That's different. But if you're able to go to church and choose not to, you're backslid. You need to repent. You need to get back in church. This is a good time to do it. Let God restore your innocence. And the second thing that I see with this is that we see these little babies and they're helpless. Babies are helpless, and so Jesus came to remedy the weakness of man.

Speaker 1:

Book of Hebrews there says that many are held in bondage to the fear of death, the fear of death, the fear of death. People, just, you know, it's been said that all phobias, you know, there's all kind of phobias that people talk about today Homophobia Well, guess what? I'm not afraid of homosexuals, okay. I'm not afraid of women. You know, I'm not afraid of anything. I fear God, but I'm not afraid of him. Why? Because I got born again and filled with the Holy Ghost that delivered me from the fear. I'm not afraid of anything. I fear God, but I'm not afraid of him. Why? Because I got born again and filled with the Holy Ghost that delivered me from the fear of death.

Speaker 1:

All phobias have as their basis the fear of death. We don't talk about the fear of death, we talk about the fear of heights, the fear of driving on the freeway, the fear that might be a legitimate fear, but anyway, yeah, I'm afraid to lay down in the middle of the freeway. That's a legitimate fear. I know what would happen, but no, but all the phobias that we have, people have got all kinds of things that are wrong, that they're afraid of. But the bottom of it, the source of it, is the fear of death, and the source of that is who Satan and Jesus came to remedy the weakness of man. He destroyed 1 John 3, 8,. He destroyed the works of the devil. He destroyed them. He rendered them ineffective and illegitimate, and so we're no more in bondage to guilt or shame or being reluctant to be in God's presence. He just destroyed all of that. He told Timothy, paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2, 5, there's one mediator between God and man the man, christ Jesus.

Speaker 1:

He's your mediator, he's your go-between. Even when we fall short, his blood is there at the mercy seat and when we own it, when we say, yeah, lord, I was wrong, lord forgive me, jesus is our mediator. He points to that blood and says Father, they must be forgiven. We cannot not forgive forgiven. We cannot not forgive them, we cannot not cleanse them. They have a covenant. Through this, my blood, my blood has been shed for them and they have received me as their savior. Glory to God. No, there's no helplessness anymore. We're not helpless and we're innocent. Glory to God. And we've got help. I like what Paul said one time. He said I've received help from God as my ally. You know he's your ally, he's working for you, not against you.

Speaker 1:

And finally, the last message that the Christ child sends baby Jesus born in a manger. Didn't you love that scene? I mean those children, they're so sweet, so innocent. The cows kept turning their back to the audience. I looked, it's just amazing, it's precious. I mean, just get up here, just see these little things. I mean they're just so innocent, they're so helpless in a way, but yet look at it. Look at what. They're just so innocent. They're so helpless in a way, but yet look at what they're learning. Did you see that last part where those children are just weeping in God's presence? Some of them are laughing. They're getting drunk in the Holy Ghost. You know, parents, you've got a long way to go to catch up with your kids. I've got news for you. So, anyway, the last message that Jesus sends Jesus was born in a manger.

Speaker 1:

A manger is a feeding trough, and so Jesus came to nourish us. He came to feed us. You know, when you get fed, you grow, and that's what God wants. He wants us to grow. He doesn't want us to stay in the babyhood stage. Many Christians, yes, they've legitimately been born again, maybe at some stage in life, but then they just kind of stall and they quit growing. See, there's only one way to grow and that's the Word of God. Jesus is the Word. He came to nourish. He came to cause us to grow up, that we be no more children but grow up into him in all things. And as a pastor, that's my main job is to lead, to feed and to guard the sheep. They have to be fed. I want to feed you, no matter what my heart is to feed you. I'm anointed to feed you.

Speaker 1:

The word of God and Jesus came so that we could not just stay in the babyhood stage. I mean, I just look at my own children. What if we'd have kept them in that stage? Oh, it's so cute. Look at them. And we take endless amounts of pictures. I mean, gladys and I, when we were younger, we, you know, we would just almost go, you know, just blank out, when our friends would come show us pictures of the grandkids. Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-huh. And we'd go, oh Lord. But when our grandchildren came along, we were the worst ones. We both needed therapy. We needed therapy Because we could spoil them and then just hand them back to their parents after they're spoiled, rotten. I mean, give them everything they want.

Speaker 1:

You heard one of them talk about Anna. Talked about having ice cream sandwiches. I remember, graham, she'd go in the kitchen get an ice cream sandwich. She'd cut it up in little cubes and put it in a in a in a cone. So you see, I mean she's smart, she knew that. You know, if you bring that in there it's going to get all over the bed. Now you've got to concentrate the mess. It's just concentrated mainly on on Anna's front. There I said make sure it's on your side of the bed anyway.

Speaker 1:

Nourish them. I would be so poverty stricken if we had held them in the babyhood stage. I mean, we're cheating God of his great desire to fellowship and have partnership in Cornelia with his creation, his sons and daughters. He came to grow us up. Luke 4, 4 says man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Jesus. In John, chapter 6, he said I'm the living bread that came down from heaven. My flesh is meat, indeed. My blood is drink, indeed. If you don't eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly. And so, uh, today, when we're thinking about Christmas, let's think about the real truth of it. The truth of it is that he's opened up the possibilities for us to be declared innocent, to have help whenever we hit. You know you live in this life, you're going to have trouble I mean, it just comes with the territory but he's your helper and besides that, he's going to help you to grow.

Speaker 1:

I mean one of the things that held me back from becoming really. I knew there was more and I put God off. I knew I had a me back from becoming really. I knew there was more and I put God off. I knew I had a call when I was younger. I knew, and then I got so far from God I forgot the call that I had Because I just didn't see myself being able to obey the call or even be successful in it. I didn't realize that he would help me and that, as I grew up, I could do it. See, I had to have both. I had to be declared innocent, I had to have his help and then I had to grow. And when I put all three of those things together. Here I am today, but I saw this when I was four years old.

Speaker 1:

In a four-year-old mindset, I think about all these children. They have a picture of their future on the inside. Parents, grandparents, your prayers avail much, I'm telling you, if Jesus tarries, this group right up here is going to be leading this world. They're going to be leading the church in the days ahead. If Jesus tarries. And so, if you accept the truth of Christmas, it will make you free of sin, free of the fear of death and all of its snares, free of being a victim and all of its snares, free of being a victim, and it will set you in the place where you will grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Come on, let's lift our hands right now. Father, we thank you for the truth of Christmas. We thank you, father. We're fully persuaded by it. We're not going to just go along the easy way, but we're going to dig deep into the Word and see your purposes.