WHY DO WE NEED CHRISTMAS PART ONE

Gen 3:1-15

  

Why is Christmas so important to the child of God? Why does this time of year bring about mixed emotions of joy and sadness? In order to answer that question we need to go back to a certain place in history were things were beautiful, innocent and lacking nothing at least we thought, until something turned extremely bad for all of us.

It’s a place, that at one time, was the most beautiful to the LORD God…….  

It was a place of special interest to the LORD.

It was a place of extra care and concern for mankind.

It was a place of the bird’s singing and praising the Godhead.

It was a place where animals roamed around together.

It was a place of peace and harmony and perfect rest.

It was a place of beauty and perfection.

It was a place that flowed out 4 rivers.

It was a place where God poured super abundantly in a special ways.

It was a place where two important trees were located.

It was the places were man became “imago dei” image bearers of God.

We read in Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” 

It’s a place called Eden, known as “the Garden of Eden” The bible says……“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.” Gen 2:8-10

Unfortunately for humanity/ image bearers of God, something happened to this once beautiful, abundant land that was carefully watered and nourished by God, Himself. Something so great caused a ripple effect to the whole world. Something that changed the way we live today……..That something is SIN. It’s amazing how this 3 letter word could change the way the world was once was! Meaning going from Good to bad! 

Well what is Sin?

Sin can be easily defined this way “its missing the mark” it’s any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature. Sin originated in heavenly places with Lucifer the Ark Angel (Eze 28) and (Isaiah 14:12-15). Ezekiel 28:13-19 we read “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever." Sin is universal (all people are affected by this curse) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)

  

The Biblical definition of Sin: it’s a transgression against God’s law, it’s not only an act of wrongdoing but a state of alienation from God. It signifies the rupture of a personal relationship with God, a betrayal of the trust He places in us. Sinful acts have their origin in a corrupt heart, a conscious, undermining, and ongoing state of hostility against God the Creator. In John’s first epistle we read “sin is lawlessness” 1 John 3:4 Sin is against the God who said “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”  (Gen 2:1-3). Gordon Olson said "We are sinners simply because we choose to sin or live selfishly. We are never held accountable for what we are not the author of. Ability is always the measure of responsibility. God has given us the ability to direct our lives, either according to intelligence in recognition of our obligation to God and our fellowmen, or according to selfishness and unintelligence in the supreme seeking of our own happiness." So! How bad was it? Let’s look at how sin affected the whole earth and tainted it with its evil curse and why we celebrate Christmas.  This disobedient act caused 3 major events to happen to every individual ever borne after Adam and Eve. Sin resulted in Physical Death Sin resulted in Spiritual and Eternal Death

Sin is the Result of our Physical Death (v16-(v20)

From the very moment you are conceived you are tainted with this curse……You are a sinner! Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity (perversity, that is, (moral) evil, fault, iniquity, mischief, punishment of iniquity, sin.), And in sin my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5. I came to be with sin attached to my life, all of us. David knew his total depravity and realized his fallen nature was inherited by his parents, who got it from their parents and so on. So on, leading all the way back to the one place where the Lord said   “who told you were naked” (v11) David realized this curse began in the place that the Lord saw to be special. Sins curse has separated us from a holy God. Realizing when sin entered this earth, the curse was laid on every human soul. All living things began the process of dying when sin entered the world. When physical death occurs, there is a definite separation of the life force from the body. Randy Alcorn said “When that separation occurs, there is nothing man can do to reverse it (even the medical community acknowledges the difference between a “clinical death” and a “biological death”).” Job knew this truth when he said Who can bring a clean (pure) thing out of an unclean (foul, defiled)? No one!” (Job 14:4). There is not a single person exempt from this nature that began way back in the garden

We are all faced with:

Physical aliments

Physical disorders

Physical deterioration

Physical aging

Physical death

The Hebrew writer says “And as it is appointed for men (human beings), to die once, but after this the judgment (the tribunal, the judge in a court of law),” Heb 9:27

Sin is the Result of Spiritual & Eternal Separation. (v20-v24)

This is a removal from the presence of a Holy God, because God cannot, and will not, look on sin and allow it to continue. We need to understand! Adam and Eve had a very special relationship with the Lord God, because it says “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden...” Gen 3:8. I’m sure this wouldn’t have been a rare time or visit by our Lord. But because of sin they were removed/separated from His glory and holiness. Meaning that relationship they once had was broken. Your sin has offended a holy and just God.Isaiah said “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2. This is what each person is faced with right from the time they are conceived to the time they give up their last breath. We need to take sin seriously, God is greatly offended.Offended so much, Adam and Eve were removed from this very special place created for them to care for. Gen 3:23. This one disobedient act caused such a ripple effect to the whole earth.

We are all separated from His presence, so separated! Jesus said it the best….When He told the religious elite Nicodenmus, “You must be born again” John 3:6. A person will never see the Kingdom of God, unless they are saved by His grace, forgiven for their sins, which has been the root problem since the beginning.

We are all spiritually separated from God at the point of our conception. “..that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Eph 2:12. Dead people cannot help themselves and life does not come from non- life.

This is why salvation is all of grace. We are incapable of doing anything to save ourselves; only Jesus, the Author of Life, can save us! The sin that began in the garden has made us eternally separated from the One who created us. “Eat of this tree you shall surely DIE” (v17). This harmless (humanly speaking) and simple act of disobedience, has ever image bearer forever lost, hopeless of ever finding an eternal relationship with a holy God. The Bible says the unconverted are banished from God “in flaming fire taking vengeance (retribution, vindication, punishment) on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction (everlasting ruin) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”, (2 Thess 1:8-9)

Sin is eternal death, sin has its repercussions! Sin is ultimately irrational choices we make out of rebellion against God. Wayne Gruden said in his “Systematic Theology” book “It really did not make sense for Satan to rebel against God in the expectation of being able to exalt himself above God. Nor did it make sense for Adam and Eve to think that there could be any gain in disobeying the words of the Creator. These were foolish choices.” Unfortunately these foolish choices have eternal implications. How bad is it? Bad enough for God to hate it. Without Jesus Christ in our lives we are eternally separated forever! “cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'” Matt 25:30. Jesus goes on to say “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt 25:46). Do we really understand how sin has separated us from the One who said “it was “good” and “Lets create man in Our image”? John Bunyan said "One leak will sink a ship; and one sin will destroy a sinner." This is what sin has done to us all! And He (LORD God) said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Gen 3:11. This sin has effected the youngest of children to the greatest of adults. Not one person is exempt from this wickedness and rebellion. Sin has stained our lives physically, spiritually, eternally…completely. 

Remember….. 

Sin is dishonest and untrustworthy.

Sin is deceitful and wicked.

Sin ignorant of God’s attributes.

Sin is leprous and numbing.

Sin is cancer that kills.

Sin is a taskmaster, it causes bondage.

Sin is compared to vomit, swamp water, mud.

Sin is completely lost and hopeless.

Sin is separated from the transcendent holy God.

This once beautiful place flowing with “milk and honey” quickly changed to a place of harden ground, weeds, disease, wickedness, filthiness, sin and worst of all separation from the One that declared it to be “good” NOW that we have a general understanding of what sin has done! Now we can approach the question of why Christmas is so important to the child of God.

Why Christmas is so important to the believer and the church!? We see in chapter three of Genesis that God is going to do something about this sin issue. Something that He has already had in the plans before this day ever happened in the Garden. God is going to crush the deceiver whom He kicked out of Heaven and God is going to achieve this by crushing His only begotten Son one day for the sins of mankind. The beauty of the incarnate sinless, and spotless Lamb of God, will become a curse for you and me. In His incarnate humiliation, will become our exaltation of praise and thanksgiving, for His death will cover the debt we owe and the debt we could never pay.

  

This is where we see the first gospel preached! Theologians call Genesis 3:15 “The protoevangelium”, which means the “first gospel”. We go from….. God and man existing together in perfect harmony. Man and woman existing together in perfect harmony. Man, woman and creation existing together in perfect harmony. To…..“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Gen 3:15). “Her Seed” will bruise, crush your head, meaning Satan will be defeated once and for all. A Savior will be born from the lineage of Eve, who will one day crush Satan with a fatal blow! God will not leave us alone in this battle of sin, he will come in the form of man to die for us to please the Father. David Platt said “Sin ruined the intimacy between God and man, but God promised He would send One to restore that intimacy.” Why is the Christmas season so precious and important for the believer and the church? Why is Christmas a personal reflection time for the child of God?

As the chorus of the great hymn song “Heaven Came Down”

Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,

When at the cross the Savior made me whole;

My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day,

Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

Glory came down as “the Seed” Jesus Christ will come to this earth in the form of man, the Gospel Revealed! The Gospel is a person who fulfills the prophecy spoken from our LORD God “He will bruise your head” Next week we will see the gospel revealed the plan and purpose that God had before the foundations of the world. We will see how my Jesus, your Jesus, crushed Satan for all eternity by becoming in the likeness of man to be our sin offering to please a holy God who demands such a sacrifice. That beautiful sacrifice that He had already been put into place before Adam rebellion in the Garden. The Christmas Story is more than just a baby being born in a manger……..Jesus is 

The only Begotten of the Father. The only Way to be restored to a relationship that once existed in the garden. The only One that loved the world so much He came to rescue the perishing. The only One who came to save sinners like me, and you! As John the Baptist said "….Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away (bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, put away, remove) the sin of the world!” John 1:29. Why do we need Christmas? Because it reminds me of what David said “No man living is righteous before you.” Psalm 143:2