Sermon Prepared by James McCullen
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Jesus Was Heavenly Made By God
John 1:14; Acts 2:36; 2 Cor. 5:21

John 1:14 And the Word was made (became NAS) flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. KJV

Acts 2:36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - - this Jesus whom you crucified." NAS

2 Cor.5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. NAS

Introduction Celebrating the Birth
Two women who were having lunch in an elegant hotel were approached by a mutual friend who asked the occasion for the meal.

One lady replied, "We are celebrating the birth of my baby boy."

"But where is he?" inquired the friend. "Oh," said the mother, "you didn't think I'd bring him, did you?"

What a picture of the way the world treats Jesus at Christmas.

What do we make Christmas? I am afraid we are like the ladies in this story.
 

Today I want to focus on the scriptures that use the word "made" in relationship to how God made Jesus.
 
 

A.    Made Flesh through a Particular . . Seed. Rom. 1:3
        Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; KJV
 

B.    Made Flesh through a Particular . . Sending. Gal. 4:4
        But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born (made KJV) of a woman, born under the Law, NAS
 

C.    Made Flesh For a Particular . . Service. 1 Cor.5:21
        He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. NAS
 

Illustration
Billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly--not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. "How can God judge us?" said one. "What does He know about suffering?" snapped a brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror, beatings, torture, death!"

In another group a black man lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched for no crime but being black! We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till death gave release." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups.

Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger, no hatred! Indeed, what did God know about what man had been forced to endure in this world? "God leads a pretty sheltered life," they said.

So each group sent out a leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. There was a Jew, a black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate, a person from Hiroshima, and one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather simple: before God would be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth--as a man!

But because He was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure :

1.    He could not use His divine powers to help Himself:
2.    Let Him be born a Jew.
3.    Let the legitimacy of His birth be doubted, so that none would know who is really His father.
4.    Let Him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down upon Him the hate,
 condemnation, and efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority to eliminate Him.
5.    Let Him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard, or smelled--let Him try to
    communicate God to men.
6.    Let Him be betrayed by His dearest friends. Let Him be indicted on false charges, tried before a
    prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge.
7.    Let Him see what it is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living thing. Let Him
    be tortured and let Him die!
8.    Let Him die the most humiliating death--with common thieves.

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throngs of people. But when the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew --

For Jesus appeared and said "Been There and Done That."
James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Tyndale House Publishers, 1988), p. 302.

Application

God made Jesus Flesh

1.    If our greatest need had been information, God would have made for us an educator.

2.    If our greatest need had been technology, God would have made for us a scientist.

3. If our greatest need had been money, God would have made for us an economist.

4.    If our greatest need had been health, God would have made for us a doctor.

5.    But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior."
 
 

A.    God Made Jesus "To Be Sin" because God Can not Sin.
           "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, . . . "

        1.    God had to become flesh to experience sin.

Illustration
Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler.

One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, "I am your king!" The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, "You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!"

The King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself to you and me. The Bible calls Him, "the unspeakable gift!"

B.    God Made Jesus "To Be Sin" Because We Need Righteousness.
        ". . . we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Illustration
A particular church recently received personal greetings from the Kejave Medical Center staff in Kenya and read of the following amazing story.

Eight-year-old Monica broke her leg as she fell into a pit. An older woman, Mama Njeri, happened along and climbed into the pit to help get Monica out. In the process, a dangerous black Mamba snake bit both Mama Njeri and Monica. Monica was taken to Kejave Medical Center and admitted. Mama Njeri went home, but never awoke from her sleep.

The next day a perceptive missionary nurse explained Mama Njeri's death to Monica, telling her that the snake had bitten both of them, but all of the snake's poison was expended on Mama Njeri; none was given to Monica. The nurse then explained that Jesus had taken the poison of Monica's sin so that she could have new life. It was an easy choice for Monica. She became a Christian. The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart Chas. Swindoll, Word, p. 541.

Application

He was condemned that we might be justified.

He bore our sin that we might be set free.

He died that we might live.

He suffered that we might be redeemed.

He was made sin, that we might be made righteous.

Heb. 2:9-10
9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
 
 

Introduction
Several years ago I sat down at lunch with a reported from the local news paper. It was the first time we really got to talk. In the course of our conversation he said "where did the idea come from that "Jesus Is Lord". I had to ask a "what do you mean".

He related he grew up in church and he never heard Jesus Is lord; and now he saw the statement on bumper stickers and "T:" shirts and ever where. He said again "where did this idea come from".

I finally said "the Bible". He did not want to believe me. But I convinced him I could show it to him in the Bible. He was just appalled that he had never heard it in church when he grew up.

I told him I was very surprised and of course told him if he had been in a Baptist church he would have heard this truth.

The Text says ". . . God has made Him both Lord and Christ. . ."

A.    Do You Accept God's Authority?
 

B.    Is Christ Acknowledged Lord In Your Life?

Illustration
Governor Nash stepped out of his office and, for a moment, out of his role as Governor of Ohio. He tucked his large, black Bible under his arm and made his way down the hallway of the State

Penitentiary, in Columbus, Ohio. As a Christian, his heart burned with desire to share Christ with a certain young man waiting on "death row."

Guilty of first-degree murder of his girlfriend, the condemned one sat in his cell, just hours away from his appointment with the electric chair. Upon seeing the elderly man with a dark suit and Bible under his arm, he thought him to be a minister or the prison chaplain. His anger boiled over and he cursed as he sent the man away.

A guard standing nearby could hardly believe his eyes. "You "fool," he said, "don't you know who that was?" "A preacher, I guess," was the reply. "No, that was the Governor, the only one who could set you free, and you sent him away."

The young man died a few hours later, guilty not only of murder, but of sending away his only hope for freedom and life.

George Kilborn Nash (1842-1904) Governor of Ohio, 1900-04. Source: Roger A. Parsons Light From The Word Spring 1992
 
 

Many years ago Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, illustrated God's attitude toward sinners this way. His illustration is called the Four Turnabouts.

First he took his hands and placed them together with palms touching each other. That pictures God and Adam and Eve in perfect harmony with God in the Garden of Eden before the Fall.

Then he took his right hand and turned it so that the palm faced outward and away from the left hand. That pictures Adam and Eve turning from God after the Fall.

Then he took his left hand and faced it outward away from his right hand. This pictures God judging Adam and Even (and the whole human race) by casting them out of the Garden. Now both hands are facing away from each other.

Finally, he took his left hand and brought it slowly back around so that the palm faced inward­in its original position. This pictures God having been reconciled by the cross of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). Even though the right hand is still facing outward and away from the left, the left hand now faces toward the right­just as God faces the sinner and begs him to be reconciled. "Won't you come home?" God calls out to the guilty sinner. That is God's word to the world­Be reconciled to God! [5]
 
 

Rom 10:9-10 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus {as} Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (NAS)