(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to church. It's a joy to see you all here on this Sunday night. If you all please find your seats and we'll begin with our congregational singing this evening. Once you find your place, take your hymnals. You should find one close by and turn to hymn number 433. We'll begin tonight. Number 433, Away in the Manger, number 433. I know we're all in a sugar rush but you have to really sing it out with me on this first verse. Number 433. Away in a manger, no crib or a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the sky looked down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. The little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes. I love him, Lord Jesus, come down from the sky and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, come as me to stay. Close by me forever and loving my grave. Bless all the dear children in thy tender care and take us to heaven to live with thee there. Amen. Great to start the singing this evening. I'll ask for the Baron to open this up in prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for the search. Thank you for the Bible and your Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Father, I pray that you please bless all aspects of the service and Pastor Anderson's preaching. In Jesus name I pray, amen. Amen. 432 is next. Angels from the realms of glory number 432. Let's sing it out nice and loud all together on this first verse. Number 432. Angels from the realms of glory, with your flight o'er all the earth, ye who say creation's glory, now proclaim Messiah's birth. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Stages be your contemplation. Rise your nations, be not far. Sing the great desire of nations. He hath seen his maple star. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Stages be for the altar bending, watching long in hope and fear. Suddenly the Lord he says it, in his temple shall appear. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service times. Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter number 20. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms. Of course, Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope everybody had a good time with the cookie bake-off and all the activities that we've been doing. All the activities that you did with your family or whatever you did. And below that is the note about hope having passed away. She went to be with the Lord. She was saved. She's been coming to our church for a long time and we're all going to miss her. And I know a lot of you knew her and maybe some of you did not really know her but either way you're invited to this memorial service on January 1st. So there is also going to be a graveside service which is tentatively planned for Thursday December 30th but in any case the memorial service will be happening here at 11 a.m. on January 1st. So we really want to make sure everybody realizes that they're invited. The whole church is invited to this and there will also be a catered lunch afterward and so we want to celebrate the life of Hope Conklin. And then on the back we've got the cookie bake-off. That ship has already sailed but we've got the homeschool field trip coming up on Friday January 7th and then other upcoming soul-winning events listed there below. The sign up for the small town soul-winning stuff, all the schedules and info are over here to my right. You can always talk to brother Raymond Cooper and get details or have any questions answered in regard to that. So that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul-winning from the past few days. So going back to Thursday, anything from Thursday? Okay, got it, got it. Okay, anything else from Thursday? How about Friday? Anything from Friday? Okay. And then what about Saturday? Anything from Saturday? Okay. And then how about today? Brother Scott? Two for the main group with brother Scott. Gotcha. Is that a one? Alright. Alright, very good. Keep up the great work on soul-winning and with that let's sing our next song. Come lead us. Alright, in the front of your hymnal you should find the insert with the two songs. We'll start with Born to Die. If you don't have an insert, please raise your hand and we'll sing Born to Die. On the night Christ was born just before the break of morn As the stars in the sky were fading For the place where he lay fell a shadowed holy grave A Lord God that would not hold a king Born to die upon Calvary Jesus suffered my sin to forgive Born to die upon Calvary He was wounded that I might live Jesus, too, when he came He was suffering shame He could feel every pain and sorrow But he left paradise With his blood he paid the price My redemption to Jesus my own Born to die upon Calvary Jesus suffered my sin to forgive Born to die upon Calvary He was wounded that I might live For his love Jesus gave Let us find heaven's way In his shame for the cross of Calvary For my days suffered thus For my safety for the cross He was wounded and I was set free Born to die upon Calvary Jesus suffered my sin to forgive Born to die upon Calvary He was wounded that I might live Jesus, Lord and the Lord May thy cross I adore As I follow my path to Calvary For thy death I will take My ambition I will save All my will I will surrender to thee Born to die upon Calvary Jesus suffered my sin to forgive Born to die upon Calvary He was wounded that I might live O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining It is the night of our dear Savior's birth All in the world, in sin and error pining Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn Up on your knees O hear the angel voices O night divine O night when Christ was born O night, O holy night O night divine Led by the light of day serving me With glowing hearts, by his cradle we stand Over the world, the star is sweetly gleaming Now come the wise men from holy and land The King of Kings laid us in lowly danger In all our trials, born to be our friend He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger Behold your King Behold him, holy man Behold your King Behold him, holy man True he is, honest love for one another His law is law and his gospel is proof Chains he shall break, the slave is our brother And in his name all oppression shall cease Sweet hymns of joy, grateful for his praise we With all our hearts we praise his holy name Christ is the Lord, oh praise his name forever His power and glory evermore proclaim His power and glory evermore proclaim All right, there's time to quickly pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Galatians chapter number four. Galatians chapter number four, as we always do. We'll start reading in verse number one, and we'll read the entire chapter. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Galatians four. In Galatians chapter four the Bible reads, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, Differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, Made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, That we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, Crying, Abba, father, wherefore thou no more a servant but a son, And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, Whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are. Ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first, In my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected, But received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record, that if it had been possible, You would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, And not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice. For I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, But he of the free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory. For these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, Which genderth to bondage, which is Agar, For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, And answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, And is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, Even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for this opportunity to be in church. Lord, we just ask that you bless everyone here and bless Pastor Anderson. Free us from distractions, Lord, and give everyone here ears to hear and hearts to understand. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Tonight I'm preaching on the incarnation of Christ. The incarnation of Christ. And where that term comes from is John chapter 1. If you want to flip over quickly to John chapter 1, we'll come back to Galatians chapter 4. But back over in John chapter 1, the Bible says in verse number 1, I'll start reading while you turn there, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Now look at the key verse there in verse 14. This is where we get the term incarnation. It says, and the Word was made 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. And so when the Bible says that the Word was made flesh, if you speak Spanish, you know that carne is meat or flesh, right? And so incarnation just means being made flesh. Jesus Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now look at verse number 18. The Bible reads, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So no one has ever looked upon God the Father. God the Father said, no man shall see my face and live. But Jesus Christ is the expressed image of his person. Jesus Christ came and dwelt among us. He was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now if you would, go over to Galatians chapter 4. And the first thing I want to emphasize is that Jesus Christ already existed before the incarnation, before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. He already existed and he was already the Son of God, okay? So Jesus Christ is eternally the Son of God. He eternally exists. God eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Now while you're turning to Galatians 4, let me read for you several verses from the Gospels. And these are from Galatians 4. Let me read for you several verses from the Gospels. And these are from the parable about the man who goes on a long journey. And he lets out his vineyard to husbandmen. And he keeps sending his servants to get the produce from the vineyard. And they beat the servants or they kill the servants. And then finally he sends his son. And of course the picture here is God the Father sending prophets all throughout the Old Testament. And then ultimately sending his son. Listen to these verses carefully as I read them. So Matthew 21 37. But last of all he sent unto them his son saying they will reverence my son. Mark 12 6. Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also last unto them saying they will reverence my son. Luke 20 verse 13. Then said the Lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that they will reverence him when they see him. And the thing I want to point out here is that in all three cases we have the Father sending the beloved son. The beloved son already exists folks. The beloved son is there. He's with the Father. The Father loves the son. And he sends the son to the vineyard. That's the Father sending the son to be the savior of the world. That's God the Father sending the son of God, Jesus Christ, into the world. That's not God just fathering a brand new son out of nowhere 2,000 years ago. Or Jesus coming into existence 2,000 years ago. Or Jesus becoming the son of God 2,000 years ago. Or whatever other heresies are out there. No, no, no. This is the Father. He's got his son. He loves his son. He sends the son. That's what the incarnation is. That's what Christmas is celebrating or should be celebrating. And so I want to clear that up right away. Go to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4. We're going to see more about the incarnation of Jesus Christ, right? The son of God being made flesh. The word being made flesh and dwelling among us. Look at Galatians chapter 4 verse 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son. That's compatible with what we just saw in those parables about the vineyard. God sent forth his son. And here's a key phrase you don't want to miss. Made of a woman. Don't miss it. Made of a woman. Made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So here's another key important thing about the incarnation is that Jesus Christ was made of a woman. Okay? He's made of a woman. What does that mean? That means that he is the biological child of Mary. He's Mary's son. Now the Bible tells us over in Hebrews it says he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Jesus Christ is the son of David. He's the son of Abraham. He's the seed of Abraham. And if you would, flip back in your Bible to Genesis chapter number 3. Genesis chapter number 3. So Galatians 4 says, made of a woman. Okay, so Jesus Christ, when he became flesh, actually was born of Mary, but he is also the child of Mary biologically. He's actually human. Now, that might seem obvious to you, but we need to lay down these foundational doctrines strongly, because you never know what heresy is going to pop up next. And it's always best to just not take anything for granted, not assume anything. But as the Bible says, to prove all things and make sure that we back everything with scripture so that false teachers and heretics can't come along and come at us with these cute new doctrines and try to get us off the Trinity or twist the doctrines about the incarnation. And you know, lest this seem far-fetched to you, okay, just a matter of months ago, the heretic, Manly Perry, preached that Jesus was not Mary's biological child. He literally got up and preached that all Mary was was just like carrying Jesus. He said, you know, Jesus is the bread of life, and Mary was just the oven. Now, I found the verse that says that Jesus is the bread of life, but I can't find the verse that says Mary is just the oven. That's a stupid false doctrine, because the Bible says Jesus was made of a woman. Made of what? He literally got up and said, Mary contributed no DNA, Mary contributed no egg, Mary is not a biological mother, she just carried him. That is garbage, that is heresy, that is false doctrine, and this is the same idiot who was worried about who I was hanging around with because he didn't want to rub shoulders with somebody who rubbed shoulders with Calvinist or whatever. Well, you know what, at least Calvinist, you know, they're definitely wrong on predestination, but let me tell you something, at least they probably know that Mary is Jesus' actual mother. I'll bet they can figure that out. I'll bet you anybody who's even halfway saved can figure that out, okay? That's garbage, because Jesus Christ is not just God in the flesh, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, alright? So, yes he's deity, yes he's God, but you know what he also is? He's human. Jesus Christ was a human being. When Jesus Christ walked and talked on this earth, he was 100% God, but he was also 100% man, okay? Because every single cell of his body contained both the divinity on the one side from God the Father and the humanity on the other side from Mary, okay? Because Mary is the mother of Jesus. Now I don't know how you could get any clearer than a Bible verse in Galatians 4, 4 that says that Jesus is made of a woman. Can anyone even imagine a clearer verse? I'm trying to think, like if I were writing the Bible, how can you make it any clearer than that? Made of, no, no, just transported there, just done, you know, just the embryos just put there, you know. Folks, it says he's made of a woman. He came from Mary's body, he's a biological child of Mary, but do these idiots ever get up and say, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I taught a false doctrine, no, no, no, they attack us and say that we're being mean to them. Well, you know what, if you can't get up and preach the word of God faithfully and actually teach what the Bible says, then sit down and shut up and let someone else do it. If you're going to teach us damnable heresy and then when someone holds you accountable for it, you just hide everything. You know, it's like, oy vey, you know, shut it down and we've got to just hide the channel. Shut the channel on private, hide all the videos, trash all the hard drives, hide all the preaching because he preached so much garbage that people are calling him out on it. Folks, do not ever come to church and hear me preaching a basic sermon like this and say like, well, why is Pastor Anderson preaching us the basics, we don't need to hear this. Folks, there's constant heresy and we need to hammer the basics, my friend. You know, don't be that kid who shows up at basketball practice and you don't want to do the bounce pass and you don't want to do the layup and you don't want to do the chest pass, you know, all you want to do is just the slam dunk or the Harlem Globetrotters kind of stuff, okay? You know, you just want to go to the boxing gym and just practice your spinning back fist and you know, it's some kind of a jump kick when you really need to work on that left jab, amen? And so we need to make sure that we hammer these basic truths and that we don't get carried off by these false teachers and liars with the false doctrine of the month club trying to get us off and teach either oneness or denial of the virgin birth or teaching that Mary isn't the mother of Jesus or whatever other stupid thing that these people can dream up out of their reprobate mind. Woo, I can't believe I just said that. Okay, Genesis chapter 3 verse 14 says, and the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. So this is of course in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve have sinned and God is doling out punishment. So he's given a punishment to the serpent which is the devil, he's given a punishment to Eve, he's given a punishment to Adam and so the punishment for the serpent rolls over into verse 15. It says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman. So there's going to be enmity between the woman and the serpent and what this represents is that the devil is the enemy of all humanity because the woman is the mother of all living. Eve, the Bible says, is the mother of all living and so the enmity between the devil and Eve is a picture of the fact that the devil is at enmity with mankind. He's mankind's enemy. Even people that are working for the devil are his enemy. He doesn't love them. He doesn't care about them. He's going to throw them under the bus. They mean nothing to him and so there's an enmity between the devil and humankind but then it says, and between thy seed and her seed. Now the seed of the woman here is a reference to Jesus Christ, okay? So Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman. So if Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman, you know what that means, that he's actually human. That he's actually biologically born of Mary, that he's actually the son of Mary in order to be the seed of the woman, in order to be the seed of David, in order to be the seed of Abraham that comes down through Mary because she is his human parent. And so it says that he will put enmity between the seed of the woman, which is a prophecy of Jesus, and the seed of the serpent and it says, it shall bruise thy head, meaning the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent and thou shalt bruise his heel. And this basically is talking about the fact that when Jesus died on the cross, that is the serpent bruising his heel. And when Jesus died on the cross, that is Jesus bruising the serpent's head. So basically, you know, when Jesus died on the cross, obviously Jesus Christ is suffering and dying, but it's actually a victory for Jesus. It's sort of like if you stepped on a snake and you hurt your foot while you were stepping on the snake. That's basically Jesus, you know, when he came to this earth and sacrificed himself and died on the cross, he basically endured pain, endured suffering, but in the process of enduring that pain and suffering, he destroyed the power of the serpent. Because the Bible says, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. So Jesus Christ crushed Satan, crushed his power by dying on the cross for our sins, because remember, he's the enemy of humanity, so he wants to damn humanity and then Jesus Christ comes in and saves humanity. Now obviously everyone's not going to be saved, but everyone has the opportunity to be saved. And so Jesus opens the door of salvation to every man, woman, boy, and girl, and so he bruises the serpent's head, the serpent bruises his heel, obviously it's painful and injurious for him as he destroys the serpent because he has to endure the cross and so forth. And so that's the symbolism here of this verse. But we see here about the incarnation of Christ that Jesus is the seed of the woman that bruises the serpent's head. You know, one of the things I like about Christmas, if you would go to John chapter 17, one of the things I like about Christmas is that a lot of the Christmas songs that we sing have so much great doctrine in them. They're packed with good doctrine. And sometimes you'll even be out shopping and just hear some great doctrine coming over those speakers. And it's kind of like the only time of year that you're ever just going to be in a worldly place and just hear somebody just laying down some great doctrine over the loudspeaker. You know, you have to get through a lot of junk and Mariah Carey and all that, but you know, to get to it. But when you get to it, man, it's a great moment when you hear Hark the Herald Angels Sing playing publicly, rise the woman's conquering seed, bruise in us the serpent's head, right? That's what this is referring to, Genesis 3.15. So when we talk about the incarnation, the first thing I made clear was that Jesus Christ is already existing, He's already the Son of God before the incarnation. The Father sends His Son whom He loves. Now I want to at this point make it clear why Jesus is called the Son of God. And a lot of people make a mistake here by just grabbing onto one reason why Jesus is called the Son of God when in fact the Bible gives us at least three very important, clear reasons why Jesus is the Son of God. So Jesus is not the Son of God for one reason, Jesus is the Son of God for at least three reasons. Okay? Reason number one, why is Jesus Christ the Son of God? Why is He called the Son of God? Reason number one is because He enjoys an eternal Father-Son relationship with God the Father. So He enjoys this familial relationship between the Father and the Son. He eternally is that relation. And so that's why He's called the Son of God. Let me prove that to you from Scripture. Look at John chapter 17 verse 5. John chapter 17 verse 5, this is Jesus praying to the Father, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. So Jesus says that He had glory with the Father before the world even was, before the world was ever created. And again, that ties in perfectly with in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, referring to Jesus. Now jump down to verse 24. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, and do not miss this next part, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. So right there we see that not only did He say, I had glory with the Father before the world began, He said that the Father loved Him before the world began. Okay. Now this is not just God loving Himself. No this is the Father loving the Son. And this is where the oneness people are completely debunked. You can't read John chapter 17 and walk away with a oneness Pentecostal view that denies the Trinity. No, the Trinity is a biblical doctrine because the Trinity teaches that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, but that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Three persons, one God. One God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And so even before the world was even created, the Father loved the Son. God is love. Isn't that His intrinsic quality? So if God is love, there has to be an object of that love. So even before the world began, you have love even within the Godhead where the Father loves the Son all the way back at the beginning. And you have the glory being shared by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The reason why they share glory is because they are co-equal. You know we looked at the scripture this morning in Philippians chapter 2 that said that Jesus Christ did not think it robbery to be equal with God because He was equal with God. He made Himself equal with God, it tells us. Now obviously there is an authority structure or chain of command where the Son obeys the Father and says, I always do those things which please Him. And even after the millennium, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, the Son will submit Himself to the Father, but they are equally God. They are co-equal in their glory and in their divinity. Jesus is not less God than the Father. Jesus is every bit as much God as the Father is. The Holy Spirit is every bit as much God. Because God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This doctrine is known as the Trinity, believing that God exists as three persons eternally. And this already existed. Otherwise how could He be in the beginning with God and be God? Because He's with God the Father and He is God because the Son is also God. So Jesus Christ is also divine. So number one, Jesus is the Son of God because He enjoys an eternal Father-Son relationship with God the Father. That's why He's the Son of God, because He's part of that Father, Son, Holy Ghost godhood. Number two, go to Luke chapter one if you would, Luke chapter one. He's called the Son of God for a second reason, because He had no earthly father. So there are three distinct reasons here. Number one, He has that eternal Father-Son relationship with God the Father. But number two, He's also called the Son of God because He had no earthly father. So if He has no earthly father, He's born of a virgin, then that makes Him the Son of God. Now look what the Bible says in Luke chapter one verse thirty-four. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, You're just the oven. You just, you know, you're just a surrogate. That's not what the angel said. So it says the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. This is not the only reason why Jesus is called the Son of God, because He was already the Son of God before He was even sent into the world, according to all those verses that I read for you earlier. So Jesus is also called the Son of God because He had no earthly father, okay? But then there's a third reason, and if you would go to Revelation chapter one, Revelation chapter number one. And this is another reason that's maybe not as obvious, but it is every bit as undeniable. Once you look at the scripture, it becomes undeniable once you look at the scripture in Acts thirteen. But let's start in Revelation one. The third reason why Jesus is called the Son of God is because He is the first begotten from the dead. The Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead and He is regenerated and that also makes Him the Son of God. And by the way, this is why we are children of God. The Bible says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. For the world knoweth us not because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, the Bible tells us in first John three two. Now here's the thing. Do we enjoy an eternal father-son relationship with the Father that started before the world began? No, we don't. We don't have that, do we? Now, did I have no earthly father and that's why I'm a son of God? No. Those first two do not apply to me. But the third one does apply to me because when I was regenerated or resurrected by the Lord, that makes me a son of God. That makes me a child of God. Every person who's saved is a child of God for this third reason. So the reason it's important to understand that Jesus is a son of, is basically the Son of God for this third reason is because it also applies to us. But is that the only reason why Jesus is the Son of God? No. This is why Jesus can be called the first begotten, the first begotten of the dead. But you know what else Jesus can be called? The only begotten. Right? Because Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God the way that I'm the Son of God or the way that you're the Son of God. He's also the Son of God for two other reasons. Because he had no earthly father and because he is eternally existing as the Son of God in eternity past all the way into eternity future. So look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 5, it says, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us, and if you're reading a King James Bible, washed us from our sins in his own blood. He washed us from our sins in his own blood. Go back if you went to Psalm 2. Psalm 2 and then we're going to look at the coup de grace in Acts chapter 13. But first we're laying a foundation here. Jesus Christ is called the first begotten from the dead. He's not the only begotten from the dead because guess what? There are going to be other resurrections coming in the future. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection, he's the first begotten of the dead, but someday you and I will be bodily resurrected. And then we will be in the same boat with Christ in that regard. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them, the dead in Christ shall rise first, etc. And so we have this as our destiny as well, but Jesus is the first. Jesus is the first one to be actually resurrected from the dead in his immortal glorified body. Because you could think about people in the Old Testament that came back from the dead. Like for example the widow's son, Elisha brings him back from the dead, or you could think about a guy like Lazarus in John chapter 11. But here's the thing about Lazarus, he died again, and this time it was for real, okay? And so all those people died again, so that's not the same type of resurrection as Jesus' resurrection where he liveth to die no more, where he's glorified. Someday we're going to experience that resurrection like Jesus' resurrection where we will actually be immortal at that point. Now I actually hope to skip that resurrection because it would be nice to just be alive and remain under the coming of the Lord. But if I'm not alive and remaining under the coming of the Lord then, you know, I will die and be bodily resurrected as the Bible says. So look at Psalm chapter 2 verse 6, yet if I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, I will declare the decree the Lord has set unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Here's what you have to focus in on here, this day have I begotten thee, this day. So this begetting that we're talking about here in Psalm 2 occurred at a moment in time. This is not eternity past that we're talking about, we're talking about a moment in time, this day have I begotten thee. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore oh ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. So in the Old Testament we're already talking about the Son of God ruling and reigning, we're talking about Christ here clearly being the Son of God. So the Messiah is the Son of God and it says this day have I begotten thee. Go to Acts 13 verse 33 now for the clincher. Acts chapter 13 verse 33 references Psalm 2 and interprets it in light of the actual coming of Christ. It says in Acts chapter 13 verse 33, God hath fulfilled the same unto their children in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is written also in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. So the Bible here in this verse, don't miss it, is saying that God raising up Jesus again from the dead is a fulfillment of thou art my son this day have I begotten thee. So what was the day that it was said thou art my son this day have I begotten thee? According to the Bible itself, it's the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Is it the birth of Christ? Is it the conception of Christ? No. And see the false teachers that deny the Trinity, that deny the eternal sonship of Christ, that want to teach the Pentecostal oneness view, what they will do is they'll say, well this day have I begotten thee, that's talking about, you know, when Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus. Is that what the Bible says? No. No, this day have I begotten thee is referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ according to Acts 13, 33. Now this makes perfect sense because of the fact that Jesus is called the first begotten from the dead. So if Jesus can be called the first begotten from the dead over in Revelation 1, well it makes perfect sense for the Father to be able to say to him when he's resurrected thou art my son this day have I begotten thee because he's begotten from the dead. Now you say that's a weird choice of words. What does that have to do with begetting? You know begetting is when you father a child, right? Isn't that what beget means? You know typically in the Bible if it said Abraham, beget, Isaac. Isaac, beget, Jacob. It's talking about fathering a child physically. That's what it's referring to, okay? So what does that have to do with being raised from the dead? Well if you think about it this way, this is the way I understand it is I think about it this way that when you father a child basically through the seed that you provide you are bringing a life into existence, right? That life cannot come into existence without the father providing seed there and so that begetting of a child brings that child into existence, okay? So this is where we will get the word generation. Like for example in Matthew chapter 1 it says the generation of Jesus Christ. The generation of Jesus Christ and then it talks about begetting and begetting and so forth. You know we talk about genes, right? We talk about being engendered. These are other synonyms engender is a synonym for beget, okay? And what this means is that when I physically father a child I'm actually bringing that life into existence. Now I'm not the only person involved because obviously God has set up the whole process so he gets credit for that new life coming into existence because he set up this process and created this miracle of life and also the woman is also part of the process because she's providing just as she can't provide a child without me I can't provide a child without her. But you know as a team we've got the 12th little begotten on the way, okay? So basically it's a bringing into existence or bringing to life when you beget a child. Well think about this. With that same idea in your mind think about this. If someone is dead and they are brought back to life can you see how that could be a picture or a symbol or related to a life being created through conception? Because if you think about conception something that's not alive becomes alive. Life is brought into being and then with resurrection you've got someone who's dead and they're being brought to life and in fact you know what the Bible calls the resurrection? The regeneration. You know Jesus said in the regeneration the 12 apostles would sit on 12 tribes judging or excuse me sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. What is Jesus talking about when he says in the regeneration? He's basically saying in the resurrection and then sometimes he'll say in the resurrection sometimes he'll say in the regeneration because being resurrected is being regenerated, okay? Being begotten the first time you know when you're just born and you're just conceived by your parents that's being generated. So there's being generated the generation and then there's the regeneration, okay? So it's not once you think about this and study the scripture it's not really hard to see why God would use this language of thou art my son this day have I begotten thee about the resurrection and then it's and it's perfect for us because here we are we're not sons of God starting out our lives. I did not come into this world a son of God sorry Mormons but you know we don't start out being sons of God. We start out just being sons of Adam. We're just human and the Bible says that many had received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name and I can't even count how many times I've showed that verse to Mormons and let me tell you how many Mormons have cared when I showed them that verse. I've showed that verse to probably a thousand Mormons in my life or at least many hundreds of Mormons in my life because I I started out so many in California there were tons of Mormons there and then I moved here there's a bunch of stinking Mormons here so the point is you know and sorry I'm irritated by the Mormons because and let me tell you why because they don't care what the Bible says they do not care what the Bible says at all. You know at least other people even if they don't get saved they still care a little bit what the Bible says when you ask them if you could show them from the Bible and they say yes and you show them some of the Bible they actually look at it and you can actually see on their face like this little care happened like caring. It's like you know what I'm talking about Mormons it's just there's nothing they don't care at all and I'm always showing them the verse and I always tell them I show them but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his name and I say you know what you wouldn't need to become a son of God if you're already a son of God because they'll just be like well we just believe everybody's a son of God we just believe everybody's a son of God and I said well then why does it say that you become a son of God when you believe in Jesus well you know we just we just believe we just believe they don't care they don't listen it's like you might as well just have a soul winning time where you just pull up to a brick wall and just witness to a brick wall and you'll get the same results of witnessing to the die-hard Mormons I'm not kidding the wall might even maybe the stones will cry out I don't know but the Mormons aren't going to there's literally no chance with these dyed in the wall Mormons okay but what I'm saying is you know to somebody who actually cares in John 1 12 it says as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even them that believe on his name so how do you become a son of God you believe on the name of Jesus you become a son of God now doesn't that now here's the thing do I enter into my mother's womb the second time to be born no how do I get born again how do I become a son of God I get regenerated I get regenerated so this is why this is such a cool doctrine about Jesus being the first begotten from the dead because that's exactly what happened when I got saved now my body didn't get regenerated yet but it will but the moment I got saved my spirit got regenerated that resurrection of my dead spirit dead and trespasses and sins took place and you know because God regenerated my spirit you know what that makes me a child of God that makes God my father because whoever this is how the universe works whoever regenerates you when you're dead they're your father now apparently that's what the Bible says right you know thou my son this day have I begotten thee is about the resurrection of Christ you know I remember when I was 18 years old and I was in Germany I was on the mission field and I was riding in the car with a German pastor and he said actually he was American pastor but he is a missionary to Germany and we're driving in the car and he said to me he said you know that verse that says thou art my son this day have I begotten thee I said yeah I know that verse he said what day was that and I said I don't know what day that was I'm like I don't know and he said turn to Acts 1333 and I turned to Acts 1333 and I read it and he said according to that Bible verse what day is that referring to and I said well it says here it's the resurrection of Christ and I said well I said how can that be how does that work because I hadn't heard this sermon that I'm preaching right now so I was like I was like how does that work how can that be and you know what he said he said well you know what before I explain it to you you need to just decide that you already believe it because it's what the Bible says so really it doesn't matter if I can explain to you why it doesn't matter if I can prove to you why it doesn't matter if I have that answer what matters is that that's what the Bible says in that verse and that that's what it is that's what the day is because that's what the Bible said it was in Acts 1333 and I'm like I believe it and he's like okay now I'll explain it to you and then he explained it to me but you know what that's that's really how we need to approach these things because you're not going to understand everything in the Bible ever in reality I mean you know I've been studying the Bible for years I study my Bible every day you know I'm constantly studying my Bible and thinking about it and meditating on it I've listened to a lot of preaching but there are things in the Bible that I still don't understand I'm constantly learning and figuring out and you're never going to fully understand everything but I can tell you right now even without fully understanding everything I believe everything I believe all of it you know even without necessarily understanding everything I believe that it's all true okay and so I I loved that lesson that he gave me of believe it first understand second okay because the if you believe the Bible is the word of God and God is saying that the resurrection of Jesus fulfills Psalm 2 now at the time it sounded kind of when I first heard I'm like huh like how does that even work but now that I've just explained it to you tonight you think 18 year old me wasn't that smart because it's so easy now to you because it's always easy once you understand you know and there are so many things like that in the Bible where we struggle and we fight sometimes and and we don't want to just accept what the Bible says but then later we understand we think like well duh like it's so obvious once you understand this it feels obvious doesn't it but you know when I was 18 I'd already read the Bible cover to cover a few times so it wasn't like I had no understanding I'd been raised in church I'd read the Bible a few times and I didn't understand that until someone explained it to me once someone explains it to you though it's clear isn't it and so that's the good thing about you know coming to church and and and you know talking to brothers and sisters about the Bible and hearing preaching and everything because you know we can learn these things and so once you learn it it's clear but the sad thing is when you can show somebody the point blank verse and they just well I just think it's raised conceived that's not what the Bible says and you're probably one of those oneness people that we need to get rid of you know another great verse on Christ's eternal sonship is Daniel 3 25 you know in Daniel 3 25 you don't have to turn there but in Daniel 3 25 Jesus appears in the fiery furnace with Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Shadrach Meshach and Abednego are in the fiery furnace and Nebuchadnezzar sees them and he says I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God who was that fourth man in the fire who showed up that's an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ and of course it's not the only Old Testament appearance of Jesus because the Lord appears in bodily form several times throughout the Old Testament and we know that no one can look on God the Father's face and live so it you know the Holy Spirit doesn't have a body that would be walking up to people and talking to them so therefore it's Jesus Old Testament appearances of Jesus is what those are and by the way if you have one of the modern versions of the Bible like the NIV or something it will say instead of the form of the fourth is like the Son of God it will say the four of the fourth is like a son of the gods a son of the gods versus the King James the Son of God okay and by the way for those who are interested which is probably very few people I made like a 45 minute video that's on YouTube somewhere where I showed how the publishers of the NIV because the NIV is published by Zondervan that Zondervan in their own textbook on how to learn Aramaic actually proves that their translation in the NIV in Daniel 3.25 is impossible grammatically that a son of the gods is impossible of a translation from the original Aramaic so that's out there if you are skeptical you know that the KJV is right but I doubt very many people are interested in that because it's you know what the Holy Spirit bears witness anyway that when we read the King James that it's got the power of God and that the NIV is like a wet spaghetti noodle of a version okay it's like a it's like a wet washcloth whereas the KJV is like the two-edged sword so Jesus Christ the Bible says you know appeared in the Old Testament at times because you know the Son of God shows up in the fire the Lord comes and walks up to Abraham and eats and and and drinks with him let me just hurry up and hit another couple of key points before I'm done I'm almost done but flip over to Philippians 2 what am I emphasizing tonight what's the sermon about you know the title is the incarnation of Christ but the thing I'm really trying to drive in tonight is that the Word was made flesh what does that mean well Jesus Christ is already the Son of God the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world Jesus called the Son of God for three reasons he has that eternal relationship with the Father he has no earthly father and he's the first begotten of the dead all three of those make him the Son of God the begetting of Jesus that took place in time what's the time according to Acts 13 33 it's the resurrection clear acts 13 33 even a teenager will blindly accept that if they're shown because I'm proof okay because it's so clear I mean that's what the verse says in Acts 13 33 and then also I'm emphasizing the fact that Jesus Christ is not only pre-existent but he's eternally the Son of God he always has been the Son of God he always will be the Son of God Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever look what the Bible says in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God now what does robbery mean robbery is when you're stealing and so it says here that he did not think it robbery to be equal with God why because by being equal with God he's not taking anything away from God he's not stealing anything robbery is when you take something that doesn't belong to you being equal with God belonged to Jesus so he thought it not robbery to be equal with God and by the way you get one of these new versions the NIV or whatever it says well he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped which makes it sound like he can't really grasp equality with God he's not quite there you know it's garbage folks it matters what Bible you have get a King James okay so being in the form of God he thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men folks get the chain of events here Jesus was in the form of God he thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men so again we have Jesus already pre-existent as God as the son that's with the father loved by the father in eternity past being made in the likeness of men coming to this earth being born of Mary Mary is the mother God is the father the the power of the highest overshadowed her you know it's a miraculous thing where she conceived in her womb the product of both God and man right Jesus Christ both human and divine and see here's the thing about if you think about your parents you know I'm half of my DNA comes from my mom and half that comes from my dad but here's the thing though it's not like well you know I got my arms from my mom and I've got my dad's legs and I've got my nose because literally every cell in my body is from both parents there's not a cell in my body well this is just from dad this is just from mom because you know our DNA as human beings has 2.9 billion base pairs okay so our DNA the code the genetic code of a human being by the way is found in every cell of my body which is why a policeman could just swab the inside of my mouth or just you know something that I touched or something you can get some skin cells or you know inside my cheek cells where and he he's gonna be able to get my entire DNA profile right not just part of it he's got the whole DNA okay because every cell in my body contains DNA and every cell in my body is from mom and every cell in my body is from dad well guess what when it comes to Jesus every cell in Christ's body is divine and every cell in Christ's body is human and so it's not like well his body is a human part the spirit is the God part no my friend the human part is every cell of his body but the divine part is every cell of his body the body of Christ is divine because otherwise where'd the other half of the DNA come from right came from Mary came from God very important one last place that will look and I'll be done is Luke twenty four Luke twenty four while you're turning to Luke twenty four let me just explain why the incarnation is important because the Bible tells us that every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God right anybody who says that Jesus did not come in the flesh is not of God the Bible says in in second John verse seven many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh this is a deceiver and an anti-christ so anybody who doesn't believe that Jesus came in the flesh is a deceiver and an anti-christ so therefore it sounds like the incarnation is pretty important because what does incarnation mean that Jesus came in the flesh Jesus was made flesh it comes from the same root word as the Spanish word carne which carne means flesh in Spanish and so that's why it's important that Jesus Christ came in the flesh that's why John said in first John one one that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life he said our hands handled Jesus he came in the flesh Luke twenty four are you there verse thirty six is the resurrection of Jesus and as they thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto that saith unto them peace be unto you but they were terrified terrified and affrighted and suppose that they'd seen a spirit so they think Jesus is a ghost they you know they were kind of acting like Jehovah's Witnesses for a second where they thought that it was just a spiritual resurrection not a bodily resurrection okay they think it's a ghost and he said to them why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts behold my hands of my feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have and when he had thus spoken he showed them his hands on his feet and while they yet believe not for joy and wondered he said unto them have ye here any meat and they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb and he took it and it eat before them now why did you I mean is Jesus just really that hungry that when he shows up it's like come on guys where's the honeycomb you know where's the BK broiler obviously the reason why Jesus Christ asked for food is because he wanted to eat and drink in front of them so they would see that he was physically flesh and bone there because they're they're they're so blown away by the resurrection that you know they couldn't process it you know and sometimes when we see things that are really just unexpected sometimes we just can't process it and so they're having trouble processing it so he says well you know do you have any food here and then he starts eating in front of them I mean a ghost isn't gonna eat your food and so he's showing them look I'm here I'm chomping I'm eating this and they are touching he's saying come handle me touch me make sure I'm really here because I want you to realize that I am in the flesh I've come in the flesh and so we need to believe that the word was made flesh that that the son of God Jesus Christ was born physically in the flesh a human being son of Mary lived a sinless life died on the cross was buried and then three days later rose again from the dead once again in the flesh bodily he rose from the dead this is what's important we need to believe in what the death burial and resurrection you don't bury a spirit folks you don't bury a soul what do you bury you bury the body the bit the death burial and resurrection of Christ is a reference to the fact that he bodily rose again let's borrow words and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much for Christmas when we can think about the birth of Jesus and the Incarnation and Lord I pray that everyone would be solid on these basic truths that we talked about tonight Lord and that and that we would never grow weary of just nailing down the basics because many false prophets are gone out into the world there are many deceivers and liars and false teachers and we need to be grounded in the faith when it comes to these fundamental truths especially about the doctrine of Christ and so thank you Lord for giving us your word so that we could study and nail these things down and it's in Jesus name we pray amen amen take your hymnals please and turn to him number four hundred and thirty one four hundred and thirty one silent night number four hundred and thirty one last Christmas song out of our hymnal number four thirty one let's sing it on this first silent night holy night all is gone all is right round yon virgin mother and child holy infant so tender and mild sleep in heavenly peace sleep in heavenly peace silent night holy night shepherds wake at the sight glory stream from heaven afar and we all sing hallelujah Christ the Savior is born silent night holy night Son of God, lost your light radiant peace from thine holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus, Lord at thy birth, Jesus, Lord at thy birth Silent night holy night, wondrous star, led by light, with the angels let us sing Hallelujah to our King, Christ the Savior is born Amen. Great singing tonight, York Smith.