The Narratives and Names of Christmas

The point: Do not impose practices on others that would be grievous to them, especially in matters of Christian liberty.

Martin explains the absence of poinsettias and Christmas trees in the church building as an example of guarding Christian liberty, not wanting to impose practices on those who might find them grievous.

and in many other areas which we have jealously guarded because such diversity in matters that are not life and death issues of the Christian faith, clear right or wrong issues of biblical morality, come within the purview of what we commonly call Christian liberty. That is, matters in which every individual believer must, in the language of Paul, be fully persuaded in his own mind. And if some of you wonder why you've come into a building and there are no poinsettias and no little Christmas trees and no trappings of the season in terms of ornaments, it's because we do not want to impose on pe...

1:48 - 2:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not impose practices on others that would be grievous to them, especially in matters of Christian liberty.

He contrasts the church's practice with the presence of wreaths and poinsettias in many members' homes, illustrating that the congregation is not 'scrooges' but exercises diversity in practice.

something that they believe perhaps has no place in their own individual lives, and they would feel that something was being forced upon them. However, if you were to go into many of our homes or even drive up to the outside of our homes, you'd see lots of wreaths and poinsettias, and I don't know that you'd see any reindeer on our lawns. I haven't done a survey around the homes of our people. But it would be evident that we're not all a company of scrooges who say, It's a humbug, a plague on the whole rotten business.

2:41 - 3:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section details the historical facts of Jesus' birth, focusing on Mary and Joseph's betrothal, Mary's miraculous pregnancy by the Holy Spirit, and Joseph's righteous struggle…

Martin offers a humorous '20th century Americanese' paraphrase of Matthew 1:18 ('I'm going to tell it like it is') to emphasize the straightforward nature of the narrative.

The Albert N. Martin paraphrase in 20th century Americanese, with respect to the birth of Jesus, I'm going to tell it like it is.

11:32 - 11:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section details the historical facts of Jesus' birth, focusing on Mary and Joseph's betrothal, Mary's miraculous pregnancy by the Holy Spirit, and Joseph's righteous struggle…

He distinguishes betrothal in ancient Jewish culture from modern engagement, explaining its legally binding nature and greater significance to highlight the gravity of Mary's pregnancy.

The couple did not yet live under the same roof and have sexual intimacy. At a time subsequent to, and there is no specified thing in secular history, nothing in biblical Old Testament law or in New Testament narrative to indicate how long, but sometimes subsequent to the betrothal, far more than engagement, which in our culture should not be broken with impunity, should not be entered into carelessly, but certainly can be broken without writing out a bill of divorcement, certainly does not regard the person who breaks an engagement as a divorcee, but this betrothal was far more than that. And...

13:31 - 14:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section details the historical facts of Jesus' birth, focusing on Mary and Joseph's betrothal, Mary's miraculous pregnancy by the Holy Spirit, and Joseph's righteous struggle…

Martin uses the modern concept of a 'shotgun wedding' to illustrate what Joseph refused to do by covering up Mary's pregnancy, emphasizing Joseph's commitment to righteousness and honor.

Being a righteous man wanting to love God and uphold the moral standards of God, he feels he cannot let this issue go and simply go on with the marriage and do a cover-up job. like what we would call in our day a shotgun wedding. A guy gets a gal pregnant and so they have a quickly arranged marriage and hope nobody can count the months till she has the child. Joseph says, no, that would not be righteous.

17:37 - 18:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Righteous men seek to weigh all biblical principles comprehensively and holistically, praying and reflecting before acting.

He describes Joseph's internal struggle as a 'mental wrestling match' before sleep, likening it to a believer's prayerful deliberation, to emphasize Joseph's thoughtful righteousness.

But like any righteous man who knows the proverb, he that makes haste with his feet sins, he didn't just jump the gun. He said, no, let me just let this percolate a little bit. So he's off to sleep. And as he's drifting in and out of sleep, the text says, look at verse 20, but when he thought on these things, and the verb there is a compound verb, has the sense, while he's going, having a mental wrestling match.

19:01 - 19:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the angel's appearance to Joseph in a dream, addressing him as 'son of David' and revealing the Holy Spirit's role in Mary's pregnancy. He emphasizes Joseph's…

Martin contrasts Joseph's dream with a 'wild dream you get when you eat too much sauerkraut,' clarifying that it was a divine, revelatory act of God, not a mere hallucination.

And in this turbulent state of mind about fully decided what to do, but not yet fully decided, he drifts off into sleep. And while he's sleeping, an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream. Now this is not some kind of a wild dream you get when you eat too much sauerkraut mixed with pickles or whatever else. This was a revelatory act of God.

19:56 - 20:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the angel's appearance to Joseph in a dream, addressing him as 'son of David' and revealing the Holy Spirit's role in Mary's pregnancy. He emphasizes Joseph's…

He uses the idea that 'men love great names, but so often fail to live up to them' to explain the angel's address to Joseph as 'son of David,' calling him to live up to his princely heritage.

Son of David, this now regards Joseph as a prince, and princely things were expected of him to be a protector of the very prince of heaven itself. Men love great names, but so often fail to live up to them. Son of David is your name, Joseph. Be what you are.

22:09 - 22:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider Joseph's self-control and grace of loving patience in refraining from intimacy with Mary until after Jesus' birth.

Martin contrasts Joseph's truthful self-restraint with 'Slick Willie and his devil talk' (a likely allusion to Bill Clinton), to highlight Joseph's integrity in testifying to Jesus' virgin conception.

No. It's a Romish notion that if procreation is not possible, intercourse is somehow less than honorable. That's nonsense. But you don't need to have a lawyer's mind to figure out that if the testimony to the virgin conception of Jesus was to be unassailable by the people who knew most next to God, Joseph would be able to look anyone in the eye and say, I had no intercourse with that woman.

26:24 - 26:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider Joseph's self-control and grace of loving patience in refraining from intimacy with Mary until after Jesus' birth.

He challenges the men in the congregation to consider Joseph's self-control and loving patience in refraining from intimacy with Mary, making the historical account personally applicable.

not like Slick Willie and his devil talk, but a righteous man who speaks the truth and could say, Mary was impregnated by God the Holy Spirit and not by me. Think of the self-control. Think of the grace of loving patience. How about you men?

26:54 - 27:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reiterates the sermon's first point, emphasizing the 'real stuff history' of the biblical narrative, contrasting it with religious myth, and listing the concrete historical…

Martin contrasts the biblical narrative with 'Lord of the Rings,' emphasizing that the Bible is 'real stuff history,' not religious myth from which one merely draws spiritual significance.

And I underscore again, and some of you may wonder, Pastor, you're beating it thin at the edges. I've got a reason for beating it thin at the edges. When I do it, you know I have a reason for it. This is not religious myth.

28:31 - 28:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Get your mind off the tinsel and trappings of the season and let your mind do what it was given by God to do: think His thoughts after Him and feel the explosive pressure of Emmanuel, God with us.

He uses the scientific term 'divided zygote' to describe the earliest stage of Jesus' development in Mary's womb, emphasizing the profound mystery of God's enfleshment from conception.

He begins to be what He never had been. He takes to Himself true humanity, a true human soul, a rational soul, and a true human body, so that when the Spirit of God impregnates Mary in the wonder of it, to say it with words borders on the one hand between one thinks something short of almost blasphemous, and yet on the other hand sacrilegious that one cannot begin to express the wonder of it. there in Mary's womb when the son born and the child given is just a divided zygote, that's God joined to the zygote.

38:29 - 39:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Get your mind off the tinsel and trappings of the season and let your mind do what it was given by God to do: think His thoughts after Him and feel the explosive pressure of Emmanuel, God with us.

Martin urges listeners to move their minds beyond 'tinsel and the trappings of the season' to contemplate the explosive pressure of Emmanuel, God with us, in the womb.

And in those opening weeks as the cells multiply so quickly and in a matter of a few weeks little fingers and little flippers and a little heart begins to beat, That's God with us. With us in the humiliation of the womb. Think about it, my friends. Get your mind off the tinsel and the trappings of the season and let your mind do what it was given by God to do.

39:20 - 39:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Get your mind off the tinsel and trappings of the season and let your mind do what it was given by God to do: think His thoughts after Him and feel the explosive pressure of Emmanuel, God with us.

He contrasts Adam's creation from dust with Jesus' incarnation through Mary's womb, highlighting the unique nature of the God-man's entry into humanity.

Something Adam never experienced. Adam came to us from the dust of the earth created by the hand of God into which God breathed the breath of life. But when the God-man comes, he comes not by direct creation from heaven, but by taking to himself of the substance of Mary and Mary's womb. Through humanity.

40:06 - 40:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Get your mind off the tinsel and trappings of the season and let your mind do what it was given by God to do: think His thoughts after Him and feel the explosive pressure of Emmanuel, God with us.

Martin quotes a 'man of God' (likely John Owen) describing Christ's emptying of Himself as 'subtraction by addition,' explaining that He did not cease to be God but added humanity.

The very God of heaven. This is what Paul was attempting to describe in Philippians 2. Let this mind be in you. It was also in Christ Jesus who, existing in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped, to be equal with God, but emptied himself taking.

40:42 - 41:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard yourselves from idols; any Jesus you pay homage to in the manger who is less than God is an idol.

He critiques the 'crass idolatry' of pop singers and entertainers who mention Jesus' name during Christmas without acknowledging His deity, illustrating a common form of disrespect.

Every immoral, vile, filthy pop singer, public entertainer, tipping his or her hat, or bearing her navel and shaking his hips for Jesus.

42:35 - 42:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard yourselves from idols; any Jesus you pay homage to in the manger who is less than God is an idol.

Martin quotes a hymn ('Hark! The Herald Angels Sing') to emphasize the true identity of Jesus in the manger as 'incarnate Deity,' contrasting it with sentimental views.

Think of the idolatry and so many of the Christmas cards and Christmas greetings to see in the manger anything other than what the hymn writer said veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

43:09 - 43:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Don't you dosetize my Jesus. He is God with us! in our smelly infant puke, in our dirty diapers, in our piercing cries. He's with us.

He challenges the sentimental hymn line 'little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes,' asserting that Jesus cried lustily like any baby, to emphasize His full humanity and identification with us.

Strike that out from one of your hymns. The cattle are lowing, the poor babe awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes, now you all ought to be a corporate strooge and say, bah humbug. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, and little Lord Jesus, He cries his head off.

44:23 - 44:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Don't you dosetize my Jesus. He is God with us! in our smelly infant puke, in our dirty diapers, in our piercing cries. He's with us.

Martin uses vivid, earthy imagery of infant puke and dirty diapers to underscore Jesus' full humanity and identification with our messy, physical reality, rejecting any sanitized portrayal.

And when he had a full snortful at Mary's breast, and she put him on the shoulder to burp him, or handed him over to Joseph, and he puked, it smelled like your kids smelled mine.

44:54 - 45:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Don't you dosetize my Jesus. He is God with us! in our smelly infant puke, in our dirty diapers, in our piercing cries. He's with us.

He describes a truly human Jesus as one who 'bleeds' when pricked and 'jumps' when pinched, emphasizing His tangible, physical reality.

I don't want a Jesus. He's not with me. He's not one of us. I want a Jesus who when you pick him, he bleeds.

45:29 - 45:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Be concerned about sin and understand what the manger scene says about sin.

Martin humorously anticipates being labeled 'Scrooge incarnate' for preaching about sin on Christmas Sunday, highlighting the cultural aversion to the topic.

from economic inequalities, from class distinctions, from racial prejudices, and from mutual exploitation of the poor. No, he is to save from the ugly, vile, wrath-deserving, moral pollution called sin. And I sat at my desk yesterday and I said, Man, oh man, Albert, if you want to get labeled as Scrooge incarnate, stand up on Christmas Sunday and use the three-letter word sin and say Christmas ain't nothing unless you understand how it relates to sin. sin.

50:07 - 50:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Be concerned about sin and understand what the manger scene says about sin.

He illustrates the cultural disconnect by imagining asking about sin in a social Christmas setting, where people are more concerned with indulging than confronting moral evil.

Want to cause disruption? The next social setting you're in where people want to have the Christmas spirit? Raise your hand and say, folks, I'd like to ask a question. Anybody around here concerned about sin?

50:56 - 51:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Be concerned about sin and understand what the manger scene says about sin.

Martin describes sin as a 'poisonous stream' and an 'open sluice gate of moral evil' to convey its pervasive and destructive impact on humanity, leading to all sorrow and death.

That poisonous stream that entered the human race through our first parents. For by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, for that all sinned. The origin of all sorrow, sickness, disease, and death, every broken heart, every tear-filled eye, every grieved and crushed spirit, every exploited man, woman, boy, girl, child, all of the evils and sadness, all comes from that open sluice gate of moral evil and turpitude called sin.

51:45 - 52:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Allow the theology of the narrative to be brought home to your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, leading to adoration of Jesus as God with us.

He references Thomas's confession 'My Lord and my God' after the resurrection, urging listeners to have a similar personal, adoring response to Jesus in the manger.

Do you feel yourself like Thomas after the resurrection and he's finally persuaded that it is his Lord who was crucified, risen from the dead? It says he falls down and he cries out, My God! My Lord! My God!

57:48 - 58:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Embrace the day in Bethlehem in an act of personal inward adoration, worship, love, and affinity.

Martin uses the phrase 'entombed in a womb' to emphasize the profound humiliation and self-abasement of God becoming flesh, on His way to the cross.

Paul said, if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed of God. how can you behold the manger and realize that there is Emmanuel by way of being entombed in a womb for a full nine months God in a womb on his way to a cross as the Holy Spirit internalizes the eyes of your soul see him in the arms of your soul and praise Him.

58:39 - 59:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Concluding, Martin reiterates that the narrative is 'true truth' with God's own interpretation. He quotes Matthew Henry, who states that nature shows God above us, the law shows…

Martin shares a personal anecdote about wanting to thank Matthew Henry in heaven, humorously pondering how disembodied spirits communicate, to introduce Henry's quote.

Blessed Matthew Henry. There are probably about 10, 15 saints that if God gives me any preference when I get to heaven, I want to see first and say thank you. And I don't know how disembodied spirits communicate. That's one of the things that I have to just lay to rest.

63:12 - 63:26 Read in full sermon

Driving home: By the light of the Gospel we see Him as God with us. Emmanuel. Jesus. The Savior of sinners.

He quotes Matthew Henry's summary of how nature reveals God 'above us,' the law reveals God 'against us,' and the Gospel reveals God 'with us,' providing a concise theological synthesis.

I don't know how disembodied spirits recognize one another. Now, don't get distracted because of my crazy brain, but I'm sure I'm going to be able to recognize him. And I want to seek out Matthew Henry and thank him for a lot of things, but this is one of them. Matthew Henry said this, By the light of nature, we can see God above us as God.

63:40 - 64:03 Read in full sermon