What and Why of The Incarnation

The point: Christians who differ in their convictions about observing Christmas as a holiday should hold their convictions before the Lord without binding the consciences of their brothers and sisters, following the principle of Ro…

Martin opens by acknowledging the Christmas season is upon the congregation whether welcomed with joy and anticipation or viewed with dread and irritation - framing the holiday's inescapability as the problem that makes his pastoral task difficult and requires a principled solution.

Whether we welcome it with joy and with keen anticipation, or whether we view its approach with dread and irritation, the so-called Christmas season is upon us, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's here.

0:03 - 0:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Christians who differ in their convictions about observing Christmas as a holiday should hold their convictions before the Lord without binding the consciences of their brothers and sisters, following the principle of Ro…

Martin describes one end of the congregational spectrum: those who cite Ephesians 5:11 and argue that no evidence exists in Scripture or secular history that Christ was born in December, and who see the holiday as so entangled with worldly wickedness that a devoted Christian should shun it.

Those who have that conviction assert that there is no evidence whatsoever from the scriptures or secular history that Christ was born in December, let alone December 25th. There is, to the very casual observer, such a worldly and wicked abuse of the holiday with everything from irresponsible waste and materialism to treachery and drunkenness that they would place the very holiday in the category of those things described in Ephesians by the apostle when he says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Then on the other hand, we have on the total end ...

1:11 - 2:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Christians who differ in their convictions about observing Christmas as a holiday should hold their convictions before the Lord without binding the consciences of their brothers and sisters, following the principle of Ro…

The other end of the spectrum: those who see in the biblical accounts of Christ's conception and birth the richest gospel truths, for whom concentrating on the incarnation at this season makes Christ more precious, and who feel in good conscience they ought to celebrate.

their experience, past and present, has shown them that Christ becomes more precious to them as they concentrate upon his incarnation at this season. Loved ones and family become more dear to them, and the whole holiday has such positive social and spiritual connotations that they feel before God that with good conscience, not only can they celebrate, but they ought to celebrate the day. Now, between those two ends of the spectrum, we have a great variety both of conviction and of practice represented by the people gathered here this morning. Now, frankly, I glory in that diversity. I glory in...

2:38 - 3:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Christians who differ in their convictions about observing Christmas as a holiday should hold their convictions before the Lord without binding the consciences of their brothers and sisters, following the principle of Ro…

Drawing on 2 Corinthians 4:5, Martin frames the pastoral dilemma of what to preach on Christmas Sunday as the tension between being servant of the Lord and slave of the people of God - both callings press on him at once.

Because on the Lord's Day preceding, or on which the actual holiday actually falls occasionally, I think every seven years, what am I to do as the Lord's servant? I am not only the servant of the Lord, but in a true sense a servant of the people of God. Paul said, We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus is Lord, and ourselves your slaves for Jesus' sake. Now on the one end of the spectrum are those who would love to have me stand and give an anti-Christmas harangue.

4:50 - 5:25 Read in full sermon

The point: When a Christian finds himself on either extreme of a contested issue, the test of maturity is whether he can receive the exposition of Scripture even when it refuses to validate his tribal position.

Martin imagines what would happen if he delivered an anti-Christmas harangue: a self-appointed amen corner would respond vigorously to every denunciation of materialism and debauchery because he would be 'trumping their cause.' The humor captures how theological positions can become tribal loyalties.

And you would be the self-appointed amen corner. And everything that was said about the crass materialism and about the drunkenness and the debauchery and the wickedness and all the rest, you would find a response that was very vigorous and enthusiastic because I was trumping your cause. On the other hand, there are those who would love to have the entire worship service structured around the so-called Christmas theme and have Christmas carols in place of psalms and hymns of praise. And they would love to have the ministry directed in such a way as to make it unmistakable, that Christmas had a...

5:25 - 6:26 Read in full sermon

The point: When a Christian finds himself on either extreme of a contested issue, the test of maturity is whether he can receive the exposition of Scripture even when it refuses to validate his tribal position.

Martin declares that only two classes will be disappointed by his sermon: those who want to bind the consciences of others to their own Christmas convictions, and those who find delight only in slushy sentiments about the Christmas spirit briefly suspending human wickedness.

to please all those at both ends of the spectrum and everyone in between. Now that's a very broad ambition, but on the basis that I've already declared, I hope that ambition will be realized. There will only be two people disappointed this day, and in that disappointment I glory. Those of you who want to, who bind the consciences of your brethren to your personal convictions will be very disappointed because you will hear nothing that will give you any fuel to bind the conscience of any brother or sister either to the observance or the non-observance of the day.

8:18 - 8:58 Read in full sermon

The point: When a Christian finds himself on either extreme of a contested issue, the test of maturity is whether he can receive the exposition of Scripture even when it refuses to validate his tribal position.

Martin labels the nebulous notion that meanness and ugliness are suspended for a few days when the 'so-called Christmas spirit descends upon the world' as 'sheer sentimental rubbish, nothing more, nothing less' - one of his most blunt dismissals.

For if I sought to bind your conscience, I would violate my function as a servant of Jesus Christ. And then the second class that will be disappointed is those who only find delight in slushy sentiments. Those who find their great delight in some nebulous notion that everything of meanness and ugliness and wretchedness is suspended for a few days when the so-called Christmas spirit descends upon the world. That sheer sentimental rubbish, nothing more, nothing less.

8:58 - 9:36 Read in full sermon

The point: When a Christian finds himself on either extreme of a contested issue, the test of maturity is whether he can receive the exposition of Scripture even when it refuses to validate his tribal position.

Martin expresses his hope that the Holy Ghost will give the congregation 'such a sight as will ravish our hearts and make him precious to us' - framing faithful biblical exposition as the means by which Christ becomes heart-captivating.

And if you've come to expect any of that, you'll be disappointed. But for all whose hearts long to be disappointed, to have the word of God opened and to have a sight of Christ, I trust the Holy Ghost will give us such a sight as will ravish our hearts and make him precious to us. So my proposal then is this morning to direct your attention to a portion of the word of God which sets forth the incarnation in its objective reality. That is what constitutes the incarnation or the enfleshment of the second person of the Godhead and why was that enfleshment brought to pass.

9:36 - 10:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not allow the practical context of a passage to prevent them from expounding the profound doctrinal jewels embedded within it - 2 Corinthians 8:9 is one of Scripture's greatest statements of the incarnat…

Martin quotes an unnamed commentator: at 2 Corinthians 8:9 'the apostle addresses or adduces the supreme argument for Christian liberality - the self-giving and self-impoverishment of the Son of God on man's behalf.' The incarnation is the motive and measure of Christian generosity.

at Jerusalem. So in the midst now of this record of the grace of giving in the Macedonians the exhortation to the Corinthians to abound in that grace and practical directions about the implementations of that grace is something that is sandwiched one of the most profound and glorious statements of the incarnation to be found anywhere in the word of God. It is in the midst of that very practical concern of the apostle that he says for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor. As one has said at this point in his treatment the apostle a...

13:05 - 14:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not allow the practical context of a passage to prevent them from expounding the profound doctrinal jewels embedded within it - 2 Corinthians 8:9 is one of Scripture's greatest statements of the incarnat…

Martin contrasts the apostle's precise use of the full title Lord Jesus Christ against the sentimentalized image of 'some nebulous little babe in a manger who has no specific identity' - doctrinal precision as the guard against sentimental distortion.

The Lord Jesus Christ for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and everything that follows focuses exclusively upon him. And the apostle is careful in this context to use his full official title to remind the Corinthians and us that he is not speaking about some nebulous little babe in a manger who has no specific identity. He is speaking of that one who is the Lord which points always to the dignity of his person and to the exaltedness of his position. The word Lord when used of Christ always gathers to itself a statement both of the dignity of his person and the exaltedness of his posi...

14:25 - 15:45 Read in full sermon

The point: The doctrines of God's immutability and Christ's eternal deity must be held together: because God cannot change, the riches of the Son were never surrendered in the incarnation, only voluntarily veiled. Any doctrine of k…

Martin gives a text-critical illustration: the AV rendering 'he was rich' (past tense) creates the false impression that the riches ended when the poverty began, whereas the Greek participle means 'being rich' - a concurrent and permanent state throughout the humiliation.

The text says ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich. Now this is the way it is translated in the 1901 edition the authorized version similarly and the translation is weak because it's not weak. Because it would give the impression that his state of being rich is something in the past tense that obtains only until the state of poverty is introduced. He was rich past he became poor that the riches and the poverty are not coexisting but one precedes the other.

17:35 - 18:20 Read in full sermon

The point: The doctrines of God's immutability and Christ's eternal deity must be held together: because God cannot change, the riches of the Son were never surrendered in the incarnation, only voluntarily veiled. Any doctrine of k…

Martin warns that if we see no more than 'an unusual birth resulting in an unusual life issuing in an unusual death of an unusual man' we have missed the whole message of the incarnation - the stakes of getting Christology right.

He is eternally God. He is fully possessed of all of the divine attributes and all of the divine prerogatives in the language of Romans 9. He is God over all blessed forever. And oh my friends if you and I see no more than an unusual birth resulting in an unusual life issuing in an unusual death of an unusual man we've missed the whole message of the incarnation.

21:38 - 22:18 Read in full sermon

Driving home: if you and I see no more than an unusual birth resulting in an unusual life issuing in an unusual death of an unusual man we've missed the whole message of the incarnation.

The apostle can use even the shocking language of Acts 20 - 'the church of God which he purchased with his own blood' - because Christ remained fully God throughout the poverty, making his blood the blood of God himself.

We must conceive of everything that impinges upon our concept of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of these words being rich he became poor not having been rich but being rich so that everything that pertains to his poverty everything that attaches itself to that which is bounded by the poverty is the voluntary impoverishment of one who is God. This is why the apostle can use even the shocking language language language of Acts 20 the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. Now in the second place notice what the text says concerning the temporary poverty of our Lord. For the text no...

22:19 - 23:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have sat at my desk and shaked my head and prayed and cried to God for grace and ability somehow to state the truth in a carefully guarded and yet as much as possible simple way.

Martin discloses personal pastoral vulnerability: 'I have sat at my desk and shaked my head and prayed and cried to God for grace and ability somehow to state the truth in a carefully guarded and yet as much as possible simple way' - the first mystery of godliness buckles even the preacher.

Now you say, Pastor, I don't know. That's making distinctions that are hard for me to make, my friend. When we touch this that is the first mystery of godliness, all of our minds are buckled. I have sat at my desk and shaked my head and prayed and cried to God for grace and ability somehow to state the truth in a carefully guarded and yet as much as possible simple way.

25:07 - 25:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have sat at my desk and shaked my head and prayed and cried to God for grace and ability somehow to state the truth in a carefully guarded and yet as much as possible simple way.

Martin states that when we touch the mystery of the two natures in the one person of Christ, 'all of our minds are buckled' - acknowledging that this doctrine lies beyond full comprehension while still demanding careful exposition.

When you say, Pastor, I can't figure that out. That doesn't make sense. Well, let me try to illustrate. Here are two kings.

26:37 - 26:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have sat at my desk and shaked my head and prayed and cried to God for grace and ability somehow to state the truth in a carefully guarded and yet as much as possible simple way.

First of two kings: a king who is deposed by a foreign government, stripped of title, royal line, robes, and treasury, banished to take the place of a beggar. Of this king it can truly be said 'he who had been rich became poor' - his former riches and present poverty have no parallel existence.

One sits upon a throne up to a point that a foreign government comes in and deposes him.

26:45 - 26:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The main doctrinal body of the sermon. Martin distinguishes Christ's poverty (the full period of his humiliation from Mary's womb to the exaltation) from his permanent humanity…

The second king - the rightful heir who voluntarily leaves his throne to identify with impoverished subjects, donning beggars' clothes while undeposed. His royal garments hang in the closet; no one else sits his throne; royal blood still flows through his veins. He becomes poor while being rich, and on return he resumes 'a new dimension of his kingly reign and rule.'

The rightful heir to the throne. He sits upon the throne. Has unlimited access to all of the richness and wealth of the kingdom. Unfettered exercise of his rights as a sovereign.

27:52 - 28:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers should distinguish between Christ voluntarily relinquishing the exercise of his divine prerogatives (which he did) and surrendering possession of those prerogatives (which he never did) - this distinction guard…

Martin explains that Christ did not take pre-fallen Adamic humanity but assumed post-fall humanity - a body susceptible to weariness, weakness, sickness, loneliness, pain, and death - while simultaneously possessing all the prerogatives and inherent dignity of Godhood. This simultaneous reality is the wonder and mystery of the incarnation.

But he did not take upon him pre-fallen Adamic humanity. He was not a man as Adam before the fall. He was as man after the fall in terms of a body susceptible, to weariness, to weakness, to sickness, loneliness, pain, and death, while all the while possessing all of the prerogatives and the inherent dignity of Godhood. That's what makes the wonder of the Incarnation such a wonder and such a mystery. Furthermore, his being poor involved the voluntary relinquishment of some of the exercise of his prerogatives. When that king who is still a king with unchallenged royal blood and heritage in his v...

32:16 - 33:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers should distinguish between Christ voluntarily relinquishing the exercise of his divine prerogatives (which he did) and surrendering possession of those prerogatives (which he never did) - this distinction guard…

Returning to the king analogy: when the volunteer king identifies with paupers, he voluntarily relinquishes the exercise of royal prerogatives (banquet tables, fine clothing) while never surrendering possession of them. Christ likewise relinquished the exercise but never the possession of his divine prerogatives.

for his eating place, the prerogatives of lovely lavish clothing, the prerogatives that are his when he is there upon his throne as king. Our Lord in his poverty voluntarily relinquished some of the exercise of those prerogatives. He never relinquished the possession of them, simply the exercise of them. And occasionally there was the exercise that so manifested itself as to let, as it were, something of the glory break through upon those who were near him.

33:42 - 34:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers should distinguish between Christ voluntarily relinquishing the exercise of his divine prerogatives (which he did) and surrendering possession of those prerogatives (which he never did) - this distinction guard…

Occasionally during the humiliation, the divine glory 'so manifested itself as to let, as it were, something of the glory break through upon those who were near him' - alluding to miracles and especially the Transfiguration as moments when the veiled glory became partially visible.

for his eating place, the prerogatives of lovely lavish clothing, the prerogatives that are his when he is there upon his throne as king. Our Lord in his poverty voluntarily relinquished some of the exercise of those prerogatives. He never relinquished the possession of them, simply the exercise of them. And occasionally there was the exercise that so manifested itself as to let, as it were, something of the glory break through upon those who were near him.

33:42 - 34:23 Read in full sermon

The point: The doctrine of substitutionary atonement requires the full identification of Christ with his people: what he does for them is reckoned by God as done by them, and what he suffers under the law's curse is reckoned as the…

Martin describes the Mount of Transfiguration as proof of the veiled glory: the glory did not come from outside upon Christ but burst from within him, his countenance and garments transformed. This is why John could say 'we beheld his glory' - the veil was momentarily lifted.

And certainly his poverty consists in his voluntary veiling of his glory. So that when men looked upon him, what did they see? Nothing but a man. Oh, there was that time upon the Mount of Transfiguration when the glory that was veiled did not come from without upon him, but it burst from him and his whole countenance and garments were changed and they saw something of the very kind of the divine presence.

35:23 - 35:57 Read in full sermon

The point: The doctrine of substitutionary atonement requires the full identification of Christ with his people: what he does for them is reckoned by God as done by them, and what he suffers under the law's curse is reckoned as the…

The voluntary veiling of glory was so complete that enemies called Christ demon-possessed, a wine-bibber and glutton, laid stripes upon his holy back, spit upon him, plucked his beard, impaled him on a cross, and taunted him to come down and prove himself - all of this done to the incarnate, veiled God.

But for the most part there was the voluntary veiling of that glory. So that all men saw was a fellow man, so much so that those who hated him said he hath a demon, wine-bibber and a glutton, and dared to take the incarnate God and make him a laughingstock and mock him, lay stripes upon his holy back, spit upon him, pluck the beard from his face, and then impale him on a cross and then carry on their taunting and their mockery, even, further, he that saved others come down from the cross. Touch your stuff. Prove yourself.

36:03 - 36:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You got it? Whatever was added at Bethlehem, nothing was subtracted.

Drawing on Philippians 2, Martin offers a mathematical formulation: 'if we may put it into a mathematical equation, whatever additions came with Bethlehem, there was no subtraction.' The incarnation added human nature to the divine; it subtracted nothing.

That's the language of Philippians 2. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, not who having been in the form of God, but who being in the form of God, upon himself the form of a servant. Emptied himself by taking, made himself of no reputation, taking. In other words, if we may put it into a mathematical equation, whatever additions came with Bethlehem, there was no subtraction.

38:12 - 38:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Those who seek true wealth in sensual pleasure or intellectual achievement are in reality paupers. True wealth consists only in what Christ's poverty procured: righteousness, pardon, sonship, the Spirit, and eternal life…

Martin explains that the word 'Corinthianized' was used in the ancient world to describe a person totally given over to the debauchery and filth of sensual enjoyment - a city so notorious for sensuality that it coined its own verb for moral degradation. These Corinthians thought true wealth was found in sensuality.

If you wanted to use a word to describe what it meant to be an absolute lecture, totally given over to the debauchery and filth of sensual enjoyment, you'd say, well the poor man has become Corinthianized. That was the nickname to describe it. And here were people who thought, if I'm to be wealthy, I must know what it is to have every single nerve ending in my body and all of my senses the constant receptor of this thrill and that thrill and this high and that high and this delight and that delight. And the word of God says that all those Corinthians were impoverished in their sensuality.

42:19 - 43:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Those who seek true wealth in sensual pleasure or intellectual achievement are in reality paupers. True wealth consists only in what Christ's poverty procured: righteousness, pardon, sonship, the Spirit, and eternal life…

Some Corinthians were not sensualists but intellectualists - Greek philosophers who despised the sensualists and said true riches come in the enlargement of the mind. Paul counters both with the gospel: both groups were paupers until they possessed what the poverty of Jesus alone could procure.

And that true riches come not by abandoning ourselves to hedonistic irresponsibility, but by finding that joy in the knowledge of sins forgiven, that peace with God, that new heart, that gift of the Spirit, that pledge of eternal life which alone can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You had other Corinthians who thought true riches were to be found in the head. The Greeks seek out the wisdom. Corinth was not only a center of sensuality, but a center of learning.

43:03 - 43:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Hearers who feel the impulse to push away the gospel question should resist that impulse and answer it honestly: 'Do you possess that which only the poverty of Jesus could purchase? Is it yours?'

Martin asks rhetorically what Christ stood to gain from Mary's womb, cold nights under the Palestinian sky, no place to call his own - the one who had known the unlimited glories of the Father's presence and the adoring worship of seraphim and cherubim. The answer is nothing for himself: it was all for poor sinners.

Though being rich, he became poor. Why? For your sakes! What did he stand to gain from Mary's womb, from cold nights before the open Palestinian sky, with no place to call his own?

46:07 - 46:30 Read in full sermon

The point: The incarnation should not be contemplated as a cold historical event but as the supreme revelation of what grace is - God's unmerited, unsought, undeserved love in Christ. Believers who know this grace experimentally sh…

Martin imagines Hebrews 10:5 as the last words spoken by Christ before the incarnation: 'A body thou hast prepared me... Lo I come to do thy will O God.' He qualifies that temporal and spatial language inadequately captures eternity but uses it to show Christ's willing pre-incarnate consent to the humiliation.

God has no pleasure in sacrifice in burnt offering. A body thou hast prepared me. Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. I like to think of those words as the last words our Lord spoke.

50:08 - 50:25 Read in full sermon

The point: The incarnation should not be contemplated as a cold historical event but as the supreme revelation of what grace is - God's unmerited, unsought, undeserved love in Christ. Believers who know this grace experimentally sh…

Martin points to Gethsemane as the climactic moment where the body prepared for Christ was brought to its ultimate test: the Father holds a cup full of his fury and wrath against sin, 'our Lord's humanity quakes and quails and trembles,' yet grace holds and he says 'O my father, not my will, but thine be done.'

And in that body he said, I do always the things that please my father. Even when in Gethsemane the father holds that cup full of his own fury and wrath against the sins of men. And before that cup our Lord's humanity quakes and quails and trembles. And he says, O my father, not my will, but thine be done.

50:51 - 51:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Those who know the grace revealed in the incarnation should demonstrate their sense of indebtedness through lives of loving obedience, not merely through theological understanding of the doctrine.

Martin contrasts the believer's former state - sitting in the rags and tatters of their own righteousness - with their new state: clothed in the glorious robes of the very righteousness of the Son of God. Imputed righteousness pictured as a royal garment replacing filthy rags.

Unquestionable. Caused undeserved, spontaneous favor flowing from his own heart. So if you sit here today and can answer the question that I've asked in the affirmative, yes, I have that which the poverty of Christ alone could purchase. I no longer sit in the rags and tatters of my own righteousness, but I'm clothed in the glorious robes of the very righteousness of the Son of God.

51:39 - 52:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Those who know the grace revealed in the incarnation should demonstrate their sense of indebtedness through lives of loving obedience, not merely through theological understanding of the doctrine.

Martin depicts the former bondage as 'clinking, clanging chains binding me to my sins and to the serfdom of the devil' replaced by freedom as 'Christ free man, liberated by the power of the Son of God' - moving from the language of slavery to the freedom of the liberated captive.

I no longer sit with my clinking, clanging chains, binding me to my sins and to the serfdom of the devil. But I'm Christ free man, liberated by the power of the Son of God. I no longer am full of despair, but I live in hope. I am no longer filled with emptiness, but I have the confidence of the life that now is, and that which is to come.

52:09 - 52:40 Read in full sermon