The What and Why of The Incarnation

Navigating Diverse Convictions on Christmas

0:03 Whether we welcome it with joy and with keen anticipation,

0:09 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.

0:25 And in all likelihood, there is no congregation of God's people in which there exists a wider spectrum of conviction and practice with respect to the celebration of Christmas as a holiday. On one end of the spectrum, there are sitting here this morning, and I could name names if necessary, though I'm sure not all the names, those who have a deep-seated conviction that the so-called Christmas holidays and the day called Christmas ought to be shunned and ignored entirely because they are not the same. By an intelligent, devoted Christian.

1:11 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.

1:25 There is, to the very casual observer, such a worldly and wicked abuse of the holiday with everything from irresponsible waste and materialism to reverence. There is, to the very casual observer, such a worldly and wicked abuse of the holiday 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 of the spectrum, way, way out in the other direction, those who have a deeply rooted conviction and deep faith. Those who have a deeply rooted conviction and deep faith.

2:08 They have deep feelings about the sacredness of the day called Christmas. While gladly acknowledging that they see no evidence in the Bible that Jesus was born on December 25th, they see in their Bibles abundant evidence that the Holy Ghost is recorded, the details of his conception and his birth, and in connection with those details, some of the richest truths of the gospel are announced. Furthermore, their experience, past and present, has shown them that Christ becomes more precious to them as they concentrate upon his incarnation at this season.

2:50 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 the fact that there is a body of God's people

3:34 who represent conviction and feeling and practice and faith and faith. And I want to practice across that whole spectrum with regard to this day, for it reflects to some degree that you as a congregation understand the teaching of Romans 14, which says, One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regards the day regards it unto the Lord.

4:06 He that eateth, eateth. Unto the Lord and giveth God thanks. He that eateth not unto the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks. So we rejoice.

4:20 We are not embarrassed when people come and say, What is your church's position on Christmas? I say, Which member of the church are you inquiring about? Which family are you asking about? And I rejoice to tell people that that spectrum exists and we are able to talk about it.

4:38 We are able to function within it. But now though I rejoice in that reality, it creates a tremendous problem for me each year. 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.

5:08 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. 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.

5:48 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, remarkably clear, that Christmas had a central place in the congregation. So I say that creates a problem. And then in between, there are varying degrees of conviction which would represent various expressions of desire.

Pastoral Approach to Preaching on the Incarnation

6:24 Well, what does one do? Well, this is what I have done, and I'll confess to you my train of thought. I'm convinced that if you're a true child of God, you are never disturbed under any circumstance when the Word of God is expounded. Every Christian loves the Word of God.

6:46 And he loves all of the Word of God, for Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice. And wherever the voice of Christ is found in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are His voice, so His voice is everywhere where Scripture is, the heart of a Christian rejoices. Furthermore,

7:06 in no portions of the Word of God does the Christian rejoice, more fervently than in those which concentrate upon some aspect of the glory of Christ in His person and in His work. So then, those of you who are on the one end of the spectrum and would love to see the day utterly obliterated, you can have no quarrel that during this day our concentration will be upon the glory of Christ. On the person of Jesus Christ. Something of the glory of His person as the incarnate God.

7:50 Those of you on the other end of the spectrum, that which makes the day delightful to you is that above all else you have remembrances of Christ that make Him more precious, and therefore you will have no complaint that I cut through some of the sentimental connotations of the day and concentrate upon the theological and practical implications of the incarnation. And I hope in this way 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.

8:34 There will only be two people disappointed this day, and in that disappointment I glory. Those of you who want to 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. 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 sentiment, surrounding Christmas, who find their great delight

9:18 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. And if you've come to expect any of that, you'll be disappointed. But for all whose hearts long to have a Christmas spirit, 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

Sermon's Focus: The What and Why of the Incarnation

10:01 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. And then tonight we'll consider together from Philippians 2 the incarnation in its practical or ethical demands. The fact that there is an incarnation makes tremendous demands upon the people of God.

10:37 Now our text this morning is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Our text is verse 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might become rich.

Context and Subject of 2 Corinthians 8:9

11:20 Now by way of introduction let me say just a word about the setting of this passage. As many of you know Paul is a man of faith. Paul is in the midst of a rather lengthy section dealing with this subject of the collection for the poor saints in Judea. There was a famine in Judea and the people of God were not exempt from the results of that famine.

11:42 And as an expression of the fellowship that exists beyond individual local churches the apostle and his companions were taking up a collection among the Gentile churches for the poor saints in Judea. And in the first eight verses of 2 Corinthians 8 this chapter along with chapter 9 comprising that broad subject of the giving of the Gentile churches he has done basically two things. He has given an account of the generosity of the Macedonian Christians setting forth that account as an example of the spirit of true giving and then he has

12:27 given an exhortation to the Corinthians that they would abound in the very grace that was exemplified in the Macedonians. So in the first eight verses that's essentially what you have. A record of the grace of giving as exemplified in the Macedonians then an exhortation to the Corinthians that they abound in that same grace. Then in verse 10 he begins to give some specific direction about the practical details of how to complete that collection and to prepare it for its delivery at Jerusalem.

13:07 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 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.

13:51 As one has said at this point in his treatise the Apostle of God addresses or adduces the supreme argument for Christian liberality the self-giving and self-impoverishment of the Son of God on man's behalf. And then having just mentioned that word briefly about the setting of the passage now more briefly a word about its primary subject. You will notice that the entire text is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and everything that follows

14:35 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

15:19 and the exaltedness of His position. The name Jesus always gathers to itself the identity of His person and the essence of His mission. Jesus is the name given to the eternal word when He becomes incarnate in the virgin's womb. The angel says to Joseph thou shalt call His name Jesus.

15:45 And the name used for Him in the days of His flesh above all others is the name Jesus. It identifies the God-man but it also contains the essence of His mission for it means Jehovah is our salvation. Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save. Then of course the name Christ always points to the nature and the function of His office.

16:15 It means the Messiah the anointed one the promised prophet priest and king who is the fulfillment of all of the prophecies of the Old Testament. For the scripture says all of the prophets from Samuel onward spoke of gospel days and they speak of the great focal point of that gospel even the anointed Messiah. So we must when we see that official title remember that for the apostle Paul it was not just a convenient little verbal handle by which to give some vague identity to this person called the Son of God. It was a profound

17:00 theological statement of all that Christ is in His person in His work and in His mission as the anointed one. Well with that word concerning the setting and the subject of our text now consider with me the text itself and as we examine it consider first of all what I am calling the end of the gospel. The end of the gospel. The end of the gospel.

The Eternal Wealth of Our Lord

17:27 The eternal wealth of our Lord. The eternal wealth of our Lord. 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 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.

18:08 He was rich past He became poor that the riches and the poverty are not coexisting but one precedes the other. And I say the translation would give that impression but the language of the text does not warrant that. A more literal rendering would be as follows. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that for your sakes or on your account He became poor rich so that the emphasis falls not upon a state that existed

18:53 up to a certain point in time and then was replaced by another but it points to a condition that always existed and continued to exist right through the state of poverty and perpetually exists. And this is why I have called this aspect of the exposition the eternal wealth of our Lord. Now what's bound up in these little words? He became poor being rich.

19:31 Well, pressed into that little phrase being rich is the whole Bible doctrine concerning the essential Godhood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His riches consisted in the actual and the constant possession of all the divine attributes and all the divine prerogatives. In other words, everything that is true of God as God is true eternally of Jesus Christ.

20:16 He being rich. In other words, we press into the words being rich. All of the truth of John chapter 1 that was read in your hearing. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and with God.

20:36 And the Word was God. He being rich. Rich with what? All that constitutes Him God.

20:48 He is eternally rich with His own Godhood. And that can never be altered or you would have a change in the Godhead and God would cease to be immutable. God would cease to be the God who says, I am the Lord. I change not.

21:06 God can never cease to be God. Either God the Father, Son the Holy Ghost in the mystery of the three in one. God is essentially, eternally, unchangeably God. And so the apostle is careful to use language that in no way suggests that he was rich up to a certain point and then was divested of his riches.

21:35 No, no. He was eternally, eternally God. 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.

21:53 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 birth or an unusual life issuing in an unusual death of an unusual man, we've missed the whole message of the incarnation. We must conceive of everything that impinges upon our concept of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of these words.

22:30 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 of Acts 20.

23:03 The church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

The Temporary Poverty of Our Lord

23:16 Now in the second chapter, notice what the text says concerning the temporary poverty of our Lord. For the text not only sets forth the eternal riches of our Lord, but it sets before us his temporal or temporary poverty. We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that being rich, now the apostle uses the form of the verb which means at a certain point in time he became something that he had never been before. He became poor.

23:58 And in that word he points not to his incarnation. Follow closely now. It is not in being made a true man or in taking to himself a true humanity. I'm sorry, the former language is imprecise. But it is

24:17 in coming to a state of humiliation that his poverty consists. A period that is bounded with the incarnation and the exaltation to the right hand of the majesty on high. It is Mary's womb and the parted heavens which set the boundaries of his temporary poverty. For he is eternally man, but he is not now in the eternity to come from the incarnation.

24:53 He is man forever, but he is not impoverished forever. So we must not identify the poverty with the humanity, but with the humanity in a state of humiliation.

25:09 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 boggled. 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.

25:34 And yet I have felt at every stage of preparation that one is in totally over his head when he comes near the mystery. And it should be so for the scripture says, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was manifested in the flesh, but follow now he who being rich is the one who became poor while remaining rich with all that which is true of him as God, he takes a voluntary position of poverty beginning with the incarnation of Mary's womb, ending with his resurrection and

26:18 exaltation to the right hand of the Father. That is the period of his poverty. But throughout that entire period he never ceases to be rich.

26:32 It is in the midst of his riches that he becomes poor. When you say, Pastor, I can't figure that out. That doesn't make sense. Well, let me try to illustrate.

26:42 Here are two kings. One sits upon a throne up to a point that a foreign government comes in and deposes him.

26:54 He is stripped of his royal title. His family line, which was the previous legitimate royal line, is utterly repudiated. He is banished from the kingdom. No royal robes, no royal treasury at his disposal. He is literally

27:14 driven out to take the place of a beggar. Now of that king it could be said he who had been rich became poor. And there is no parallel now between his present state of poverty and his previous state of riches. He has no title to the throne. Another sits upon

27:35 it. He has no right of access to the treasury of the kingdom. He's been disinherited. He who had been rich has actually become poor. There is no

27:47 parallel existence in the two states. Here's another king. The rightful heir to the throne. He sits upon the throne.

27:55 Has unlimited access to all of the richness and wealth of the kingdom. Unfettered exercise of his rights as a sovereign. But he hears of a segment of people in his kingdom who are enmeshed in crippling poverty. And in order to sympathetically enter into their state, he voluntarily takes a leave of absence from actually sitting upon the throne.

28:24 No one else comes to sit upon it. No one has deposed him. He is still the enthroned king in the government of that kingdom. He voluntarily takes off his royal garments and puts upon himself the garments of a beggar.

28:42 The royal garments are still his. No one else wears them. They are there in the closet the moment he returns to sit upon his throne again.

28:52 And he voluntarily goes to that segment of his kingdom. Held in the clutches of abject poverty. And there he identifies with that poverty. He puts himself in the place of a beggar who must go out and scrape and beg for a crust of bread.

29:13 He becomes poor while being poor. For the throne is still his throne. The royal garments are still his garments. Royal blood still flows through his veins.

29:30 He is in every sense an undiminished king who being rich becomes poor. And the time comes when having accomplished his goal, he leaves that state of humiliation and poverty. He goes back to do what? Not to take up something that had been relinquished as to right or to possession, but simply to reassume a new dimension of his kingly reign and rule. That's the

30:07 teaching of this passage. There is an eternal wealth in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal word, creator of heaven and earth, upholding all things by the word of his power. And when in the mystery of the incarnation there is a conception in Mary's womb and the second person of the Godhead takes to himself a human soul and body, what do we have?

30:41 We have the one who is rich. Mary's womb becoming poor. When we behold him in his life of poverty, the son of man hath not where to lay his head. When we behold him in his suffering, in his weariness, in his loneliness, in his agony, in his bloodiness, in his sweat and Gethsemane, in his cruel death upon Golgotha, what are we beholding? We are beholding

31:16 that one who, being rich, became poor.

The Nature of Christ's Poverty

31:25 In what did the poverty of our Lord consist? Well, it consisted first of all in the voluntary assumption of a true humanity in our sinful condition. And don't treat that as just a mouthful of words. It consisted in the voluntary assumption of a true humanity in our sinful condition. For the

31:54 scripture not only teaches us that inasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise partook of the same. But Romans 8 says he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He did not partake of our sin. He was wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

32:16 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

32:56 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 veins and in his pedigree and with unchallenged royal robes and a crown there in his closet, when he so identifies himself with the paupers in his kingdom, he voluntarily relinquishes some of the prerogatives of his richness as a king. The prerogatives of

33:40 a lush banquet house for his eating place. The prerogatives of the 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

34:04 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. Thirdly, his being poor involved the voluntary submission to the position of surety and substitute of his people.

34:34 It meant that he would become so identified with his people whom he came to save that what he does for them will be reckoned by God as being done. by them. That's the mystery of the gospel again. What he does for them is reckoned by God as being done by them so that his perfect obedience to the law as a man in our human condition forms the basis of our perfect righteousness.

35:09 What he does in dying subject to the curse of the law, God says, is our death to the law and to its curse. He becomes so identified with us. This is his poverty 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.

35:36 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 out on him. And his whole countenance and garments were changed and they saw something of the very kind of the divine presence. That's why John could say, we beheld his glory.

36:03 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.

36:43 Prove yourself.

36:46 He became poor and his poverty is all that is involved in his humiliation. From the moment of his incarnation when he assumes to himself a true human soul and body in our sinful condition, all the way through the voluntary relinquishment of the exercise of his prerogatives as God, fully identified as surety and substitute of his people in that life in which his glory is voluntarily veiled. Until by the resurrection he is declared son of God with power and then taken back

37:30 to the right hand of the majesty on high and given a name which is but every name and now is the object of the praise and the worship, the honor and the adoration of all the host of heaven who cry worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive blessing and glory and honor. And power, that's the temporary poverty of our Lord. But never look upon it as a poverty that replaced riches. Look upon it as riches that attack to itself poverty for a time. That's

38:12 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. Did himself by taking made himself of no reputation taking. In other words

38:41 if we may put it into a mathematical equation, whatever additions came with Bethlehem there was no subtraction. You got it? Whatever was added at Bethlehem nothing was subtracted. There are limitations which come with his humanity but there is no dilution of his divinity and his godhood. So much

The Purpose of the Incarnation: Enriching Poor Sinners

39:13 then for what the text tells us of the eternal richness of our Lord, the temporary poverty of our Lord. Now the great question. What was the purpose of all of this? Why this great mystery? Well look

39:31 at the text and hear the answer is precious to the heart of a child of God and oh that it will become precious to some who hitherto have looked upon it with a ho-hum attitude. Look at the text. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and most of our translations render it something like this. That though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor but in the original the emphasis falls far more heavily upon the purpose.

40:08 A more literal rendering would be this. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that he became poor being rich but it's all prefaced with the purpose that for your sakes on your account he became poor being rich. So that spread as a canopy over all this mystery of the incarnation is this great truth. He did all of this for the enriching of poor sinners.

40:48 He did all of this for the enriching of poor sinners. Now notice then what that tells us about the nature of true riches. If Christ comes to the state of poverty which is the period of his humiliation from the incarnation to the exaltation if he does all of that that he might make us rich that he might make us possessors of true wealth what does it tell us? It tells us that that which is true wealth can only be defined in terms of the fruit of his poverty. Now what did his

41:27 poverty procure? A perfect righteousness for sinners. The full pardon of all sin. The gift of the spirit.

41:37 The title of sonship. The pledge of eternal life. Deliverance from the bondage to sin and slavery to lust. Everything that is procured by his poverty is of the essence of true wealth. And therefore if you

41:57 do not possess what was purchased by his poverty you are a pauper in reality.

42:07 Now remember to whom he's writing. He's writing to Corinthians. Corinthians who thought that true wealth was to be found in sensual indulgence. Here was a city soaked in sensuality.

42:19 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. And the true

43:04 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.

43:42 There you had the wise ones of the earth who said ah true riches are not in sensuality. These philosophers they despise the sensualist of Corinth. They said no no that's an ignoble way to spend one's life and to waste one's life. True riches come in the enlargement of the mind. And Paul said

44:06 to these Corinthians God's made foolish the wisdom of this world. After that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. No for these Corinthians soaked in sensuality on the one hand soaked in intellectualism and philosophy on the other. Paul is saying you

44:29 were paupers until you came to possess what the poverty of Jesus alone could procure for sinners. And oh my friend sitting here this morning may I ask you a very simple question. Sitting where you sit right now. Do you possess that which only the poverty of Jesus could purchase?

44:54 That's a simple question isn't it? Do you right there sitting here this morning possess in your experience that which only the poverty of Jesus could purchase? Right standing with God so that you need not tremble at the thought that you've broken the law of the God of heaven but before the very God of burning justice you have a righteousness which his own eye scrutinizes and smilingly approves because you are accepted in the beloved one. Do you have peace with God?

45:39 The forgiveness of sin. Oh my friend don't push the question off and if I'm speaking to someone this morning who is trying even now while your eyes are upon me to drive your mind a thousand miles away. Hear me this morning. Do you possess that which only the poverty of Jesus could purchase?

46:02 Is it yours? If not my friend here's the gospel of the incarnation. Though being rich he became poor. Why? For your

46:15 sake stand again from Mary's womb from cold nights before the open palace in the Augustinian sky with no place to call his own. What did he stand to gain who had known the unlimited glories of the bliss of his father's presence, the adoring worship of seraphim and cherubim and the host of heaven? What does he stand to gain from the dark damp confines of a little virgin's womb? What does he stand to gain through mockery, rejection,

46:59 beating, scourging,

47:03 death upon a cross? My friend for your sakes, for your sakes, for you current Corinthians some of you soaked in sensuality others of you perhaps dulled by religiosity others deceived by intellectualism and philosophy whatever it be my friend he did all of this that poor needy sinners of the likes of you and me might be made rich. That's what the text says. On your account for your sakes that ye through his poverty might become rich.

The Incarnation as a Revelation of Grace

47:48 Now one final question that the text addresses itself to. What does all this reveal? How did it get introduced in the first place? Well look at the text.

48:00 He says to the Corinthians as he's seeking to motivate them to generosity and giving he says for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see he started out the chapter by saying I want to tell you about the grace that has been manifested in the Macedonians as they gave so freely out of their poverty. Then he said in verse 7 as you abound in everything else I want you to abound in this grace and it's as though people say well what's the measure of that grace? How is grace to be defined and described?

48:37 He says you know the answer to that question you Corinthians if you're Christians. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that being rich he became poor. You see this whole matter of the enriched Christ adding to his riches temporary poverty. The poverty of his humiliation.

49:02 It's a revelation of what grace is. Grace, the spontaneous unmerited love of the Savior to sinners. That's what's revealed in his poverty. Ye know you Corinthians. You know it

49:18 in the proclamation of the gospel. You Corinthians, you know it in your experience. It's not a matter of philosophical speculation. It's not a matter of a mere intellectual concept. He says you know

49:32 the grace of our Lord. Jesus Christ. My friends this is what it should reveal to us as we contemplate this morning the mystery of the incarnation.

49:46 What does it say to us? It says this is what grace is. Unmerited, unsought undeserved love from Christ that causes him voluntarily to enter that state of poverty. You remember the language of Hebrews taken from the Old Testament.

50:06 Thou hast no pleasure in sacrifice and burnt offering of 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. We use temporal terms and spatial terms were bound by them when he left heaven. He didn't leave. He could say the son

50:31 of man who is in heaven while he stood on earth. But speaking now in the language that relates to us what were his last words when he left heaven. His words to his father were a body thou hast prepared me. Why? That we might

50:48 know what grace is. 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. O my friend what does this

51:15 show us? It shows us what grace is. This is what grace is. To sinners like you and me whose only concern was what the world calls riches. Popularity

51:28 pleasure, prestige knowledge, influence. And you mean he would do all of this for the likes of us? Why? Because of grace uncaused undeserved spontaneous favor flowing from his own heart. So if you

51:47 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. I no longer sit in the rags of my own righteousness with my clinking clanging chains binding me to my seat 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

52:32 longer filled with emptiness but I have the confidence of the life that now is and that which is to come. O my friend how much you should feel yourself bound by the cords of the grace of God. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know it experimentally?

Call to Worship and Prayer

52:56 Then God grant that knowing it we may be utterly and continually held in the grip of the motivating power of that grace revealed in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ as his entrance upon the state of humiliation for us men and our salvation. And if your heart is full of that confidence this morning then surely it will be no burden for you to sing with the people of God as our closing hymn of praise John Newton's great hymn amazing grace how sweet the sound

53:39 that saved a wretch like me. Saved me through the poverty of Christ that I might share in his riches. Hymn number 402. Hymn number 402.

53:56 And standing as we pray together our Father we confess that we feel so keenly the narrowness of our minds our frailty and even seeking to grasp as it were the edges of your ways. Oh how we praise you blessed Lord Jesus Christ that being rich you became poor. We cannot fathom what would ever have moved you to take to yourself a true humanity in

54:39 our sinful condition.

54:43 We stand amazed before such grace. We praise you that in your poverty we have been made rich. Oh we would rejoice this morning Father, Son and Holy Ghost in the riches of grace full and free pardon of all sin the imputation of a perfect righteousness the title of sons and daughters, the gift of the spirit of adoption an intercessor and an advocate who pleads our cause the pledge and promise of eternal life, the earnest of the spirit. Oh God surely our assets

55:27 are beyond that which our minds can conceive and we bless you this morning that they can all be traced back to the poverty of our blessed Redeemer. Accept the feeble inarticulate praise that we seek to bring and help us to show by lives of loving obedience our sense of indebtedness to your grace. Have mercy upon those who stand in your presence utterly impoverished. Lord God have mercy have mercy upon them make your son precious and the gifts that are

56:12 in him desirable to them that they will count no price too great in order to have him who is the pearl of great price. Here are prayers. Seal the word to our hearts and continue with us in this your holy day. We plead through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.