IF IT WEREN’T FOR OUR SIN, JESUS WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN BORN

Last week we learned that Christ was born from sinners for sinners. But in what way did Jesus come for sinners? To raise their spirits? To be an example? To inspire them to be better people? Or to rescue them from an otherwise inescapable situation? Matthew 1:18-25 teaches us that Jesus was not born to be an example, inspiration, or sentimental piece of tradition - he was born to be a Savior. To save us from the sins which deserved God’s wrath and separated us from God’s presence. In this way, Christmas is a confrontation before it’s a celebration. An annual reminder that it took the Son of God taking on flesh to save me from my sin. But, once we’ve been confronted, we’re made ready to celebrate the only Savior who, unlike so many “so-called saviors,” doesn’t mock our deepest hopes, but fulfills them.

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WHO JESUS WAS BORN FROM TEACHES US WHO HE WAS BORN FOR

As we begin our 2022 Christmas Series on the birth stories of Christ, we begin by taking a look at his family tree. What sort of people did he descend from? What kind of men and women did the Second Person of the Trinity deem fit to relate to as he took on flesh and entered into the world? The answer in Matthew's genealogy should surprise us. It's a family tree of sinners, foreigners, and imperfect people! God chose weak, weary, and unfaithful ones to be the ones through whom his Son would come. They seem like unlikely candidates, but who else could he pick? Who else but a family line of sinners for the Son of God who’d come to save sinners? In the drama of the Christmas story, these are the men and women we relate to. We are the unfaithful ones, born in sin and suffering under the curse, who receive the rescue of God's own Son. Christ was born for them, Christ is born for us.

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god has been gracious to others. there’s plenty left for you.

As the Gospel of Mark approaches chapter 8, Jesus travels into regions inhabited by Gentiles. This journey begs one enormous question: will Jesus do for non-Jews what He has done for the Jews? This question maps onto our own experience. The bitter root of comparison and envy takes hold in our hearts and we wonder, “will God be gracious to me like I see Him being gracious to that person in my life?” The three accounts in Mark 7:24-8:10 and the cross that Jesus is eminently marching toward, though, answer all such questions. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

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IF WE MISS WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR WORLD, WE’LL MISS WHAT MAKES OUR WORLD RIGHT

Last time in Mark, Jesus confronted the disciples' hardness of heart and unbelief (6:52). In the following scene, he encounters opposition from those who focus upon cleanliness of their hands while their hearts remain far from God (7:6). In the scribes' and Pharisees' zealous observance of the ceremonies and traditions of the elders, they'd actually come to abandon God's moral law (7:1-13). All the outward cleanliness, ritual, and observances were powerless to cleanse what was actually morally defiled: their hearts. No amount of ceremonial washing, law-keeping, or personal strategies can cleanse us to the core (7:14-23). We need God to do a cleansing work in us and in so doing, draw our hearts near to Him. It’s something that nothing but the blood of Jesus can do.

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WE ARE GOD’S PLAN TO SPREAD THE JOY OF OUR SAVIOR TO THE PEOPLE OF SANTA ANA

God has sustained Cross of Grace Santa Ana for five years in our city. To mark the occasion, we asked Eric Turbedsky, Senior Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Orange, to come and preach from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Eric leads the church that sent us out with a dream of becoming a church in the heart of Santa Ana. In Sunday’s sermon, He reminded us of how marvelous it is that God would love us and that He would send us. Listen to the sermon and become captivated once again by the fact that you’ve been chosen to be a part of God’s mission to save people to the ends of the earth.

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YOU NEED TO BELIEVE

Have you ever thought, "I'd much more easily believe God if He just _________”. If he just spoke to me audibly, gave me a sign, or proved his love for me in some way. But would you? Mark 6:31-56 teaches us that, actually, we don’t need God to prove himself. We need him to change our hearts. Our tendency toward unbelief is not a problem of insufficient evidence, it’s a problem of a hardened heart. If you believe that God is but aren’t sure that God is for you, listen to this Sunday’s sermon to learn more about God’s solution for hard hearts.

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REJECTION IS THE UNIFYING THREAD INTERWOVEN INTO EACH SCENE

The humiliated Savior sends us into a life of humble service - being rejected by men, not being impressive, relying upon God's sustaining grace and not our own strength, and dying the daily deaths of humble self-denial. We embrace this calling because the Savior who "emptied himself" and was humbled unto death has been "highly exalted" and received the "name that is above every other name" (Phil 2:7-9). Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to hear more.

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HAS ANYONE DEFEATED DEATH AND CAN THAT TRIUMPH BE APPLIED TO ME?

That is the one question Canadian scientist G.B. Hardy said is the only essential question that needs to be asked in the selection of true religion. In the latter half of Mark 5, Jesus definitively demonstrates that He has the power to defeat death. But whether or not that triumph can be applied to you and me has to do with whether or not Jesus cares enough about us personally to do what’s necessary to defeat death for us all. And that’s precisely what Mark answers through the story of the suffering woman who interrupts Him on His way to defeat death in a dying girl. It’s a gripping story of a tender Savior. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to hear more.

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EVEN THE DEMONS HAVE TO ASK FOR PERMISSION

In Mark 5:1-20, Jesus faces down the supernatural forces that are fearfully arrayed against us. The demoniac is a walking-dead, bell-tolling, rooster-crowing, alarm-ringing, reminder of darkness and death (5:2-5). He personifies the problem of death and provides a visual representation of the unseen realm of demonic powers. He is the Gerasenes unsolvable predicament - none can control, subdue, or bind this threat of evil - but then Jesus comes to town. Jesus overcomes the power of death and brings peace to the man once caught in the throes of demonic possession. He overcomes the power of death in our own lives and brings peace to those living in fear of any and all unseen forces. Listen to Sunday’s sermon to hear more.

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THE QUESTION ASKED BY ONE WHO HAS SEEN THE TRUE IDENTITY OF JESUS

In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus’ disciples tremble in fear and awe as they witness Jesus exert His power of nature itself. Until this point, Jesus was still a stranger to His disciples. They thought they knew and understood Him, but a moment of revelation makes them suddenly realize that the God of the universe very well may be with them in the boat. Is Jesus still a stranger to you? Do you tend to tremble in awe and fear at circumstances and the natural world instead of the Lord over nature? Listen to last Sunday's sermon to dive deeper into this incredible passage from the Gospel of Mark.

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