God Visits Us Luke 1: 67-79

1. God Visits UsLuke 1: 67-79 • Christmas: a time to visit family & friends • Charles Dicken’sA Christmas Carol:

2. Christmas  the Lord Jesus Christ visited mankind over two thousand years ago • The impact of His visit changed the lives of people then… • and His visit is still changing millions of lives today. • God visited humanity for a distinct purpose: • To transform lives through His saving power

3. When God visits, we need to pay attention. • The Song of Zechariah  the Benedictus • Luke 1:68 [NKJV] - “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel” • “…for He has visited and redeemed His people.” • John the Baptist’s role was to prepare people’s hearts for God to visit them in the person of Jesus Christ

4. Luke 1:77 [NIV] - “…give His people the knowledge of salvation” • “…through the forgiveness of their sins” • Salvation is about forgiveness of our sin. • Why did Jesus have to come to visit His people? • Theological truth: The Incarnation • God became man.

5. Fully God and fully man – 100% God - 100% man • Many false doctrines that deny this truth: • Jesus was a created being – not eternal God • Jesus only seemed to be human • Jesus was only partly human. He had a human body but not a human soul. • Understanding why God became man is a very important part of the Christian faith.

6. 1. He Sympathizes with our situations and Intercedes for Us. • Jesus needed to become human to experience all the same challenges of life we go through • Hebrews 4:15 [NIV] – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”

7. 2. He Represents the True Nature of Humanity. • We only see fallen people in ourselves and those around us • This is a distorted view of what God really intended His image bearers to be • In Jesus, we have a restored view of what God created humanity to be • When we look at Jesus it gives us hope because we catch a glimpse of what we will be restored to one day.

8. 3. He is our example. • Jesus was here on earthwas not a heavenly superstar • The standards of the Christian life can seem so hard to attain • In Jesus, we have an example  He is our model to follow

9. Jesus was dependent on the Father •  we too can depend on our heavenly Father to meet our needs • Jesus prayed to the Father •  we too can pray for strength and direction to do His will • Hebrews 12: 1-3 [NIV] – “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. “

10. 4. He Demonstrates that God is Close to us. • False view of God: He is some kind of transcendent being • God is “way up there” and we are “way down here” • Jesus was born  God became man • God is a personal God, not a distant being. • John 15: 14,15 [NIV] – “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends.”

11. 5. His Sacrificial Death is Truly Effective for us. • Jesus had to be fully human so His death on the cross could pay the price for our sins • Christ’s death was substitutionary He was our substitute. • Old Testament: animal sacrificed for the sins of the people • The animal could never really be a true substitute for people

12. Pointed ahead to Jesus the Messiah the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” John 1:29 • 2 Corinthians 5:21 [NIV] – “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” • Jesus – the perfect substitute  a sinless person, but fully human like us

13. Christmas: we celebrate the birth of Christ • But we focus on the significance of why God came to visit this world: • Galatians 4: 4-5 [NKJV] – “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”