About this sermon
Christmas celebrates the mystery of godliness: God revealed in the flesh. Paul calls the church the household of God, the pillar and support of the truth, and so it holds up Christ before a watching world. The church’s confession has objective content, against an age that looks inward for meaning. The eternal Son took on flesh for us and for our salvation, and every hearer must receive him by faith.
Sermon transcript
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of his word today. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, your word tells us that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. We pray, Heavenly Father, that that faith that is produced by your sovereign mercy through the word of Christ, that that faith in us would be built up and strengthened this day as we consider this portion of Holy Scripture. We ask, Lord, that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word with clarity and power. Once again, Heavenly Father, we pray that the seed of your word would take deep root in our hearts and bear spiritual fruit unto holiness and sanctification in our lives.
We pray that Jesus would be exalted this day and really present with us this day through His Spirit in the proclamation of Your Word. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. Well, dear ones, the title of my sermon this morning is Revealed in the Flesh. And if you there is a sermon outline in the foyer, if you want to follow along that and there’s a number of key words you can be listening for today, calling Christ household confession, mystery, savior and incarnation. And I often suggest to the young people that they can choose one or two of those words to keep track of in my sermon today. The number of times that I say those words, if they find that to be helpful in following along in this sermon.
Well, again, Merry Christmas, everyone. As I’m sure that you know, the Christmas season is a very busy time of year. On those rare occasions when Christmas Day happens to fall upon a Lord’s Day, such as is the case today, we are especially reminded on such days of the fact that the Christmas holiday was set in place not as a commercialized season to boost the economy, such as it has become today, nor primarily as a special family day, although it is often that as well. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but rather it was put in place historically by the church as a church holiday, or as we in the reform tradition prefer to call it a feast day. It’s a day that’s intended to focus the attention of God’s people upon the most amazing events of redemptive history.
The event of the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah. But what exactly is it that makes the birth of Jesus of Nazareth so important and so amazing? So much so that multitudes of professing Christians all the world over today are celebrating His birth this very Lord’s Day. Well, today, I want to try to answer that question by having us consider a passage from God’s word, which I suspect is not often preached at Christmastime, but which nevertheless gives us some important insights into the significance and the importance of that special baby who was born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary some 2000 years ago. Now, this passage is found in Paul’s epistle, his first epistle to Timothy. First Timothy is often referred to as a pastoral epistle. Why is it referred to as a pastoral epistle?
Well, unlike most of the epistles or letters that were penned by the Apostle Paul, the pastoral epistles, namely First and Second Timothy and Titus, were written to individuals rather than to churches. Most of Paul’s letters were written to local Christian congregations or groups of congregations. But the pastoral epistles were written to individuals, and not just any individuals, but individuals who served a pastoral role in the church in the first century. And so 1 Timothy was written to Pastor Timothy. whom Paul describes as his son in the faith, and whom Paul had helped to train for the gospel ministry. As Paul makes it clear to Timothy in this passage, the focus of this letter is on how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God. As it says in verse 15, Paul says, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.
Here in First Timothy 3.15, Paul gives his purpose statement for writing to Pastor Timothy. In other words, Paul’s focus is on proper behavior within the household of God, which is a description of the church of Jesus Christ. And the language of the church being the household of God reminds us that the church is not just an institution, it’s a family. We are the forever family of God in union with Christ. And verse 16 of our passage for today, is likely an early Christological creed or hymn or creedal hymn, if the case may be. In other words, a hymn or creed that focuses on the person and also the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is in the text of this creedal hymn that Paul speaks of Christ as the one who was revealed in the flesh.
Now, let’s put this passage in its proper context. In the first part of chapter 3 and verses 1 through 13, the Apostle Paul has been describing the qualifications of men who would serve in church offices, the church offices of either overseer, the Greek term is episkopon or bishop, and as well as the office of deacon from the Greek word diakonos. Look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3, for example, it says, Paul writes, it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, that’s episkopon or bishop, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach and so forth. And he lays out the qualifications for those who would serve as overseers or bishops in the church.
And then if you skip down to verse eight, he describes the qualifications for those who would serve as deacons. It says in verse eight, deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain and so forth. Pastor, why are you bringing this up? Why are you taking us back to the beginning of chapter three? Well, because it throws light upon what Paul is speaking about in our passage for today. In light of these lists of qualifications for officers in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ, what that implies is that in context, the church of the living God that Paul refers to in verse 15 would be referring primarily to what would be called the visible organized church. In the Bible, the term church can be used in different senses, can be used to describe all true believers throughout the world, Those who name the name of Christ, wherever they may be located, or the church invisible or the church Catholic or universal in that in that sense.
But here it is speaking of the church visible and in particular, the visible church in its local expressions. That seems to be what what Paul has in mind when he talks about how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, namely the church of the living God. And what’s interesting, what follows this passage that we’re considering today? Well, our passage for today is then followed in the early verses of chapter 4 by a prediction and warning about the apostasy from the faith that the Holy Spirit says will take place in what is described as later times. Look at chapter 4, verse 1. Paul writes, but the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Now, however we are meant to understand these later times, the point is that the visible organized church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and local congregations of that visible church must continue to hold up and bear faithful witness to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as that truth is summarized in our passage for today.
Especially the truth about who Jesus is. and what Jesus accomplished for us and for our salvation. And we must hold up and bear witness to that truth even in the face of later time apostasy, even in the face of persecution and apostasy and spiritual apathy and so forth. And so that brings me to my first point. If you’re following along in your sermon outline, this is the first point in your outline. Let’s consider, first of all, what we learn here about the church’s calling, the church’s calling. What is the church called to do? According to Paul in this passage, the church is to hold up God’s truth before the world by confessing the truth about Jesus Christ. The church is to hold up God’s truth before the world by confessing the truth about Jesus Christ.
In verse 14, Paul Paul includes sort of a personal note to Timothy saying, I’m writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before too long. And he hopes to see Pastor Timothy before too long. Paul loved those who labored with him in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul was a man, you get the sense from his epistles, his letters, that Paul was a man who loved people. And he felt a deep connection with his brothers and sisters in Christ, even when he was separated from them geographically. And so he’s expressing to Timothy his hope to see Timothy before too long in person. But then he goes on to say in verse 15, but in case I am delayed, we all know about travel delays, especially this season. In case I am delayed.
I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. Now, I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, how Paul describes the church. And again, remember, he is thinking especially of the church as a visible, organized covenant community. And he says, this is how you are to conduct yourself in the household of God. The church is described as the household, the oika of God. What Paul is giving us here in this passage is basically house rules for the household of God, for the church of Jesus Christ. Paul has been explaining, for example, how Christians are to behave in the life of the church. For example, he speaks to Timothy about the importance in the church of resisting false doctrine.
He gives instructions earlier on for public prayer. He speaks of the relationship and the roles of men and women in the church. He talks about church offices, those who would serve in the visible organized church, and so forth. And this is so significant, as I as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, the church is the household of God. The church is I mean, we are blessed at Grace Church to meet in a wonderful church building. But as you know, the church is not the building. If something were ever to happen to this building, we could still meet as a church. We might have to meet elsewhere in a rented facility, but the church is the people of God confessing the truth of God, meeting together around the Word of God to sing the praises of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We are in Christ, the forever family of God. So the church is described as the household of God. Not only is it described as the household of God, but notice when he clarifies the meaning here, he says, I’m writing so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is what? The church of the living God. Notice Paul doesn’t just say that the church is the church of God. but the church of the living God. Why does he tack on that word living? Why does he emphasize that the God that we worship is the living God? We know that, right? The only God is indeed a living God. Well, I suspect that Paul uses that adjective, living. He uses that to underscore the fact that we Christians worship and serve a living God.
Indeed, the one true and living triune God. We do not worship lifeless, dead idols. Timothy, Pastor Timothy, laboring in Ephesus. Ephesus was known for its pagan temples, and some of those temples were majestic. The pagan temples were architectural wonders at times that housed their gods, images and statues of their gods. But those pagan temples housed dead idols, idols of gods that do not really exist. But a Christian church is a congregation, an ecclesia of the living God. And that living God has come to us in Christ to dwell among His people. That true and living God was indeed in Jesus revealed in the flesh. So the church is described as the household of God. The church serves the living God, not lifeless dead idols. The church is also described as a pillar and support or buttress of gospel truth.
Again, looking at verse 15. Paul writes, in case I’m delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. What’s the reason for that language? What is Paul saying when he when he describes the church again, the visible, organized church that confesses the true faith, Why does Paul describe the church as a pillar and buttress or support? Well, the term pillar in the Greek is stulos. It means a visible witness. We as the church are called to be a visible witness before a watching world of Jesus Christ. We are to hold up before a watching world the claims of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The church is also called the buttress or support of the truth.
The Greek word is hedreoma, and it means an enduring support, an enduring support. These images that Paul uses here, this language that Paul uses, highlights the church’s calling to hold up before the world a visible witness for the gospel. And thus, by holding up a visible witness for the gospel of our incarnate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the church also holds up a witness against false teaching. You cannot preach for Christ without being against the world, which is in opposition to Christ. The two go together. They are inextricably intertwined. And so the church is the household of God. It is it serves the living God, not dead idols. It is a pillar and buttress or support of gospel truth. The notice also in verse 16 that God’s church is called to confess openly the good news about Jesus.
That’s the point of this creed or creedal hymn that Paul either composed or is quoting from in verse 16. And let me read verse 16. By common confession, the word in the Greek that is translated there as common confession or some translations say by common consent, Great is the mystery of godliness that word common confession. I believe it’s the only time that word is used here in in the Bible the New Testament and it is it speaks of what we confess before the watching world and Great is the mystery of godliness. He who, or as some translations put it, God, who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory by common confession. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the New Testament makes it very clear that confessing Christ, a willingness to openly acknowledge Christ as your Savior and Lord, is an evidence of true saving faith.
We are justified by faith alone apart from works. But one of the evidences of that saving faith is a willingness to say, yeah, I’m a wretched sinner and my only hope is found in Jesus, my incarnate, crucified, risen Lord and Savior. I’m reminded of what Paul writes elsewhere in Romans 10, verse 9, that if you confess with your lips, Jesus is Lord, or the Lord Jesus, and believe in your hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Heart, belief, and mouth confession go together. Remember what our Lord Jesus taught in Matthew 10, verses 32 and 33. If you want to turn there, Matthew 10, verses 32, In 33, we read the Lord Jesus says, Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.
But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. If you trust Jesus and love Jesus and know Jesus as your Savior, you’re not ashamed to let others know. You want others to know that He is indeed Lord. The point of all of this, getting back to our passage for today, is that Jesus Christ has formed his church to be a confessing community of faith. We corporately organically as a church together are to confess Christ before a watching world. That doesn’t mean, by the way, as many Christians are taught today, that doesn’t mean that all of you are obligated to shove a gospel track down the throat of everyone who comes across your path or to give everyone a Jesus sales pitch. That’s an unbiblical notion of evangelism.
In the Bible, in the New Testament, evangelism means the official proclamation of the gospel by one called and set apart to proclaim that gospel. But certainly all of us are called to be witnesses for Christ, to confess Christ, to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us to everyone who asks for that reason. And so we we as a community, we all gather together just by coming to church on this Lord’s Day. You are witnessing to your neighbors, many of whom I’m sure are sleeping in today, and even many of your Christian neighbors, because there sadly are many churches that decided to cancel their worship services today because today is Christmas. Well, again, not to just to bring out my Puritan credentials a little bit here. This is primarily the Lord’s Day.
Because it’s Sunday. This is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. That’s why we worship on the Lord’s Day. And it’s not an option. It’s an obligation. It’s a joyful obligation. Yes, it is also a day where we traditionally celebrate and remember the birth of our Savior. But just by coming to church today, you are owning and confessing to your neighbors and to our communities that, yes, Jesus is our Lord. He is the one who came, was revealed, manifested in the flesh. And we hold up that truth before a watching world. Even if the world ignores us or scoffs at us, we must be faithful in holding up the truth of the gospel of Jesus, our incarnate Lord and Savior. But to make this a little more personal, if you, dear listener, are holding back from publicly confessing Christ as your Lord and Savior and uniting with the visible expression of his church in communicant membership.
What’s holding you back from obeying Jesus your Lord? So church, let us be bold in proclaiming and serving and bearing testimony to Christ our Lord. But the next point is we as we Consider further what we may learn from this passage of God’s word. Consider next, and this is my second point in your outline. Let’s consider next the church’s confession, the church’s confession, the content of the faith the church is to proclaim is summarized here in this creed or creedal hymn. So we consider the content of the faith that we are to bear witness to, that we are to hold up, that we are to proclaim as the church. Paul describes this as the mystery of godliness. Verse 16, by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. What’s Paul talking about when he uses this language of the mystery of godliness?
Well, the short answer to that question is Paul’s talking about the gospel, the good news about Jesus. But let’s dive a little deeper into that word mystery. The Greek word for it is musterion. Now, when we use the language of mystery, we tend to use that language to refer to something that you can’t really completely grasp or figure out. Sometimes in theological lingo, we talk about the mystery of the Trinity. The truth that God, the one true and living God, exists in three co-equal, co-eternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that all three persons of the triune God share fully in that one divine essence. And you try to wrap your brain around that and you just can’t completely figure it out. Because you’re finite and God is infinite. And that’s okay that you can’t fully figure it out.
So in that theological sense, we use the term mystery to mean something that is true, that is a revealed truth that we believe and confess, but we don’t claim to understand it or to be able to grasp it exhaustively. But when Paul uses the term mystery, he is referring to that which was previously hidden, but is now made known all because of the coming of Christ. And so as one commentator explains this term, mystery of godliness, this phrase, mystery of godliness, one commentator says the phrase means the revealed secret of true piety. Now, hold on to that. The mystery of godliness equals the revealed secret of true piety. In other words, he goes on to say, in other words, the secret that produces piety in people. That secret, as the following words indicate, is none other than Jesus Christ.
His incarnation in all its aspects, particularly His saving work, is the source of genuine piety. In other words, friends, the gospel message, that message centered on the incarnate person and the saving work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Savior who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem and who lived and died and rose again and ascended and now reigns in exaltation at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, all for us and for our salvation as the people of God. That is what the mystery of godliness is referring to. You see, before the advent of Christ, before Christ came to this earth, this mystery was in large part hidden from God’s people. Now, God’s people living in Old Testament times, they knew about the gospel. They knew about the promise that God would send a Messiah, the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head.
They had prophecies, they had types, they had shadows. So the gospel was known to God’s people under the old covenant, but it was known in shadow and type. It was not known in full substance because the substance of that mystery was hidden to God’s people in Old Testament times. But now that Jesus has been born, now that Jesus came to this earth, the mystery that was hidden for ages has been revealed and not only revealed for the benefit of Jews who come to believe in Jesus, but also for the benefit of the nations, the Gentile nations as well. Now, there’s so many takeaways from this observation, from the truth that Paul is teaching here when he describes our faith as the mystery of godliness. But let me let me make three points of application or suggest several takeaways.
First of all, what this teaches us, beloved, is that our Christian faith has objective content. Our Christian faith is not just a subjective experience. It’s not merely an edifying personal mythology, for example. Our Christian faith has objective content because the gospel proclaims, the gospel makes truth claims about what God has done in real space time history in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, to redeem and rescue sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. We live in a hyper subjective age. We live in an age where we are more than ever turned in on ourselves, and our culture encourages us to find our ultimate meaning and our ultimate identity within, in our personal feelings. This is basically secular humanistic paganism. It is the rot of humanism at its core, and it’s unsustainable over the long term, by the way.
But here against that radical subjectivism of our contemporary age comes the Christmas message. Indeed, the gospel message that God in Christ was revealed in the flesh for our redemption. So our Christian faith has objective content. And what does that mean for you and for me when we’re sharing the gospel with friends and loved ones and neighbors? Well, confessing Christ before others means confessing historic truths about Jesus Christ, such as the truth that we celebrate at Christmastime. It’s not just about sharing our personal testimony about what Jesus means to us personally. I remember some of you may be familiar with the White Horse Inn podcast, you know, Dr. Michael Horton and out in Westminster Seminary West. And I remember at one particular podcast or lecture that Dr. Horton was giving, he made it. He offered this illustration.
He he talked about how he was. I think he was interviewing folks on the street, perhaps, or in the churches and asking them, well, tell me what the gospel is. Oh, it’s wonderful. It’s changed my life. It’s transformed me. Yes, but what is the gospel? Oh, it’s just amazing. Jesus means so much to me. He’s transformed my life. Now, don’t get me wrong. Your personal testimony about what Jesus has done for you. That’s a fine thing to share. That’s a wonderful thing to share. Because that is part of the fruit of the gospel. That’s the outworking of the gospel in our lives. But what Jesus means to you, what he’s done in and for you, that’s not really the gospel. What is the gospel is who Jesus is and what he did to save his people from their sins.
It’s an objective message. The church’s calling and mission as a body of God’s people is to support and hold up and bear faithful witness to the truth about Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation that he has wrought. Personal testimony can come as a fruit and result of that. But our primary testimony is to Jesus. Because, brothers and sisters, we’re not the gospel. I can share with you that Christ has transformed my life. I praise God for His grace and mercy. That He deigned to have mercy on a wretch like me. That’s a wonderful thing and I’m happy to proclaim that. But you know what? I’m not the good news. I’m still a sinner. And so are you. I’m a sinner saved by grace, but still a sinner. The good news is not us or how Christ has transformed us.
The good news is Jesus, who he is, what he’s done for us. And that, as a result, does transform us. But also reflecting on this phrase, mystery of godliness, notice that it is the truth of the gospel and especially the truth of our Lord’s incarnation, which the church traditionally celebrates during this festive season. Notice it is that truth that is the revealed secret of true piety. Mystery of godliness means revealed secret of true piety. Notice Paul doesn’t say that the law is the revealed secret of true piety. It’s not the law of God that produces true piety and godliness in God’s people. Oh, pastor, you’re being antinomian. No, I’m not. The law of God is good. It’s holy. It’s righteous. We love the law of God. We delight in the law of God after the inner man.
If you’re born again by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has put within your soul a love for God’s law. A desire to obey the law of God. So we love the law of God. But the law in itself does not produce true piety. After all, the law condemns us. The law is a mirror that exposes our sin and our lawlessness, our law breaker, our law breaking. And this, in God’s economy, is its primary and proper role. Yes, we believe and confess the third use of the law. It does set a standard for us. It shows us what God requires of us. It shows us what we should be aiming for as we strive to walk after a new obedience out of gratitude for God’s gift of salvation. But the law is not the secret, the revealed secret of true piety.
Rather, it is the gospel that produces true piety and godliness. Through the Holy Spirit, the Gospel unites us to Jesus Christ by producing saving faith within us. As Paul writes in Romans 10, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word or message of Christ. It is that saving faith that the gospel produces in us, which therefore enables us more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness since we are united to Christ in his death and resurrection by faith and faith alone. True piety is not produced by a legalistic spirit, a spirit that says, well, I, I just need to do more and try harder and be better. Yeah. Good luck with that. You can’t put, you can’t pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. The law cannot produce true piety within you.
But when you understand that in union with Christ, your sins are forgiven, you are an adopted son or daughter of God, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you are sealed unto the day of redemption. When these glorious truths, these blessings and benefits that we sung of in our opening psalm, when those blessings and benefits, Understand and embrace those truths as true for you. Oh, your heart will be filled with joy and love for God and a desire to live a pious, godly life. A desire to obey His law and walk after a new obedience. Again, true piety is not produced by a legal spirit. A legal spirit, a self-righteous spirit, only results in hardened pride and further self-righteousness. Rather, true piety is only produced through the gospel of Jesus Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit to our hearts and received by God-given faith alone.
And that gospel is centered on the one who was revealed in the flesh, the one whom we celebrate on this Lord’s Day, known as Christmas Day, and indeed, the one whom we celebrate and remember and worship every Lord’s Day. It says of Him, and this brings me to my final point, consider in closing, the church’s Savior. The church’s Savior is the incarnate Christ. By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh. Now, pause there. Some of you may be looking at your Bibles and say, wait a minute, Pastor. My Bible says God was manifested or revealed in the flesh. Well, the reason for the differences there, this is a textual issue. Many ancient texts, copies of the original contained the statement, he who was revealed in the flesh.
Other copies, manuscript copies, say God who was revealed in the flesh. But you know what? And by the way, it’s my understanding and belief that the most accurate manuscripts, the earliest and most accurate manuscripts, read the way it is translated here in the New American Standard Version. He who was revealed in the flesh. But does that lower Jesus, from God to something else? No, no. Because in the context, whichever translation is correct, whichever textual tradition is the most accurate and original, the context makes it clear that Paul is talking about the incarnation of the living God. As it says in verse 15, The church, the household of God is the church of the living God. And it is this living God who was revealed in the flesh, as we read of in verse 16. Now, the fact that he was revealed in the flesh, that God, the son was revealed in the flesh, this living God was revealed in the flesh.
What does that teach us about Jesus? Well, it teaches us a number of things. First of all, it teaches us that he was preexistent. He was revealed and manifested, and that language implies that he existed before he was revealed, before he was manifested. So the pre-existence, and by good and necessary inference, the full deity of Christ is implied by this statement. But the incarnation of Christ is also implied here, or it’s rather directly taught, I should say. He who was revealed, how was he revealed? In the flesh, the true and living God was revealed, was manifested in the flesh. He existed from eternity past. He is eternal God, but he was manifested in the incarnation of Christ. Dear listeners, think about it. What we celebrate on this Lord’s Day is nothing less than the very incarnation, which means the very enfleshment of God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
As the baby Jesus was lying in the manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in the manger with respect to His human nature. In that very manger, our Savior was governing the universe in His divine nature, as Jesus was laying there in the manger. He was controlling all of the billions of galaxies and trillions of stars out there. He was governing all of creation. It blows your mind when you contemplate it. When you think about it. Why did God do this? He, the very Son of God, was manifested in the flesh. Why? Why? was He manifested in the flesh. Why Christmas? Why did God the Son become a man? Well, as we confess together in the words of the Nicene Creed, it was for us and for our salvation. Puny and finite as we are. Sinful as we are.
God, out of love for us sinners, was moved to choose to send Christ. From eternity past, He decreed to send Christ to be our Savior from sin. Dear listener, have you trusted Jesus, the incarnate Lord, the One manifested in the flesh? Have you trusted Him as your Savior from sin? On this Lord’s Day, which also happens to be Christmas Day, why not receive Him by faith? as your very own Lord and Savior, may God in his sovereign mercy open your heart to believe upon Christ, to trust in Christ and repent of sin this day. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we thank you and praise you for Christ. We thank you for the gospel, this mystery of godliness, this revealed secret of true piety. We ask, Lord, that as we embrace the good news of the gospel, that we might be impelled more and more to die unto sin and walk after a new obedience from the heart.
We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said. Amen. As we close our time of worship. Let’s sing this joyful Christmas hymn, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. We’ll rise and sing number 311, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, 311.
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