Christmas Eve Service - December 24, 2025 at 6:30pm

 Please join us for our Christmas Eve Service on December 24th at 6:30pm!

John 1:1-18 Incarnate God - December 21, 2025

 John 1:1-18 Incarnate God

Good morning! I’m not sure you know this but it’s kind of Christmas…

We are going to pause our study in the book of Acts and spend some time focusing on the culmination of this season, the incarnation of Christ.

As has been read already today, “The entire biblical story is about a God who gives His creatures what they do not know they need, what they do not want, and what they could never earn or do for themselves – but which they cannot live without.”

So often the main focus of Christmas is the gifts, I guess I can only speak for myself. I do love a thoughtful gift. We can try to spiritualize it and say that we give gifts because of the gift we were given in the manger, but rather than tear up our traditions, instead I’d like to look at the realities behind them and consider just who it was that was given to us in the manger.

Let’s pray.

Turn with me to John chapter one, page 886 in the pew Bibles. We’re going to consider just one question: Who was it given to us in that manger? 

When I think of Christmas there are lots of things that go through my mind, family gatherings, well thought out gifts, twinkle lights and too much to eat… But there are also the elements of Christmas itself, ancient scenes with shepherds and angels, wise men from the east, and jolly old fat men from the north.

And of course we know at the center of it all is the baby in the manger.

Much has been made of the humble scene of Joseph and Mary relegated to the stable, that might even have been a cave, because there was no room in the inn, and when Jesus was born, wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in the manger, a feed trough for the animals.

And when you think about that scene and in your heart look into that manger who is it that you see? A sweet, innocent, helpless newborn, baby? 

Are your thoughts informed by old Christmas carols? Do you really believe that the little Lord Jesus didn’t cry? Or that the night really was silent? If the Little Drummer Boy song is true, neither of those other songs can be right!

I’d like to look at the Gospel of John and look at the reality of exactly who it was laying in that manger so we won’t allow our sentimentality to define our perception of reality.

The Apostle John, brother of James, was referred to as the Disciple whom Jesus loved. He wrote his Gospel account long after the other three Gospels, often called the “Synoptic Gospels.” Synoptic means, “to see together,” as their perspectives parallel each other and are very similar in a lot of ways. John’s Gospel, however, is very different in both style and purpose.

John’s Gospel was also written after all of Paul’s letters and after all of Peter’s letters, it was actually one of the last books of the New Testament to be written, and John shares a unique perspective on the ministry of Jesus Christ though he never even mentions the manger scene.

Let’s read John’s prologue to his Gospel in John 1:1-18 and look for who it was lying in that manger.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

This is a wonderful, deep, and rich description of the one born of a virgin that night in Bethlehem, this is who Baby Jesus really is.

So, what can we learn about Him from these verses?

In verse one we can see several things. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

First, we can see that Jesus was in the beginning, meaning that He is eternal. 

Jesus was not created as some would have us believe, but rather, He is eternally existent, he has always been, and will always be. 

This week in Bible study we talked about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as well as the fourth person with them in the fiery furnace. The fourth person was Jesus, the pre-incarnate Son, hundreds of years before Bethlehem.

Verse one also says that Jesus is the Word. 

A word, any word, is how thoughts are expressed whether spoken or written. Jesus is the Word in that He is the expression of God. If you skip ahead to verse 18 it says, 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Verse one also says that Jesus, the Word, is God.

Jesus is not a god among many, He is not an angel, Jesus and the Father are One. 

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are what we call The Trinity, or the Godhead, distinct but three in One. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Verse three says that Jesus is the Creator. 

Jesus was not only present at creation but, in fact, was the agent of creation. 

Genesis 1:26 says, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

OUR image, OUR likeness… God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were active in our design and creation, Jesus is our Creator.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

Jesus is the life and Jesus is the light. 

It is only through Jesus that we have access to life beyond this life, everlasting life, eternal life. 

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 

In John 11:25 He called Himself the Resurrection and the Life, He said, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

Light represents wisdom and knowledge and truth. Jesus is the sum total and source of all truth, knowledge, and wisdom. In contrast, darkness represents the realm and reign of Satan, of evil, of sin and death and hell.

Jesus said Himself in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus was and is the only way out of that realm of darkness.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

Jesus, is also the agent of our adoption.

Jesus was rejected by men, He was then and largely is now, but that has never changed His purpose in coming, to give the right to become children of God to all who believe in His Name.

It’s a popular thought that we are all children of God, that just existing makes you a child of God. This thought may be popular but it is wrong. No one is born into the family of God naturally, we have to be adopted through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:15-17 says, …you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…

And though Jesus is all of these spiritual things, what we celebrate at Christmas time is His incarnation. Though Jesus is fully God, He is also fully man.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John [the Baptist] bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)

To “incarnate” means to put on flesh, the very words the Apostle uses here. At Christmastime we use the name Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.” That’s what Jesus did in the nativity story, He took on flesh and dwelt among us, He lives with us.

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Finally, Jesus is the key to God’s grace.

The Law was given through Moses to show us what sin is and to prove that we are sinful. Paul wrote in Romans 7:7, …if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

We’ve talked about this before that none of us can say that we have never broken the Ten Commandments that were given through Moses. Breaking the Law is what sin is and, as it says in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death, what we earn by sinning is death.

But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is God’s grace expressed. Through His death, by God’s grace, life is made available to us, we simply need to trust in Him.

In summary, Jesus is eternal, Jesus is the Word, Jesus is God Himself, Jesus is the Creator, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the light, Jesus is the agent of our adoption, and Jesus is the key to God’s grace.

So, when you look into the manger, is that who you see? Because that’s who was there.

Amen.

And now we are going to baptize a couple more people who have put their trust in the Incarnate Son Jesus!

Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Dropoff Dates 2025

CrossRoads Church is a collection locations for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. If you are a local church or individual looking for a location to deliver your boxes to, you can find our drop off times on the flyer below, or on our calendar page.

Can Anybody Tell Me What Christmas is All About? - December 24, 2023

 Can Anybody Tell Me What Christmas is All About?

Good morning and Merry Christmas!

Let’s pray.

I know that I have a bit of a reputation when it comes to Christmas, I’m not exactly the Grinch though I do think he made some good points. 

But I will admit to you, as it seems that I do every year, that I do struggle with Christmas.

I’m curious, I want to hear your favorite thing about Christmas… 

Every year it seems we experience the pressure of getting enough gifts or making enough gifts, and making sure that the gifts for the kids are roughly equal, making it to all the concerts, decorating the house, putting a fresh spin on the birth of Jesus for church, planning out the gatherings, and being in a million places at once. And I know that I am not the only one.

But I came across a wonderful thought this year that has really been helpful to me and quite freeing: It’s not supposed to be a burden.

Over the years I have struggled with finding the joy and peace that Christmas promises. In the past I have even put up pictures to remind myself that there’s supposed to be joy, don’t forget the joy!

The problem for me, and maybe for you I don’t know, is that the joy and peace I was looking for in Christmas aren’t found in Christmas, they’re found in Christ.

I still love the family gatherings, the presents around the tree, all the food, and the new pajamas, they may be fun and bring a measure of happiness but they do not offer lasting joy and certainly do not offer any sense of real peace. But in the midst of all of that Jesus still does.

1 John 1:1-3 says,

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

This passage from 1 John echoes the first chapter of the Gospel of John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God… 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

It is this Word made flesh, Jesus our Messiah, that we celebrate at Christmas time.

And while the world may pause to remember the baby born in Bethlehem in order to have joy and peace we must be sure to do more than just remember, more than just celebrate, we have to believe in Him.

In order to find any lasting joy and any real peace we have to believe in the Word made flesh.

Romans 15:13 says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Hope, Joy, and Peace are what three of our four Advent candles represent, all of which are not truly possible without faith in Jesus Christ. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

And I guess that’s the secret to finding real joy and peace at Christmastime, it’s not in the activity and the hustle and bustle, real joy and real peace are only found in believing in Jesus, the One born to die to set us free from our sin.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is “Charlie Brown’s Christmas.” Charlie Brown was struggling with the real meaning of Christmas in midst of all the commercialism and finally cries out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is really all about?!” Then that great theologian Linus VanPelt answers him from Luke chapter two…

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

The Good News of great joy for all the people was that a way to have peace with God had been given: 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace in believing in Him, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Amen.

We are going to gather again tonight at 6 to remember our Saviors birth, to read the story, sing the songs, and light the candles, to celebrate through our simple traditions, and worship our humble King born in Bethlehem. 

Let’s pray.

What does the Bible Actually Say About Hell? - August 6, 2023

 What does the Bible Actually Say About Hell?

Good morning!

We are taking a detour away from the Gospel of Luke again today and Question 28 of The New City Catechism is going to be our topic of discussion for this morning.

“What happens after death to those not united to Christ by faith?”

It is very important to have an accurate understanding about what the Bible actually says about the answer to this question and not one that is based on tradition or outside sources such as Looney Tunes where Sylvester the Cat gets sent to Hell to be tormented by the devil portrayed by the big red Bulldog.

Unfortunately images like these have informed much of Christian tradition rather than what the Bible has to say about the destiny of those who die apart from faith in Christ. So my goal here this morning is two-fold: one, that we will get a clearer understanding of what the Bible actually says and why it’s important, and two, to magnify the grace of God based on our understanding of hell.

We are definitely going to need the Father’s help if we are going to accomplish that. Let’s pray.

So I’m curious as we get started, what do you think of when you hear the word, “hell?”

I imagine that many of you think of a place of fire and brimstone, filled with demons, and the wicked in torment, but is this what the Bible really says about it?

To complicate matters, the translators use the word, “hell,” in place of three different Greek words in the New Testament which all mean very different things.

So let’s start at the beginning with the question, what was the Old Testament understanding of what happens after death to the wicked?

The Old Testament uses the word, “Sheol,” it appears 65 times in the Old Testament, the word, “Hell,” appears zero times in the Old Testament.

Sheol is described as deep, and dark, with bars, the slain go down to it, the root word means, to ask or demand, Proverbs 30:15 says that it is never satisfied. Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines it as the place of disembodied spirits. The inhabitants of Sheol are “the congregation of the dead” and it is the abode of the wicked dead.

The New Testament uses a Greek word that I’m sure you all have heard before for this same concept, the word, “Hades.”

In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus gave us this famous parable:

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Now, it’s clear that Jesus didn’t intend that parable to be a definitive teaching on the nature of Hades and Paradise but rather the presence of the Gospel in the Old Testament. However, Jesus used the word, “Hades,” not, “Hell,” to describe the place where the wicked rich man was in anguish.

The word, “Hell,” is neither a Greek nor a Hebrew word, it’s not even Aramaic. According to Eastman’s Bible Dictionary, it comes from a Saxon word, “helan,” which means, to cover; hence the covered or the invisible place.

But our translators use the word, “hell,” 14 times in the New Testament. The English Standard Version that we read out of every Sunday uses the word Hades when that is what the original language says but there are still two other words translated into the word, “hell,” that we need to look at.

There is a single occurrence of the word, “tarturas,” in 2 Peter 2:4 translated into the word, “hell,” when Peter is talking about the angels who rebelled with Satan and were imprisoned with chains in gloomy darkness until judgment. The translators used the word hell to avoid any more confusion by adding the single occurrence of this angelic prison idea to this already confusing sermon.

The other 13 times the word, “hell,” is used it used for the Greek word, “gehenna,” and in most of its uses it designates the place of the lost.

But it is not just a far off metaphysical place. Don’t forget that we are not the only ones to ever receive the message of the Scriptures, and when we read the words of Jesus we have to remember that He was in a real place and talking to real people, and those people had a certain understanding of some of the things that Jesus pointed out and used as object lessons. 

The word, “Gehenna,” means, the Valley of Hinnom, or, the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, and is a literal place.

The Valley of Hinnom is a deep, narrow ravine separating Mount Zion from the so-called “Hill of Evil Counsel.” It took its name from “some ancient hero, the son of Hinnom.” It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. It had been the place where the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Moloch and Baal. A particular part of the valley was called Tophet, or the “fire-stove,” where the children were burned. After the Exile, in order to show their abhorrence of the locality, the Jews made this valley the receptacle of the garbage of the city, for the destruction of which a fire was, as is supposed, kept constantly burning there.

(I have walked through this valley and even in 1997 there were rotting donkey carcasses in that nasty place.)

The Jews associated with this valley these two ideas, (1) that of the sufferings of the victims that had there been sacrificed; and (2) that of filth and corruption. It became thus to the popular mind a symbol of the abode of the wicked hereafter. It came to signify hell as the place of the wicked. “It might be shown by infinite examples that the Jews expressed hell, or the place of the damned, by this word. The word Gehenna [the Greek contraction of Hinnom] was never used in the time of Christ in any other sense than to denote the place of future punishment.”

So when Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew five and is sitting on the Mount of Olives on the East side of Jerusalem, everybody there can see the Valley of Hinnom from that spot, it’s not even a quarter of a mile away, it’s even possible that they could see and maybe even smell the smoke from the burning garbage. So when He says in Matthew 5:29-30,

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into [Gehenna]. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into [Gehenna].

When Jesus says these words He could have very well have been pointing to Gehenna, pointing to that never ending column of smoke rising from that garbage dump. Either way, He was very clear on what was in store for the wicked.

So we have Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and the final picture, the lake of fire.

The Lake of fire is also often confused with Hell just as Hell is often associated with Satan’s headquarters.

Here is what Revelation 20 has to say about the lake of fire and its purpose.

10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, (they’d been thrown in there already) and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire is the final destination for Satan, the beast, the false prophet, not their headquarters. It is the final destination for Sheol and Hades.

It is also the final destination for all those who die and are not united to Christ by faith, the second death.

So, here we are, at the point of the sermon when we have to ask the question, “so what?”

Well, I’ll go back to the two goals for today: one, that we will get a clearer understanding of what the Bible actually says and why it’s important, and two, to magnify the grace of God based on our understanding of the final destination of those who are not united to Christ by faith.

What the Bible actually says is important. When we allow our thinking about Biblical principles to be informed only by traditions, or TV and movies, or books and articles outside of Scripture, instead of what the Bible actually says we are in danger of misunderstanding the Word of God and misapplying its truth. God’s Word is God’s words and we should measure all that we think and believe by it.

Nothing that I’ve said this morning is secret or hidden wisdom, you can read these commentaries, you can find most of this information with a Google search. But we can’t just settle for what we’ve been told, we have to know the Word of God ourselves.

Secondly, if you remember Will’s sermon from last week on the Roman Road, you’ll remember that:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, that God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because if you confess with your mouth  that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Saved from Sheol, saved from Hades, saved from Gehenna, saved from the lake of fire all of which we deserve to experience because of our sin. 

But we are not only saved FROM the second death but we are saved TO a wonderful and growing, eternal relationship with God our Heavenly Father who saves us from all that by His grace through faith in Jesus for His glory.

Ephesians 2 says, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Amen.