Calvary Road Baptist Church
“WHICH CHRIST BORN?”
Have you ever asked yourself which Christ’s birth you celebrate at Christmastime? That is, do you ever wonder whether or not the Christ that you know is the genuine Christ, the saving Christ, the Son of God Christ whose birthday you celebrate at Christmas?
I don’t want you folks to get too excited, because I will be more than happy to get excited about this for you, but there are some facts of great significance to your lives that you need to be made aware of.
Are you aware of the fact, for example, that the Christ of the Bible taught that many false Christ’s would arise? Yes, He did teach that. In Matthew 24.24 He said,
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
In Mark 13.22 He said,
“For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.”
Are you also aware of the fact that there are false prophets and false apostles who preach a false Gospel predicted in the Bible?[1] Sure.
Let’s not be naive just because it’s the holiday season, okay? The fact that there are false christs, false prophets, false apostles, and false Gospels in the world today should come as no surprise, people. Let’s not forget that there is spiritual warfare going on in the world, and every war involves to a significant degree various forms of deception. Should we expect less from the father of lies? Additionally, let’s not forget that the enemy is deadly serious.
The enemy is so very serious about this matter that following the birth of the Christ of the Bible in Bethlehem, every newborn to two-year-old child was slain in a vain attempt to assassinate the Christ child.[2] It was the slaughter of the innocents. Those who stalk us are both bloodthirsty and crafty. So crafty, in fact, that the Apostle Paul referred to their leader as an angel of light, because of his ability to deceive people into believing his lies.[3] No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ termed him the father of lies.[4]
Do you know what that means? It means that like it or not; there are many false beliefs and teachings floating around the world today. That forces you, if you are responsible about this issue, to consider some very unpleasant realities.
You must consider the possibility of the Christ of Roman Catholicism being a false Christ. You must consider the possibility of the Christ of 7th Day Adventism being a false Christ. You must consider the possibility of the Christ of Mormonism being a false Christ. You must consider the possibility of the Christ of modernism being a false Christ. You must consider the possibility of the Christ that I preach being a false Christ.
Does the direction of this message disturb you? It shouldn’t. The Apostle Paul said to the Galatians, who had been taught error, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”[5] Tough questions need to be asked.
Have no fear of the truth. After all, the Lord Jesus Christ said that the truth would set people free.[6] And you do want people to be free, don’t you? Well, they will only be free from their burden of sin when they are introduced to Christ, the genuine and legitimate Christ.
The question, however, is, Who is Christ? That is, Who is the real Christ Who was born on the first Christmas day?
- a) Is He the Christ of Adventism, which believes that Christ and Satan joined together in atoning for the sins of mankind?
- b) Is He the Christ of Christian Science, which denies the reality of matter and therefore believes that Christ did not die a literal death on the cross?
- c) Is He the Christ of Catholicism, which believes that His death on the cross was the first of millions of sacrifices which must be repeated at every celebration of mass to atone for sin?
- d) Is He the Christ of Mormonism, which believes Christ to be the spirit brother of Lucifer, which believes that Christ was a polygamist Who was married to both Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus?
- e) Finally, is He the Christ of Islam, that denies He is God’s Son and that He was crucified?[7] They deny both of those.
I am asking if the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the genuine Christ really is the Christ represented by each of these groups. And if He is the Christ of the one group, He cannot possibly be the Christ of the other groups, because each of their christs is different. It’s called the law of the excluded middle. Things that are different are not the same.
This is an extremely important issue that faces us, for Christ said that He is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” You are not reconciled to the Father and do not get to heaven other than through Christ. This one.
But which Christ? And you can’t just do what you think is right, because Proverbs 14.12 indicates that
“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
There is something we must do. We must turn to the Word of God and allow Scripture to paint for us a portrait of the Christ of God, the Christ of Scripture, the Christ of genuine salvation. “But pastor, some of those groups you’ve mentioned say that the Bible has a lot of errors in translation and that it cannot be trusted. How do we know that the Bible is trustworthy?”
I have only two comments on that one before I must press onward. First, the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Textus Receptus of the Greek New Testament are available for anyone to examine and study. And for centuries, there have been multiplied thousands of people examining the Word of God. Don’t you think that these so-called gross errors that people say exist would come to light by now? And isn’t it strange that these groups who question the Word of God have no scholars and linguists among them? You can’t just question something to call it into question.
Second, it is my observation that the only groups who call into question what the Word of God has to say about Christ are those whose version of Christ is not supported by the Word of God. That’s no surprise. Those who believe the truth not only do not mind examining the Scriptural testimony concerning Christ, they don’t mind having everyone know what they believe about Christ. Those who walk in darkness get very upset about both.
On the one hand, they will not accept the simple and straightforward declarations about Christ in the Scriptures, and on the other hand, they want to carefully dole out their beliefs in measured doses to their followers because they know that unindoctrinated people, whose thinking has not been carefully conditioned to accept what they say, will laugh in their face when they hear what preposterous things these groups believe about Christ.
Biblical Christianity, on the other hand, has always shouted from the rooftops what we believe about the Savior, the Christ, the Son of the living God. When Mary delivered her first-born child, which of these christs did she deliver? When the shepherds came to the manger, which Christ did they behold? When the magi came from the East, which Christ did they wish to worship, this one born King of the Jews? And when Herod lashed out in satanic infanticide, which Christ was he trying to slay? Finally, when a sinner is convicted of his sins by the Holy Spirit of God, which Christ must he bow before and trust for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life?
Three points to make in providing the answer to these important questions:
First, THE REAL CHRIST IS THE ONE PROMISED BY GOD
In Genesis 3.15, we read God’s promise:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
I mention three things related to this promise of God, and it was a promise He made to the Devil. He didn’t make that promise to you or me. He made that promise to Satan. “I’m going to do this to you.”
The first thing is a problem. You will remember that Adam and Eve were living in sinless innocence in the Garden of Eden when Eve was tempted by the serpent and committed sin against God. You will also remember that the first act of this now sinful woman was to tempt her husband, who also did sin. And according to the warning that God had properly issued to Adam, the two were immediately plunged into sin and died spiritually. Therefore, as a result of their sinful act of disobedience, both they and their descendants had a sin problem.
The second thing is a penalty. God told Adam that if he ate the fruit of that particular tree, he would die. And when he and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they did die. They died spiritually. And many years later, a consequence of their spiritual death, physical death, was seen. But that was not the only penalty for sin. That was not the only consequence. Later to be developed in Biblical revelation was the fact that the long term, the most profound, the eternal, penalty for sin was the lake of fire. Adam, Eve, and their children’s children for a thousand generations to follow would face the penalty of the lake of fire.
The final thing is a provision. The divine Provision would be the seed of woman, suggesting the virgin birth of Christ. The divine Provision would bruise the head of the serpent, forever defeating him. And the divine Provision would be bruised in His heel, suggesting the crucifixion of Christ on the cross of Calvary. The real Christ fulfills this promise of God to the serpent, to the Devil who used him. The real Christ would address the problem of sin in the human family, not deny that it exists, as does the christ of the modernists. The real Christ would crush the head of the serpent by confronting and then defeating Satan on his own grounds, not having his mother do it for him, as the christ of Roman Catholicism is said to do. And the real Christ would be virgin born, not the product of a sexual liaison between Jehovah and Mary, as the Mormons teach. When you come face to face with the Christ that God promised would destroy the serpent, then you have come face to face with the Christ of the Bible, the Christ of God.
Second, THE GENUINE CHRIST IS THE ONE PREDICTED BY THE PROPHETS
By prophets, I refer to holy men of old who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I refer not to anyone who has lived within the last 2000 years, who was thrown into jail repeatedly for being drunk and disorderly, or who founded his own religion (referring to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism) by getting forty-five insane women who all married him at the same time. I refer exclusively to men of God of sterling character who lived only that they might burn brightly for God. Let’s see what two such prophets predicted about Christ as the Holy Spirit worked in their lives.
First, the pre-exilic prophet Isaiah. This was a prophet whose ministry took place before Judah was taken into Babylonian captivity. Isaiah 7.14:
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
According to this verse, Christ will be virgin-born and will be Immanuel, which means God with us, an apparent declaration that He is God. Isaiah 9.6:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Among other things, according to this verse, the Christ is the mighty God and the everlasting (which is to say eternal) Father.
Next, the post-exilic prophet Zechariah. This is a prophet whose ministry took place after permission was given for the Jews in captivity to return to Jerusalem and Judea. If you read the entire 12th chapter of Zechariah, you will see, by the context, that Zechariah has recorded the words of Jehovah. This entire prophetical chapter is dictation given by the LORD to the prophet. But I want you to notice verse 10, which reads,
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
I want you to notice that the LORD refers to Himself as being pierced, and then refers to mourning for His first-born at the end of the verse. Notice also the change in pronouns from “me” in the middle of the verse to “him” at the end of the verse. Unless you believe that Jesus Christ really is God, and unless you believe in the Biblical concept of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this verse of Scripture is undecipherable. But if Christ really is the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, if Christ really is the Son of God and God, the Son, then we have no difficulty understanding God saying the things of this verse. It says that Christ, Who is God, Who is God’s Son, was crucified. And it said it said it centuries before it occurred.
There are many more prophets whose writings could be consulted, but we have time limitations. We can say this, however: The Christ Who was predicted by Moses, and by David, and by Isaiah, and by Daniel, and by Micah, and by Jeremiah, and by Zechariah, and by Malachi, is a Christ unique to the Bible. That baby that was seen in that manger so long ago was God manifested in the flesh. God born of a virgin to not be defiled with the sinful nature of a human father and to have the nature of His heavenly Father. That baby’s existence did not begin when He was conceived in His mother’s womb, but He is from old, from everlasting. He is without beginning and end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. And if the Christ of your Christmas is uniquely God, without beginning or end, virgin-born, come to die for the sins of all mankind, then the Christ of your Christmas is the Christ of the Bible. Sadly, according to their own publications and periodicals and documentation that I can provide for you, the Christ that I have just described is not the Christ of the Christian Scientists, Adventists, Mormons, Catholics, or of the Watchtower Tract and Bible Society. That’s not an attack on them; it’s the truth stated.
Finally, THE REAL CHRIST IS THE ONE WHO WAS PREPARED FOR SACRIFICE
There is a myriad of secondary reasons for Christ’s coming to this old sinful world, but there is a single primary reason. Modernists believe that Christ came to teach. And while He did teach, that was not the primary reason He was born. Catholics and Mormons believe that Christ came primarily to establish a church. And while He did establish the Church (which is neither of their churches), establishing the Church was not His primary reason for being born in a stable. Christian Scientists, who are neither Christians nor scientists, believe that Christ came to be an example. While He was the greatest example men and women could possibly have, being an example was not His primary reason for coming. Why did the Christ come? Let’s allow others to tell us why He came.
That the magi gave perfumy frankincense and aromatic myrrh to the Christ child lets us know that they were aware of His purpose for coming. Frankincense and myrrh were commonly used to prepare bodies for burial. Those men knew that Child was born to die.
When the old man, Simeon, told Mary, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,” we see that he was aware that her Child would someday be pierced by a blade.[8] He knew that her child was born that He might die.
When Christ Himself testified that the “Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” He was telling His disciples why He was here.[9] He wanted them to know that He was born to die.
And in Hebrews 10, in a chapter dealing with the sacrifice for sins, the writer of Hebrews quotes Christ in the Psalms (written a thousand years earlier) as saying to the Father “a body thou hast prepared for me.”[10]
That baby born so long ago was born the Lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world. The way that task would be accomplished was for Christ to die a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. That is something these different religious groups I have mentioned do not fully agree with, not a one of them.
It has not been my intention to attack anyone personally. Neither do I want to anger anyone without cause. But we have to realize that we cannot have things both ways. We cannot be both right and wrong about something at the same time. And we do our friends and loved ones no good whatsoever if we who know the real Christ pretend that their false Christ can save them from their sins. He cannot.
A man is no friend who allows another to drink a fine-looking, fine smelling, fine tasting poison. Neither can we remain silent when presented an opportunity to tell folks about the real Christ, the Christ of the Bible.
At this Christmastime of the year, do you really know Him, I mean the real Him? You need to make sure that you have come to know Him since you were not born knowing Him.
There needs to be a discrete event, not a process. An event in your life when you passed from death to life by coming to know in a saving way Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
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[1] 2 Corinthians 11.13; 2 Peter 2.1; 1 John 4.1
[2] Matthew 2.16-18
[3] 2 Corinthians 11.14
[4] John 8.44
[5] Galatians 4.16
[6] John 8.32
[7] Abd El Schafi, Behind The Veil: Unmasking Islam, (Abd El Schafi, 2000), page 179.
[8] Luke 2.35
[9] Luke 19.10
[10] Psalm 40.6; Hebrews 10.5
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