When we need confidence in God’s plans for us, considering His perfect work gives us peace. Dr. Stanley walks with us through the events of the Christmas story, where Scripture affirms how every detail of the Messiah’s arrival was wisely and meticulously fulfilled by God.
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male announcer: “In Touch”
with Dr. Charles Stanley,
celebrating 45 years
of God’s faithfulness
and sharing the
gospel worldwide.
Next on “In Touch,”
“Christmas: The Wisdom of God.”
Dr. Charles Stanley: It’s always
a source of comfort and peace
to know that our God every day,
all day long who’s guiding our
life is a God of wisdom which
means He always chooses
the best in every single
decision that He makes.
Not only does He
choose the best,
but He chooses the best way
for us to get to the best.
Not only that, wisdom is more
than just the fact that God
knows everything.
But, when you think about
the decisions that God makes,
He always makes wise decisions
which always brings
the best results.
So, if a person really wants
the best results in their life,
they will choose God’s way.
They will choose to follow the
decisions that God sets out
for their life.
And when you think about that,
I think about Romans eight,
twenty-eight when the Apostle
Paul who was affirming this
very idea of the wisdom
of God, he said,
We know that God causes all
things to work together
for good to those who love Him,
to those who are called
according to His purpose,
why?
Because He’s an all-wise God
and He always chooses the best.
Likewise, if you’ll look around
you and look at your life,
would you not agree that when
you and I follow His will and
His purpose and plan, we
always come out with the best?
Well, what I want to
talk about in this message,
I want to talk about a decision
that God made.
I want to talk about the wisdom
that is found in this decision.
Because from Genesis to
Revelation here’s what
you’ll find.
God making decisions.
And you see His wisdom all
the way in one event after
the other, you see the wisdom
of God being expressed and
lived out and
played out in life.
And if you’ll turn to Romans
chapter eleven for a moment.
And, Paul had been in
this Roman’s epistle,
what he’d been doing is he had
been expressing and declaring
and expounding
the wisdom of God.
In God’s whole redemptive plan,
how very, very wise it is.
And so when he comes to
this eleventh chapter and
the thirty-third verse, he just
bursts out in this awesome sense
of praise to God and he says,
“Oh the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His
judgments and unfathomable
His ways!”
So, when I think about God’s
wisdom and think about how
unfathomable His ways, I want us
to choose one of those events
in history.
One of those events that
probably as good as any share
with us the wisdom of God.
Look how wise God is in
every single aspect of that.
Well, what is it?
Well, the title of
this message is
“Christmas: The Wisdom of God.”
And what I want us to see, I
want us to see how God’s wisdom
is so clearly and beautifully
explained and expressed in the
whole scene of the birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ beginning
with the timing of it.
So somebody says, Well, what’s
so wise about the timing of it?
Here’s what’s wise about it.
In eternity past,
God the Father,
God the Son, God the
Holy Spirit made a plan.
And so creation came.
And so God let time go by.
And if we can just start with
some of those civilizations like
Egypt, for example, and
all of their emptiness,
and all of their many, many
gods that they worshipped,
that was not God’s timing.
And so, then you move on to
other generations and while you,
we’re moving onto those, I want
you to turn and follow with me
because I want you to see
something in Galatians
chapter four.
Galatians chapter four, look
in verse four if you will.
He says, “But when the
fulness of the time came,
God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman,
born under the Law, “In order
that He might redeem those
who were under the Law,
that we might receive
the adoption of sons.”
In the fullness of time.
So, let’s go back.
We had the
civilization of Egypt.
In all of their
tremendous accomplishments
and achievements, God said,
That’s not the right time.
Then you come, for example,
to the time of the Assyrians,
the Assyrian Empire,
how vast it was.
That was not the right time.
Then you come to the time of
the Chaldeans and that
was not the right time.
Then you come, for example,
to the time of the Persians,
and as advanced as that was,
that was not the right time.
Then you come to the
times of the Greeks.
Awesome civilization, probably
contributing to as much to
a civilization as any group
of people who’ve ever lived.
They gave us the language,
the Greek language,
and they gave us many things;
art and all the rest.
But that was not the right time.
Then came the
time of the Romans,
and what happens?
They built upon that
Greek civilization.
They had roads and
highways, for example,
that were safe.
Sea travel was safe.
They had the communication that
was so prevalent and that is
that, if a person could speak
the Greek language they could be
known and understood
in most places.
And so when the
Apostle Paul came along,
it was all just set up
perfectly for him.
He could travel safely.
He could speak in
the Greek language.
He could be heard and
understood almost everywhere.
The world was wide open and they
had what they called the Pax,
the Pax Romana which
was the peace of Rome.
They ruled in the
known world of their day.
Well, it was in this time
of Roman domination
that Jesus Christ was born.
In fact, he says,
In the fullness of time.
That is, when God saw that the
time was exactly right for Him
to accomplish His
purpose and to do His thing,
that’s when the Lord
Jesus Christ was born.
And so as you and I look and we
see the wise men coming from the
East and the star and all the
events that were taking place,
God doesn’t do
anything haphazardly.
And listen, just, listen.
Just as accurately, just
as clearly and just as
meticulously, and just as
predetermined as God was about
the absolute event
of His Son’s birth,
God likewise cares about
timing in your life and my life.
He’s interested in the goals
that He set for our life.
He’s interested in our
achievement and accomplishing
those goals.
He knows how long
we have to live,
and therefore He’s working in
your life and my life wisely
every single day.
That is, He’s the one who’s
chosen the goals and He’s
the one who knows how we can
reach those goals in our life.
So in the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ,
first of all He
didn’t begin, He didn’t,
His life didn’t
begin at that moment.
He was from eternity past,
the Son of the living God,
Jesus Christ.
Born at a particular
time which the Bible says,
In the fullness of time.
That is, when God had
everything all set up.
Now if we had time, we could go
through philosophy and we could
go through travel,
communications,
all these things, religion for
example in the days in which
Jesus was born.
Many, many gods that
they supposedly worshipped.
But there was this sense of
disillusionment with their gods.
And so Jesus Christ came on the
scene just at the right time.
Not only is the wisdom of God
seen in that but I think
the wisdom of God is also
seen in the announcement.
For example, if you go back to
Luke chapter two for a moment.
You’ll recall that when
the angel came in verse ten,
“The angel said to them,
‘Do not be afraid,
behold I’m bringing you good
news of great joy which
shall be for all the people.'”
That would not have been
so and He would
not have said that to
some, to an emperor,
or Caesar Augustus.
And so, he says, “For today in
the city of David there’s been
born for you a Savior
who is Christ,” the Messiah,
the Lord.
This’ll be a sign to you.
You’ll find the babe wrapped in
clothes and lying in a manger.
Suddenly there appeared in the,
with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host
praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest, on
earth peace among men with
whom He is pleased.'”
Then look.
“It came about when the angels
had gone away from them into
heaven, that the shepherds
began saying to one another,
‘Let us go straight
to Bethlehem then,
and see this thing that has
happened which the Lord
has made known to us.'”
No question in
their minds who this angel was.
There were people who were
expecting the Messiah to arrive.
This thing which the
Lord has made known to us.
“And they came in haste and
found their way to Mary and
Joseph, and the baby as
He lay in the manger.
Now watch this.
“And when they had seen this,
they made known the statement
which had been told
them about the Child.
“And all who heard it wondered
at the things which were told
them by the shepherds.
What did they do?
Exactly what God
intended them to do.
Those shepherds scattered out
among their friends and among
their family and they began to
tell them what they had seen.
And enough of them had seen
it that they were believable.
And yet, many,
many people wondered.
But somehow, instead of saying,
We don’t believe that they
wondered at the
things that they heard.
And the news began to
spread that this baby was born.
He was announced by an angel
and He was announced as
Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
that is the Lord,
the Savior of the world.
And the Jews understood
what that meant.
And so, the very announcement
was the wisdom of God.
He used an angel so
it was unmistakable.
To shepherds because He knew
exactly what they would do.
He identified Himself
again with the lowly,
with the shepherds, and He knew
He would send them out to share
the truth of the message
that the Savior had been born.
No mistakes, nothing in the
whole story of the birth
of Jesus Christ is
something that just happened,
but very carefully,
wisely planned by an almighty,
awesome, all-wise God who plans
out our life and if we are
wise enough, we’ll
follow that plan.
But it’s interesting also to
note that not only did this
announcement come from the
angels and what an awesome
expression of
God’s wisdom that was.
But the way, for example, that
Jesus Christ was born was also
simply an act of His wisdom.
Because I want you to notice
if you will back in Luke again.
And you will recall that
Jesus Christ was not just born
of man but the Bible says
that He was born of that
He was born of a virgin.
Listen to what happened in
this first chapter of Luke
if you will.
And you’ll recall
the angel visits Mary.
“In the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent to her in the
city of Galilee called Nazareth
to a virgin engaged to a man
whose name was Joseph.”
And then if you’ll move on down
because the angel speaks and
then the scripture says, verse
thirty-two: “He will be great,
and will be called the
Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give Him
the throne of His father David;
and He will reign over
the house of Jacob forever;
and His kingdom
will have no end.”
Listen to this.
“And Mary said to the angel,
‘How can this be,
since I am a virgin?’
“And the angel answered
and said to her,
‘The Holy Spirit
will come upon you,
and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you;
and for that reason the
holy offspring shall be
called the Son of God.'”
God in His perfect wisdom knew
not to have His Son be
born of a man.
First of all, He must be
absolutely sinless
and absolutely
perfect for the reason,
the purpose, the goal
for which God sent Him.
Being born of a virgin, I’m sure
that many people in that day
who heard about that probably
did not believe it or said,
for example, How could
this possibly be?
And I can remember on
one occasion not just one,
but one occasion sitting in
a classroom and a professor
talking about the Bible and
talking about the virgin birth
and said, Why, no,
I don’t believe that.
He said that
would take a miracle.
And I wanted to say, Yes!
Yes, yes, yes!
That’s what it’s all about!
The miracle of the
virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of God conceived
in her and brought forth
the Son of God.
Because you see, first of
all it wasn’t the beginning
of His life.
It was the beginning of His
earthly life but it wasn’t
the beginning of His life.
Because in Micah and other
Old Testament passages refer
to Him as the one who is
from everlasting to everlasting.
Jesus Christ had no beginning.
He was the Alpha and Omega.
Never has had a beginning,
never will have an end.
The wonderful thing about Him
is He is absolutely eternal.
Therefore, He did not begin
in the Virgin Mary’s womb.
He did not come, for example,
from a man Joseph.
But the Spirit of God planted
within that woman the very life,
the very person
of the Son of God.
When I think about
the wisdom of God,
I also think in terms of the
very name that He was given.
Now we know that the angels
gave Him the name, Jesus.
And so when Mary
called him Jesus.
Suppose for example, you say,
Well, what’s so wise about that?
Well, let me just say this.
First of all, it was a
very common name in that day.
A lot of Jewish boys
were named Jesus.
Well, why, why, why wasn’t
He named something very,
very different?
Jesus was always being what?
Always being
identified with the lowly.
Why was He baptized?
Because He was a sinner?
No, He was not.
He wasn’t baptized
because He was a sinner.
He was baptized in order
to identify Himself
with sinful mankind.
Not because He needed to have
anything forgiven or had been
forgiven of anything.
And so when it
comes to His name,
what is His name?
Jesus.
The Hebrew word is Joshua.
What did that word mean?
Jehovah’s deliverer.
So, is that an accident?
Was that something
that just happened?
No.
This is Jehovah’s deliverer.
Listen, Jehovah’s deliverer.
That name symbolized and that
name represented and stated
the very purpose for which He
came, to deliver man from His
sins, to be the
Savior of the world.
But you know what the most
awesome expression of His wisdom
in all of this is?
And that’s the
purpose for which He came.
Now think about
this for a moment.
Why did the Father send Him?
Why did the Father send the Son?
Why did Jesus come?
Well, if you’ll look at His
whole beginning and all
the things that surrounded it,
why did He come?
Jesus Christ came into this
world as the Lamb of God
for the primary purpose
of dying on a cross.
He came as a pattern,
certainly a pattern
of holy and godly living.
But that wasn’t His
reason for coming.
His primary reason
for coming was to die.
He said, “I’ve come to give
My life a ransom for many.”
And so when you look
at the wisdom of God,
think about this.
Here is a beautiful
expression of God’s wisdom.
Let’s just put
God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit
having a conversation
before the beginning of man.
And knowing that man
would fall, saying,
Now, how shall We
redeem mankind?
Now of course they didn’t
have to think about all this,
I’m just going through it.
Let’s think about it.
How shall we redeem mankind?
Well, here’s what we could do.
We could give man and assign
man a series of regulations
and rules by which He was to
live, by which He was to live.
And therefore, if he keeps
all of these rules or a certain
number of these
rules and regulations,
then He will be forgiven of His
sins and we will accept Him
into the family of God and
therefore he will be forgiven
and become a child of God.
But, having a sinful
nature as man does,
he will not be able to keep
all those rules and regulations.
And besides that,
man, knowing man,
more than likely there’d be
a division about what those
rules and regulations are.
And man couldn’t possibly
agree on all of them
so that won’t work.
Well, what about man just
being good in his conduct?
Well, because he
has a sinful nature,
we know he’s not gonna be good
in his conduct and behavior
because he can’t.
His very nature is sinful,
is going to be sinful.
His very nature’s going to be
that he’s gonna be
separated from Us.
So, what are We going to do?
And so what did God do?
In His awesome wisdom, He didn’t
have to think all this up
and I’m sure that conversation
probably never happened.
But what did He do?
He decided there
was one way for,
in order for man to be
forgiven of his sin.
And one of the things that
God had to deal with is this.
God had to deal
with this whole issue.
Now wait a minute.
If God is holy
and absolutely perfect,
and man is sinful, and we
have decreed that the soul
that sinneth, it shall die.
And man has, is going to
sin and is going to die,
then what are we gonna do?
How are we gonna handle this?
There was only one way.
God chose in His wisdom to
satisfy every single demand.
That is, He knew that man in
his conduct would never be able
to live up to it.
He couldn’t keep rules and
regulations and deprive Himself.
Have some kind of asceticism or
some kind of self-infliction
of pain in order to make
himself acceptable before God.
There was no way that man in
Himself could ever do anything
to be acceptable before God.
And man still can’t.
He couldn’t from the
beginning and He can’t today.
And so the thing that
God had to decide is this.
How now, how now can we
still remain God the Father,
God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit,
in our perfect holiness, and at
the same time forgive man
who cannot help himself?
There was only one way.
And God in His
wisdom chose to do this.
The Godhead; God the Father,
God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit
made a decision.
Jesus Christ, the
Son of God who is God,
would come into
this world Himself,
be born of a virgin,
live among men,
and ultimately go to the cross.
And on that cross, He
would lay down His life.
The sacrificial lamb,
born in a stable as a lamb,
born in the “house of bread”
because He would be
the bread of life.
He would lay down His
life as a substitute,
as a sacrificial
substitute for all mankind.
And the only person who could
who could possibly do that
would be God.
Who else could bear the sin of
all mankind but God Himself?
Because every other human being
on the face of the earth
would be a sinner.
And so, he could not
die for his own sin,
own, except for his own sin
and that wouldn’t work.
And so, God in His perfect
wisdom chose to
come into this world.
He chose to come,
born of a virgin,
live His life, go to the cross,
be crucified by Romans but
predetermined by the Godhead
Themselves in order that He
may die a substitutionary
sacrificial death that man
might be forgiven of their sins.
And when any person, universally
no matter who they are,
would accept that He
is the Son of God.
That His death is atoning,
that means it’s paying a price
for something.
And that it is a substitute,
He took our place.
The moment a person is willing
to accept Him as the Savior,
His death as atoning,
His death as a substitute.
That moment their
sins would be forgiven,
their name written in
the Lamb’s Book of Life.
They would be sealed as a child
of Almighty God and be eternally
secure as long as they live on
this earth and for all eternity.
In the wisdom of God, He said
there can only be one way,
one way, one person,
one cross, one death,
one substitute, one awesome
sacrifice for the sin of mankind
and that is the person
of Jesus Christ.
So that when you and I
look at the manger scene,
if we see God’s
whole redemptive plan,
this is the way we’ll see it.
We’ll see the manger scene with
the shadow of the cross-laying
right across it.
Now this all-wise God who gave
us one single plan of redemption
said, This is it.
This is the way.
You say, Well, isn’t
that rather arrogant?
You’ll have to blame God.
Well, can’t there be
some other way?
Here’s what God said.
One way.
And Jesus said it very
clearly, very simple.
He said, “I am the way,
the truth and the life.
No man anywhere comes to
the Father but by Me.”
You know what
Christmas is all about?
Christmas is this beautiful,
awesome demonstration of God’s
holy, perfect wisdom in loving
man unconditionally and giving
us a redeemer in a way, in a,
by a means that we will never be
able to erase from our minds
that manger scene when God
visited earth for the
first time in His perfect deity.
Taking upon Himself humanity,
lest every single person on
the face of the earth be
blinded forever by His glory
and radiance and majesty.
He had to be housed in
human body so that we
could look upon Him.
Let me ask you a question.
If God says, and He has said it,
there’s only one way,
in My wisdom
there’s only one way.
You say, But now I just–
That’s not the issue.
You know what?
It doesn’t make any
difference what I believe
or what you believe.
The issue is what did God say?
In one, listen.
God said there is
one way and only one way.
And here’s the beauty of it all.
He made it so simple.
You don’t have to own anything.
You don’t have to go anywhere.
You don’t have to have anything.
You don’t have to
have an education.
You don’t have to that, no,
there’s not a single solitary
material thing that man’s
ever come up with that
you have to have.
You know what you have to do?
Simply trust Him, believe Him,
accept what He says as true.
How do you do that?
Here’s what you do.
You say, Lord Jesus, shut You
out of my life all these years.
I’m asking You to
forgive me of my sin.
And I do believe that Your death
at the cross paid my sin-debt
in full because that’s
what Your Word says.
And therefore, I’m asking You to
forgive me on the basis of Your
death, and I’m trusting You
as my personal Savior
for the forgiveness of my sins.
Then you have done the wisest
thing you could possibly do
on the face of this earth.
Receive for yourself the gift
of eternal life which comes
in a person, and that
person is Jesus Christ.
That’s what Christmas
is all about.
And Father, how grateful we are.
You in all of Your
awesome wisdom controlled,
sovereignly overruled
every single aspect of
the coming of Your Son.
And now these hundreds
and hundreds of years later,
we worship You.
We adore You, we praise You,
we bless You, we obey You,
we bow before You,
we humble ourselves before You
in recognition and adoration
for Your awesome wisdom
in doing it Your way.
May the Holy Spirit
speak to the hearts of many,
many people that they
might receive Christ,
their only hope and
Your one door to heaven,
as their personal Savior.
In His wonderful
name we pray, amen.
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