Sermon Quotes: " The Offense of Christmas"

“Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” J.I. Packer

“When God chose a human father for his Son, he chose a man who would be righteous and kind, qualities that reflect God the Father himself.” Ligon Duncan

“He was saddened and perplexed when he learned that she would become a mother before they had been actually married. Many would have thrust her away in indignation, and put her to an open shame; but Joseph was of royal mind as well as royal race. He would not expose what he thought to be the sin of his espoused wife; although he felt that she must be away, he would do it quietly. When we have to do a severe thing, let us choose the tenderest manner. Maybe, we shall not have to do it at all.” Charles Spurgeon

“It was no doubt divine grace that solicited Mary’s cooperation before conception and Joseph’s cooperation only after it. Here Joseph is drawn into the mystery of the Incarnation.” Don Carson

“The Christmas message rests on the staggering fact that the child in the manger was-God.” J.I. Packer

“God with us has come to be God for us by dying for us on the Cross. And he comes to be God for us on the Cross so he could be God with us for the rest of our lives and into eternity-so that we would know he love for us.” Sinclair Ferguson

“Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be. Salvation comes to those who are willing to admit how weak they are.” Tim Keller

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity-hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.” J.I. Packer