If you have your Bibles, turn to Philippians chapter 2. As we think about gifts this weekend, let's think about the greatest gift, not simply the greatest gift ever given, but the greatest gift possible. Now imagine you had a desire for God to give you something and you want something big. What could you ask of God that is bigger than what He's already given you? In fact, God could not have given you anything more. He could have given you millions of millions of millions of dollars, billions of dollars, and it would be nothing to him. He could create you a universe and give it to you, and it would be no sweat, nothing to him to give you worlds. But there is one gift that he gave you that cost him everything. John 3.16 tells us how much God loved the world. how much he loved the world. As we can think about God the Father loving the world that he sacrificed and gave his only son, the only thing that would cost him something. You can look at that verse, John 3, 16, and see the love of Jesus. It easily could be the Lord Jesus or the Son of God loved you so much. How much did Jesus loved you. He loved you so much, he gave himself to you. This is the greatest of all gifts. As we think about the gifts we're going to be opening and the gifts that we're giving people, think about this gift this morning. Let's celebrate this gift that we have received, that we have in Christ. There's no greater gift Ever than this, it's almost unfathomable. In fact, it is unfathomable. If you're with me in Philippians chapter two, we're going to use this text as a guide to walk our way through the gift, the cost of this gift, the cost of Christ giving himself to you. In verse six it says, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross." Now, we think about the incarnation and the coming of Christ and him taking on human flesh. We see, as we saw earlier, that he was born to die. That baby in a manger had a mission, and he wasn't designed to stay an infant. He wasn't designed to stay a baby. That baby came to you as a gift, came to us, came into this world. This was the good news. This is peace on earth and goodwill towards men. This baby, the baby Jesus, came to die, to give himself up as a ransom for many. and everything of his life from start to finish, even the pre-incarnate Son of God condescending and came and emptied himself up of the enjoyment of his glory and took on human flesh and made himself of no reputation so that he can take our sins upon him and die on our behalf. This is the greatest of all gifts and it cost him immensely. It cost him everything. There was not one penny he kept to himself. He gave his whole fortune. He gave his whole life and held back not one ounce for himself. How much did he love you? How much does he love you? How much did this gift cost him? It's unfathomable. We give gifts, we hold back some for ourselves. We don't know this type of love. We don't know how to give everything we have. We have times that we think of ourselves. We put some of our time and efforts and money to ourselves, but the Lord Jesus left nothing for himself. He reserved nothing of him for his own satisfaction, for his own enjoyment, but sacrificed and poured out everything and he had nothing to gain, nothing to get from it. Could you imagine we give gifts to those who give us gifts, but the Lord gave and loved those who did not love him and who had nothing to offer him, nothing to give him. He had nothing to obtain by coming to this world. There was nothing for him that he needed. He loved those who did not love Him. He loved us when we yet hated Him. He loved us. This is true definition of goodness, true definition of love, a complete pouring out and giving of self, expecting nothing in return, getting nothing in return, just giving. and giving and giving and giving. And he lived every ounce of his life giving and emptying himself and pouring out himself and loving you and loving you and loving you. And when you thought he could give no more, he continued to give more until he had absolutely nothing to give, until he was lifeless in the grave and could give nothing more. He completely gave everything. Now let's look at the cost of this love. Let's look and take a moment to consider how much he loves you and how much this gift cost him. We see first the cost of the incarnation. In our text, verse 6 says, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. He became a baby. Luke 1 says, the angel said to Mary, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He'll be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I'm a virgin? The angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God. This is no normal baby. This is the Son of God. Now, we've heard this all of our life, but take a moment to consider this. God, a baby? How can that be? God ever conceived, all the conceptions of God, made up conceptions of deity, which of the conceptions that man have ever thought of about God would ever become a man, would ever lay aside the enjoyment of his glory and majesty and take on human flesh and be born a little, little infant and enter into a human womb, and through all the development stages of the nine months, go through that process, none of us would go back and be reborn in such a way. What humbling condescension for God Almighty to say, I'll be born. I'll be born into the world and take on human flesh. You see, it cost him the enjoyment of his glory, though he was in the form of God. He was equal with God the Father. He had no second place majesty. It's not like he was a little less God than God the Father. He was equal with God. He had equality with God. The angels beheld The Son of God, they cried out, holy, holy, holy. They bowed down and worshiped Him as the Almighty. They viewed Him as He was, full of majesty and might and power and glory. Everywhere He went, all the angels would bow down and worship Him. This is what He had had with all eternity with the Father. The Father understood His glory and loved Him. Now this is what belongs to him. This is his enjoyment. When we have a little bit of fame, we grab hold of it and we don't want to lose it. We get a little praise and we cherish it. We meditate upon a little compliment we might get here and there and go, that's my compliment. That's me. But this is the glory of the Son of God. He had it all, but he said, that which I had, I didn't grasp after. I didn't have to have. I willingly laid that aside. I'm a humble deity, and I don't have to have that praise. I don't have to have that majesty. I don't have to have that outlook where all the angels see me as glorious. I can lay that aside. I can give that up. I can sacrifice. I can empty myself of the praise. I don't need it. I'll give it up. I'll give up the enjoyment of it. You see, he humbled himself and gave up. the enjoyment of his glory. How did he do this? The Bible says he emptied himself. That is, he sacrificially denied himself of this enjoyment. Now, how did he empty himself of the glory? He didn't cease to be God, but he veiled that glory. He veiled that majesty with human flesh. He took on humanity and became into the form of a man. And when people saw him, they did not see the almighty and omniscience. They didn't see deity, they saw humanity. He emptied himself up of the honor and the praise and the direct manifestation of his eternal and divine nature. He remained God. When he came to us, all that glory he laid aside. He didn't grasp after it, denied himself of it. The King James says he made himself of no reputation. He entered into a mother's womb to take on her human flesh. What type of God would do such a thing? To give so much, to deny himself of his glory, to love you so much. When we think about Christmas, when we think about baby Jesus, think of him letting go willfully, willingly, actively. not grasping onto that glory, but laying it aside to take on no reputation for you. Now, that was the cost of the incarnation. Think about the cost of his lowly life. It says in verse 7, being born in the likeness of men. Jesus tells us that he is meek and lowly. He's humble of heart, but how meek and how lowly and how humble is the Son of God? Just how lowly is our God? Now remember, Jesus, the Son of God, represents perfectly the Father. We know that the Father is humble in nature as well. But just how humble is our God and meek and lowly is our God? He's humble enough to be born in a barn and laid in a feeding trough. And we take that for granted because we've heard it all of our life. We've seen the naivety scenes. We've seen them and we think they're neat. But think about it for just a moment. The Almighty laying in a feeding trough. It's unbelievable. That's sacrificial giving. He wasn't born in a palace. If you were going to be God and say, well, I'm going to come to humanity, I'm going to take on human flesh, you and I would choose a palace to be born in. We'd have a team of nurses around us. We'd have a team of maids and handmaidens serving and being there and waiting on our every need. We'd have all the creature comforts. In fact, I've thought about this a lot. I wouldn't have chose to be born 2,000 years ago. I'd wait until there's electricity. Indoor plumbing. I mean, he knew it was coming. But wait, I'll come when they don't have such creature comforts. Now, seriously, think about this when you complain about your home next time. Think about that. When something's broken and you can't fix it or wish you had a little bit nicer Think about that for a moment. The Lord came and was born in a barn. Didn't have a proper crib to lay his head. Think about his humility. Why did he do this? It wasn't accidental. It wasn't unplanned. It was purposeful and it was out of charity and grace and love and kindness. He loved you. This was motivated out of love for you. This is his gift to you. Why a manger? Remember the sign, you'll see a sign, a baby in a manger. He came to us to speak of his love, his humility, not of his wrath and his justice, but of his grace and his mercy to us sinners. You see, we learn in Isaiah 53 verse 2 that he took on an unimpressive appearance. It says, for he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He took on an average looking body. He chose a normal looking body to inhabit. Not the best looking guy, not some tall, imposing figure that everybody would respect. He became in a body that had no beauty, no outward form that we would desire him because of his looks. Think about that next time you and I want to complain about something about our looks. He's the only one who chose his body. He chose it and he was humble and wasn't looking for approval of his physical appearance because he's humble, he's lowly. He chose to be born in a barn and raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He went of all places to a place called Nazareth. It was a city that no one, a little village of no value, didn't have much of a ... Nothing good had ever come out of Nazareth. It was a city that was despised and looked down upon. Not Jerusalem, not born and raised in Jerusalem, but he chose a backwards place. A little country town in Arkansas to be born. A little village in the unknown no place in Nazareth. Out of the way. Not a direct route to any major city. Out of the way in the middle of nowhere in Galilee. Age of 12, he went to the temple. He says, I must be about my father's business, but when his parents found him, the account says he went home with his parents and was submissive. He lived a life of obedience and submissiveness. He obeyed his subjects, Joseph and Mary, who were sinners. Could you imagine that? Submitting himself to lesser authority? Now, we need to think about that next time we complain about our parents or your kids or complain about this leader or that leader and say, hey, they don't know what they're doing. How would you like to be the Lord Jesus submitting yourself to parents, new parents that don't know what they're doing? He was submissive. He sacrificially served and submitted himself to his parents. He'd become a carpenter. We learn this in Mark 3 and Matthew 13, not only with Joseph a carpenter, his father, but it says he was a carpenter in Matthew 13. He learned the trade. Why would he do this? Why would he take the time to learn a skill and take a job and work with his hands? Because he's motivated out of love. He gave himself. He wasn't seeking finances or money or a career. He wasn't thinking about retirement. He was thinking about sacrificing his life. It wasn't anything about motivation of self, but how he could give out himself. We learned that he even became homeless. When he went off into his ministry, his public ministry, People would come to follow him and say, why would you follow me? Foxes have their places to live. Birds have their places to live. They have holes. They have nests. They have places to live, but the son of man has no place, no abiding place to lay his head. He was a homeless man. He had no possessions. Only possessions he possessed as a man was the clothes on his back. The Bible says, for your sake, for grace, he who was rich became poor. He's more poor. You think you're poor. Some of us may be poor and we're wondering about our finances this time of the year. We may be struggling, but you're richer financially than the Lord Jesus was. He gave up wealth. He was born in a manger and he lived in poverty. This is the cost of his lowly life. Now let's think about the cost of his service. We see in verse 7, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Not as a master or a king, not seeking to have thousands of maidservants and manservants surrounding him. Taking care of his every wish, as the leaders of the world seek to do, he came to serve. His service cost him everything. How much did he serve? Every moment of his day, every thought in his mind, out of love for the Father, was directed to how he could serve you. served you, served his disciples, served everyone. It cost him his privacy. His first sign, after he is baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit, he went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and suffered intense persecution for your sake. Persecution from Satan and temptation from Satan, hungry and thirsty, he resisted. After he resisted, he went from the Jordan River back to a wedding in Cana of Galilee. At this wedding, his mother comes to him and says, they're out of wine. It's the most amazing little dialogue that doesn't really make much sense. The Lord looked at his mother and says, what does that have to do with me? It's like, why are you looking at me for? And then he says this amazing statement that is very key in the Gospel of John. He says, for my hour has not yet come. We know that that hour was mentioned five times in the book of John and only in the Gospel of John, and that's talking about the hour of his death. Why are you looking at me? My hour has not yet come. Why is he saying that? It's because he knew once he did a sign, once he performed a miracle, once he did this act, the steps of the cross has started. Once he reveals himself, then they're going to come after him for his life. It would be the beginning of the end. It would be the point of no return. And many times when he was at the point of death, many times they tried to kill him. One time they tried to stone him to death when he was in Bethany. They tried to stone him to death. They wanted to kill Lazarus too because he raised him from the dead. Tried to kill both of them. And it says that he slipped out because his hour had not yet come. He knew that once he made water into wine, his ministry, he would become a public figure and the death sentence had been begun. From that moment of turning water into wine, he goes back to Jerusalem. He goes to Jerusalem for the Passover, talks to Nicodemus. That's where we get John 3, the for God to love the world conversation. After he speaks to Nicodemus and after the Passover, he goes back to Nazareth where he was born, I mean raised. He's at Nazareth and he's rejected. We'll talk about that in a minute. He's rejected by his own hometown. But then after he's rejected, the next day he travels to a new hometown by the Sea of Galilee, a place called Capernaum. And once he gets to Capernaum, he does his second miracle. He heals a man with a demon. And once he did that, once he heals in Capernaum, crowds, the whole city of Capernaum. all of the village, all the surrounding areas, hears about this miracle worker. In fact, if something happened in Conway, where someone was truly healed, we'd all go out. The whole city came out, and it said that he healed from morning to night. He spent all day healing everyone who came to him. Then that night, when he's exhausted, all day healing, healed everyone, healed the whole He goes into Peter's mother-in-law's house and she's sick and he heals her. And once they found out at night, they're trying to eat dinner. The city keeps coming and knocking on the door and he begins healing people in her house. And it is said after that, after he goes to sleep, he wakes up extremely early in the morning and he's found in the morning before the sun rises on a mountain praying, getting alone, getting a little private time because he's exhausted with all the people coming to him and then the disciples come to him. We've been looking for you. Everyone's looking for you. And he says, let's go to other villages for I have come out, I have revealed myself to preach the gospel. And from there he takes his first Galilean tour around the cities of the Sea of Galilee. And he's healing everyone and the crowds follow him everywhere he goes. He has no more private time, no more alone time, no more, let me kind of shrink back and hide a little bit. No, he has crowds, the Bible says, following him everywhere. Constant people pressuring upon him, trying to touch his robe. He can't go anywhere. This is why he would travel on a boat. It was faster to travel around the Sea of Galilee, around the road, around the city, but he would be in a boat. One, he's taught to get away from the crowds because they were pressuring upon him, but also the boat rides would at least be a little bit of time to be by himself. But it is said when he would go across the sea, you could see across the whole sea. No matter where you're at, you can see the other side of the sea. And they would see where his boat, which direction it was headed in. And all the cities would be watching him, tracking his movements. And no matter where he would go, the crowd would be already waiting on him. One time he sent out the 12 disciples to go preach. And after they came back, he says, let's go to a desolate place. He says, because the Bible says, because they had no leisure time to even eat. So let's go and find a little time to ourselves. Let's go and find a little place. Let's go to a desolate place. And they get in a boat. And the Bible says, they saw. They saw where he's going. And they go on a little retreat, or they try to at least. And they get to the other side and there's the crowd waiting on him in a desolate place, not even in a known place. He's just there on the Sea of Galilee. In fact, we learned there was 500 men because he ended up having to feed those men. What kind of retreat is that where you try to get away and you got 5,000 people there and that you have to feed them? And from that he leaves and comes back to Capernaum. And when he gets back to Capernaum, there's crowds waiting on him there. It says in Mark 6, when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region, began to bring sick people in their beds wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, and countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garments. I mean, this is a man that his two and a half year ministry His whole ministry through Galilee and Jerusalem and Judea, everywhere he went, was no free time. Never once did he turn anybody aside. One time he went into the northern regions of Sudan, and it says there in Mark 7, he entered into a house and did not want anyone to know. But the Bible says, yet he could not be hidden. And it was in that house that the Grecian woman came, the Seraphim woman came to him and he even healed her when he was trying to be alone. You see, the Lord gave his time, he gave his life to serving and not one person, listen, not one person does he say no to. Not one person He says, I won't heal you. Not one person does He reject. You can come to Him because He loves you. How do you know He loves you? Because everything He does is an evidence of His love. He told us that the greatest of all are those who serve, and He's the greatest of all the He served everyone but Himself. Matthew 20, 28, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and He gave His life as a ransom for many. He demonstrated this throughout His life. The disciples would be arguing who's the greatest among themselves right after He cleansed their feet. He sacrificially gave. Now, I know you and I have moments where we love someone and we try to help someone and we give to someone, but none of us have lived a life saturated to give and to give and to give and to give. We feel sorry for ourselves when we give too much, but the Lord never felt sorry for himself. He never withdrew from serving others. This is his love. This is the cost of his love. He poured out and poured out, poured out and continued to pour out. His acts of kindness and mercy and compassion and love and pouring out of himself led to a life of reproach and rejection. He loved those who did not love him in return. I mean, we're told to give to those who we do not expect can give back to us. He gave to all of us and we have nothing that he needs in return. This is what you call true love. The real definition of love. Give, give, give. Sacrificially giving, pouring out. And he was despised and rejected by the very ones that he loved. It cost him his service and his life, cost him his reputation. The Bible says in Philippians 2, our text says he emptied himself and the King James, the new King James says he made himself of no reputation. John 1 says he was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. He was rejected by his own hometown. Here he is a carpenter for 30 years. He was raised and knows probably everybody in this small village. Everybody knows him. We know they knew him because they said, is this not the son of the carpenter, Joseph and Mary? And they knew all his brothers and sisters. They knew who he was. They watched him grow up. These are the people he loved. He loved these people. Don't think in those first 30 years of his life he wasn't pouring in to his hometown. What do they do? After the wedding in Cana and the water into wine, he goes to the Passover in Jerusalem and he comes back through Samaria. Remember the woman at the well? He forgives her. And then from Samaria, two days in Samaria, he goes back through Cana and then to Nazareth. And at Nazareth he goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. He pulls out a scroll of Isaiah and he reads the text and says, this day in your hearing this text is fulfilled. And people marveled at his teaching, because he taught not like the scribes and Pharisees, but he taught with authority. They marveled at him, and then he began to explain that there are going to be some Gentiles that are coming and some Jews that will be rejected. And once they heard his teaching, it says they moved to kill him. They took their own son, their own citizen. and took him to the brow of the hill." Nazareth is on a little hill. You can look up Google Earth. I did this morning. Look up Google Earth and see the hillside of Nazareth. They took him to the brow of the hill and sought to push him over to kill him. Rejected by the very city, hometown that he chose to be raised in. From there, he goes to Capernaum and takes his Galilean preaching tour, and the scribes and the Pharisees in Jerusalem hear about him. They send up a delegation up to find out who this Jesus is. So they send up various scribes and Pharisees, and they examine and watch him and see if he heals on the Sabbath, and in the process, they concluded that He does do miracles, but he does it by the hand of Beelzebub. He's got a demon, not the Holy Spirit in him, but the devil himself, they claim, is in Christ. This is the evaluation they give of the Lord Jesus. Then from there, in that very moment that the scribes and Pharisees say he has a demon, it is said that his family came back because he came back to Capernaum. When he got back into Capernaum, he says, their family's looking for you. It says in Mark that they wanted to seize Jesus. Mary and his brothers and sisters wanted to seize him because they thought he had gone mad. His own family. His own brothers and sisters thought Jesus had gone crazy. From there he goes to the other side of the sea and he casts out pigs from a man living in the tombs. These pigs, they're cast into a legion of them. Then they go into the sea and drown. Then the city comes out and says, we implore you, please leave. Go from us. They heard about this amazing man being healed, and rather than being thankful and grateful and praising him and worshiping him, they said, please leave our city. We don't want you here. He was rejected by the Gentiles, rejected by the Jews, rejected by his family, rejected by his hometown, and eventually his own disciples, when it came down to his death, they fled in fear and left him alone. Even Peter would deny him. Eventually, he was publicly mocked and embarrassed. Isaiah 53 verse 3 says, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Here's a man who has nothing but love, gracious, sacrificial love, kindness, passion, humility, And people despise him, hate him. Psalm 22, 6, the Messianic Psalm has the Lord Jesus saying, I'm a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him. Think about the Lord, he's rejected by everyone, everyone, even his own family rejects him. And he takes your shame. The reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me, he said. How does he love you? How does he care for you? I'll show you and tell you how he loves you. all your embarrassment, all your disgrace, all your shame, rather than being broadcasted on CNN for everyone to see and make fun of you, your shame, your embarrassment was put on Jesus. And He says, I will bear that for you. This baby Jesus that we celebrate grew up to bear your shame, your remorse, your guilt. He was hung up on a tree naked for all to make fun of and mock him, spit on him, wag their heads at him, jest at him. That is what you and I deserve. He takes it. for us. He makes himself of no reputation. We'll see even the father turns his eyes away from the Lord Jesus. Psalm 22 says, verse 1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? From the words of my groaning, oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Even the Lord turns his, Lord the Father turns his face away. And this brings us to the greatest cost of this gift, his own life. My last point is the cost of the cross. Look at verse eight in our text, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross. The whole life of Christ was a life of suffering. As we sung, He was born to die. He came and was given life, His human life, in that manger in order for that life to be taken from Him. His whole life from start to finish was a life of suffering and dying to self. Isaiah 53, he says, as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, it was a pathway to Calvary. Remember, when he turned the water into wine, he knew that that would set off that hour. It had not yet come, but that hour would start ticking. Every miracle he would do, he'd tell people, don't say anything about it. He'd tell the demons not to tell people who he was, and when he would kill people, he wasn't looking for fame, he wasn't looking for attention, but he knew that his miracles was setting him on the path to Calvary. foretold of his death throughout his life. Three times, he said, right after the feeding of the 5,000, he told, I am going to die. I am going to be turned over to Jerusalem and die and be suffer in that city. He foretold it after the transfiguration and in his route to Jerusalem. three times. It's amazing about the Gospels. We know more about the last six months of his life, of his ministry, than we knew of the first 32 years. It's amazing the Gospels fast forwards his Galilean preaching tours. There's three major tours that he went on after his baptism. And he would travel to Jerusalem a couple times for the Passover and the Feast of Booths and different feasts and festival days. He would come down but go back to Galilee. And then there was this last trip he makes to Jerusalem, six months before the last Passover, before he goes to Calvary. And that last six months of his life, that's where most of the Gospels pick up and slow down. When we get to that last week, it really slows down. It tells us that his whole life was driven to Calvary. In fact, in Luke 9, it says, when the time drew near for him to be lifted up, he was resolutely set out to go to Jerusalem. His last journey to Jerusalem. In Luke 12, 50, it says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great it is my distress until it is accomplished. Have you ever had something in your life, like you knew it was going to be something you don't want to do, but you've got to do it, but you can't get it on your mind? It's on your mind when you go to sleep, it's on your mind when you wake up, and you know you've got to take care of it. It's something you don't want to do, you're concerned about it, you're stressed out about it, but until you do it and get it done with, it's going to be on your mind? Well, this is the life of Jesus Christ. on the back of his mind, on the front of his mind, throughout his public ministry. I think since turning water into wine, he knew Calvary was coming. It was coming. It was coming. And the six months before the last Passover, he knew his hour was coming. And he says, I got to get to Jerusalem. Why did he have to get to Jerusalem? Because he tells his disciples that no prophet dies outside of Jerusalem. I mean, if he was going to run from this, he would not go to Jerusalem. If he wasn't going to willfully and willingly lay down his life, he wouldn't go there. But he was set and determined to travel to Jerusalem. He tells the disciples in Matthew 20, as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside and on his way said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. You see though, in John he says, no one takes my life, I give it. Many times it says they would try to stone him, he would walk through them because his hour had not yet come. It's not that they took his life and he wasn't willing. He died because he went to Jerusalem. He died because he chose Calvary. This is his love for you. He willfully accepted to pour himself out even to the point of death. We see this in his ongoing sorrows. The night that he was betrayed, he goes to the garden and he sits there and prays. And as he's praying, he's contemplating what's about to happen. His whole life was bent towards this hour and this hour has come. And he starts to sweat blood. And why is he sweating blood? Because he says this, my soul is consumed with sorrow even to death. He was dying there in the garden even before he got on the cross. He was consumed with sorrow. He prays, Lord, Lord, let this cup pass from me. But this is not him trying to get God to change his mind. He uses a prayer of submission. Nevertheless, not my will, but you will be done. He says in John 12, 27, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. No, it was for this purpose I've come to this hour. This is why I was born in Bethlehem. This is why I served and gave myself. This is why I loved and I kept my disciples. I kept all that you've given me. I've loved them fully and entirely and perfectly. And this, I have come to love them to the very end, to pour out my own life. Think of the shame that he endured. Psalm 69 is another messianic psalm. It says, save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me. I'm weary with my crying out. My throat is parched. My eyes grow dim waiting for my God. Then it says this in verse seven. For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach. That dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it become my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I become a byword to them. Basically, all my good and loving acts is being used to curse me and make fun of me. Verse 19, you know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. My foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart so that I am in despair. I look for pity. Think of your Jesus. Think of your Savior. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. Where's Peter? He's denying me over there. They gave me poison for food. In my thirst, they gave me sour wine to drink. He was full of compassion and pity for us, but he found no pity or compassion for himself. We deserve to be on that cross. We deserve to be forsaken by him. But he loves us. In that moment, he was in so much pain. Psalm 69, 29 says, I'm afflicted and in pain. Psalm 22, verse 14, I'm poured out like water and my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can't count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Isaiah tells us, as many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human suppleness, in his form beyond that of children of mankind. He was unrecognizable. They pulled out his beard, they whipped him, they scourged him, they beat him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, according to Isaiah 53, 7. This is not all. the greatest amount of love. It's like he's giving and giving and giving. It's like, okay, well, there's a little bit more to give. Well, let me tell you how much he gave you. On that cross, he bore the wrath of God. Isaiah 53, surely has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. In verse 6, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You want to know why Jesus loves you? How could I know that Jesus loves me? Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, he loves you. How can we be certain? Every act he ever did was proof of his love for you. There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend, that he laid down his life for us, his enemies. Yes, he is meek and he is lowly. He's loving and he's kind. He never responded poorly. When he was reviled, he entrusted himself to the Father. He never reviled back. Isaiah 53 tells us, when he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that was led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before his shears is silent. He opened not his mouth by oppression and judgment he was taken away for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living. He loved and loved, and when people did not love Him back, He continued to love them. Don't worry. He loves you right now, no matter how you've treated Him. He continues to love you day after day after day. And you say, well, Jeff, I don't know. I'm so scared of him. I'm so scared of God. You don't have to be scared of God when he came to us in a manger so that he can take our sins away. You can come to this lowly and meek and humble deity. You can come He said, what about my sins? We came to bear those sins on the cross that you might be fully justified and forgiven of all your unrighteousness. Come, as you think about Christmas this year, bow down and worship him. May this be our heart's desire, as we sung earlier, all that is in me, all that is in us, may we worship this God. He is worthy. He is worthy of all that we have. He gave everything to you and I. He is humble. He is lowly. He is good. He is loving. He is worthy of worship. He is worthy of praise. He is worthy to have a name above every name because He came and gave everything. Let's pray. Lord, my words fail me. I know they fail me. I'm sorry for how poor this sermon is. You're much worthier of a better presentation of your lowliness and goodness and kindness and your love. What a great gift. Help us to treasure it in our hearts. Help us to not be discontent. Help us to not be sidetracked with the materialistic things of this world during this season. Let us be worshipers of this With God before us, Lord, come dwell in our hearts. Enlarge our hearts to see your glory and your majesty, to see you lifted up. Oh, Lord, you're worthy of our worship. Forgive us of how we don't. In your son's name, amen.