God’s Saving Plan Unfolds!

4th Sunday in Advent, 12/18/11
Romans 16:25-27


God’s Saving Plan Unfolds!
I. Foretold by the prophets
II. Proclaimed in the gospel
III. To the glory of God


If you’re under the age of 10, this can be the longest week of your life. Adults, remember how that used to be? Children know exactly what’s coming at the end of this week and they can’t wait for it. The prospect of unwrapping presents meant just for them is almost too much to bear. Gift-giving parents need to keep them under lock and key or in the best hiding places available, otherwise the temptation to open them prematurely just might be too much. Waiting just a few days seems like a monumental task.

Try waiting 6 or 8 thousand years or more.

What am I talking about? Well, we know that the focus of Christmas is on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That Savior, that person, that Child of Bethlehem is the greatest gift that God could give to a world of sinners. It’s a gift he had promised to send for thousands of years. Can you imagine waiting that long?

What a blessing that we don’t have to. We have the gracious privilege not of looking forward to the giving of that gift, but of looking back at how God made it happen. That will be our worship focus today and as we celebrate Christmas next weekend. We have the astounding blessing of watching as God’s saving plan unfolds. Our God unfolds that plan for us through his apostle Paul in these closing verses of his Letter to the Romans. May he prepare our hearts for our Savior as we ponder that saving plan and watch him unfold it this morning.

Part I.

Proper identification has become increasingly important as identity theft has become a major problem in our modern world. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate it when bank tellers and others ask me for proper identification. They aren’t only protecting themselves, they’re protecting me as well.

Credentials have also become increasingly important as more and more people try to pass themselves off as something they aren’t. We hear of too many medical and financial “professionals” who really have no expertise in their particular area.

So, when the greatest person in all of history is born, are we just to assume it’s true? If that birth were going to occur tomorrow, wouldn’t we do at least a little investigating to see if this Jesus is the real deal? Probably so. Our world has seen far too many imposters. So where would we look?

In God’s word. Particularly, at the Old Testament prophets. Paul tells us that God’s plan of salvation is “now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings.” Our loving God didn’t simply spring the birth of the world’s only Savior on us. He lovingly, wisely, graciously laid that plan out for the world to see well in advance of Christ’s birth. In a way, those are our Savior’s credentials, his identity markers. Plenty more would come after his birth and into his adult life, but let’s review some of them now so that we can watch God unfold his saving plan.

God promised a Savior who would crush Satan’s power shortly after the fall into sin. Several thousand years later he chose Abraham as the one through whom he would send that Savior. A thousand years after that he chose one of Abraham’s descendants, King David, to be the family through whom that Savior would be born. He used David to foretell that Savior’s death and resurrection. He used Isaiah to foretell the Savior’s virgin birth and his death for the sins of the world. He used Jeremiah to relate how that Savior would be true God, our righteousness or holiness before God. He used Micah to foretell his lowly birth in Bethlehem. And lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened and we’ll hear about it next Saturday and Sunday. But don’t wait until then to ponder how blessed you are to know the saving truth of Christmas! Right now is none too soon. God’s saving plan unfolds, foretold by the prophets.

Yes, the birth of Christ is the most amazing birth ever. But, unlike other amazing events, this one was no accident. Mary didn’t suddenly find out she was pregnant and that’s what got this saving plan to unfold. No, this was something God had carefully planned and lovingly foretold all along. Our God did that so that you would be absolutely sure that Jesus is your Savior, just the Savior you need. Ponder those prophecies about Christ and be filled with wonder that your God would fulfill all those promises to the letter just for you. This is exactly the Savior you need. He came to take your sins upon himself and suffer and die for them. He came to win your forgiveness and eternal life. It all happened just as the prophets had said it would. God’s saving plan unfolds.

Part II.

So, if this birth had been foretold and God had laid out one prophecy after another about this Savior, you would assume everyone was looking for him to be born, wouldn’t you? You would think the masses of people would trust that this was God’s way of saving sinners from the punishment of hell, wouldn’t you?

But we know that wasn’t the case, not even close. And that’s why Paul calls this saving plan a mystery. He speaks about “the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past.” In what way was God’s saving plan a mystery?

First, in the person of our Savior. Just who is Jesus? He’s like no other person in all of history. He is true God, the second person of the Trinity. That truth is certain because of his virgin birth. What was conceived in the virgin Mary was a miracle of the Holy Spirit. This is the Son of God, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But he is also true man. He was born of the virgin Mary like countless other children are born. Mary was his mother in every sense of the word. He shared our humanity in every way except one—he was sinless. Indeed, he came into this world as our brother.

And as true God and true man he was the perfect substitute for you and me. Because he was true man, he lived under the commandments and obeyed them perfectly for us. As true God, his perfect life and his innocent death were the payment for the sins of all people, you and me included.

The person and the work of Jesus are what Paul has in mind when he refers to “my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” In a nutshell, the gospel proclaims that Jesus is true God and true man who came to die for our sins so that we have forgiveness and eternal life in heaven.

My friends, that’s what Christmas is all about. It’s about the gospel, the good news about Jesus. At Christmas God’s saving plan unfolds. That plan is proclaimed in the gospel.

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). That’s the Christmas gospel. That’s what Christmas is all about. That’s how God unfolded his saving plan. So, if that’s what you believe and that’s what you’re celebrating next weekend, then you’re ready for Christmas, then your Christmas is complete, then there’s nothing else that can make this Christmas better, then you already have what all the money in the world couldn’t pay for. So let’s head into next weekend with that in our hearts and minds. Don’t let the trappings of Christmas become the “entrappings” of Christmas. Let go of the stress and contemplate the peace that is yours—the peace of knowing that your sins are forgiven through Jesus. That’s the gospel we know and believe. That’s the gospel which we have the privilege of sharing.

Part III.

Paul ends our text with a Christmas word. That word is “glory.” The angels sang about God’s glory on the night of Jesus’ birth. But just what is that glory all about?

It’s about our God unfolding his saving plan to his glory, not ours.

You see, human beings easily rob God of that glory. They do so when they falsely think that they need no Savior. They do so when they falsely think that heaven is for people who try to do the right thing and are basically good. Such people are under the power of one of Satan’s greatest lies and are as far from salvation as those who worship false gods.

And then there are those who don’t completely rob God of his glory, but they want to share that glory with him. They confess Jesus as their Savior, but they claim that their works of charity or their deeds of religious obligation earn them merit before God. Others wouldn’t be so crass about their good works, but they falsely claim the credit for becoming a Christian in the first place, something that is God’s work alone.

Let’s avoid those traps. As we listen to how God unfolded his saving plan over the next week, let’s give God the glory, all the glory. We’re nothing but poor, miserable sinners who deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. But in his love for us, he sent us a Savior from sin and, by his grace, he has worked saving faith in our hearts. We know that our salvation is all God’s doing from beginning to end. We play no part in it, not in the least.

And that, my friends, is what allows us to sit back and enjoy Christmas. It’s all God’s gift to us. It’s our salvation, full and free. Give God the glory due him as you admit that, at Christmas, God does for you what you could never even begin to do for yourself. He provides a Savior for you. And this week he unfolds his plan of salvation for you. Listen and watch with hearts full of faith and receive the real, eternal joy and peace that Christmas gives. Amen.