Round Yon Violence

 SERMON

Round Yon Violence

Christmas is God making war against sin.

SCRIPTURE:Luke 1:26-38

Round Yon Violence

Russell Moore

Sermon Outline:

Introduction

I. Declaration of war

II. The wages of sin

III. Jesus' presence is a judgment

IV. Seeking the face of the Lord

Conclusion

Introduction

I've learned in my life that there are some people who will say just about anything to a pregnant woman. When my wife Maria was pregnant, we would find that people would come up and ask all sorts of questions. People don't feel one bit nervous or awkward about coming up and grabbing hold of a pregnant lady's stomach and rubbing all over her stomach and saying all kinds of things to you. But the weirdest conversation that I ever had when we were expecting a child was a middle-aged man who walked up to us and said, "I understand that y'all are expecting a baby." This was when we were expecting Samuel, who's now four years old. And I said, "That's right. Yeah, we're expecting a baby, and he'll be born in June." And the man said, "Well when was he conceived?" I said, "I beg your pardon?" He said, "When was he conceived?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, what was the date on which he was conceived?" And I said, "I have absolutely no idea." And he said, "Well, good. Because people who can tell you the exact day that their child was conceived just don't have much of a life." Turned around and walked off. I just kind of stood there and watched him go and turned to Maria and said, "Did this just happen here?"

There's a reason why that's an awkward question. It's the same reason that it's awkward, for those of you who are parents, as you start reading the Christmas story to your children and they say to you, "Well, what's a virgin?" Because we all know that the fact that we are born means that we are conceived. The fact that we are conceived means that we are the product of the union of two people. There is a path that goes back from us to two people who came together, and both of those people are the product ...