Dr. Dobson: Well hello everyone and Merry Christmas to you all. I'm Dr. James Dobson, and I'm so happy you joined us today on this very special day. And it's a pleasure to have a chance to bring this program to you. It's a very special broadcast of Family Talk. Our guest is going to be one of our friends, the late pastor Adrian Rogers. How I love that man. He was like a brother to me. He served on my board when I was president of Focus on the Family. And he had a great influence on us all. I mean, just his presence changed the character of our board.
Dr. Dobson: We so prayed for his widow, Joyce and their family. They're just wonderful people. Pastor Rogers was founder and president of a radio and TV ministry called, Love Worth Finding. And he was also senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. And what you're going to hear today is a sermon that he preached at Bellevue. And it was later heard on Love Worth Finding. This is what we call a classic program, and I know that you're going to enjoy it. And the title that Dr. Rogers put on it was, Stars and Scars of Christmas.
Adrian Rogers: This is theology 101. Are you ready for the test? One question on the test, is Jesus, God or man?
Adrian Rogers: All right. The answer to that question is yes, he is the God man, God in human flesh. The prophet Isaiah said unto us, a child is born and unto us, a son is given. When Isaiah said a child is born, he was speaking of His humanity. When he said a son is given, he was speaking of His deity. He is the God man. Now as a child, he was born in Bethlehem, as God he has ruled from eternity. He did not have his beginning. Only his birth at Bethlehem. The star pointed the way to where the child was, in the Christmas story, but there's a darker side to Christmas, not only the stars, but the scars. Because as a man, he was born to die, as God he died for our sins.
Adrian Rogers: Can you think of a God with scars? You see the little baby there in the manger, and you see those little dimple feet. Those little dimple feet are going to be pierced with a hideous cruel nail. You see those little chubby hands and those pink fingers, they will one day bear scars. Now the time for our scripture is this. Jesus has lived a sinless life. He has been falsely accused. He is butchered on a cruel Roman cross. He is put into a grave, and that grave is sealed with a stone, yet on the third day he rises. He comes out of that grave, a living victorious savior. He has appeared to his disciples and he has shown himself alive. Thomas was not there when he first appeared. Eight days later, Jesus appears again and here is the passage I'm reading.
Adrian Rogers: John 20:24. But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said, unto him, we have seen the Lord. And he said unto them, except I see in his hands, the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. That is, I want to see if he was crucified and risen. I want to know it's Him. The way I will know is when I see these scars in His hand and in the side. And after eight days again, His disciples were with Him and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then sayeth he to Thomas, reach hither thy fingers and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust into my side and be not faithless, but believing.
Adrian Rogers: And Thomas answered and said unto him, I love this part. My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him Thomas, because thou has seen me, thou has believed, blessed are they who have not yet seen and yet have believed. And there ladies and gentlemen, he's talking about you and me. Blessed are they who have not seen what Thomas saw, but have believed. Now Thomas saw the scars and he said, my Lord and my God. Think of it, a God with scars. Now I want you to consider with me the scars of the Lord, Jesus. They are not incidental. They are so fundamental, that Jesus carried those scars with him to heaven. Did you know that the only man made thing in heaven are the scars of Jesus Christ? Jesus visited earth, and when he went back to heaven, he took some souvenirs of his visit with him.
Adrian Rogers: Those souvenirs are the scars in his hands, and the scar in his side. He has kept those scars as a lasting memorial of his humanity, through all eternity. When Jesus comes again, one of the ways that we will know that it is the dear savior of the many ways, are the blessed scars. Put in your margin, Zachariah 13:6, and one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? And he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. When he comes again, when he comes again, he will bear those blessed scars. So I want us to think about the stars and the scars of Christmas. And the three things as we think about God in human flesh, that I want you to learn about the scars of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Adrian Rogers: Number one, the scars tell us that as a man Jesus suffered. Now, it's very important that you understand this, that as a man, Jesus suffered. In John 20:17, Jesus invited Thomas to examine those scars. They were brutal testimony to the fact that Jesus indeed was pierced with those hideous nails. There's a great problem in the world today when you've tried to testify about God, the problem is not primarily science. The problem is primarily history. The problem is primarily suffering and people will ask you again and again, how can you believe in a God, if there be a God who allows so much suffering?
Adrian Rogers: And this causes great doubt because here's the way the human mind works. Well, if God is love and God is all powerful, why does God allow so much suffering? And so they think, well, perhaps he is a God of infinite love, but he has no power. Therefore, he is a weak God or else, he is all powerful, but he has no love. And so he is a cruel God, or perhaps he has no power and no love, so he is no God at all. That's the way people think.
Adrian Rogers: There's a greater question. Not why do men suffer? Here's the great question. Why does God suffer? Now you want a question, for him the question is not, why do we as humans suffer? But those scars tell us that God in human flesh suffered. Isaiah 53:3, speaking of Jesus, he is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now I remind you, he was God in human flesh and he suffered. Again, the Bible says in Isaiah 63:9, in all their affliction, talking about us, he was afflicted. And not only did he suffer when he was here, but I have some information for you. God still suffers. God in his glory suffers.
Adrian Rogers: You say, how could God suffer? Well, let me give you a verse. Ephesians 4:30, the Bible says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Have you ever been grieved? Grief is a form of emotional suffering. God and heaven still suffers. God grieves. Now you can understand this, does a father suffer when he has a wayward son? That's what the story of the prodigal son is all about. That God, the Father suffers because he has children away from him. Grieve is a love word. You can only grieve somebody who loves you. Your lawnmower may vex you. Your children will grieve you. Amen? Because you love them. By the way that verse in Ephesians 4:30, is a great verse to teach the personality of the Holy Spirit.
Adrian Rogers: Our Jehovah's witnesses tell us that the Holy Spirit is not a person, he is just an influence from God. But you can't grieve an influence, only a person can be grieved. And the only person who can be grieved is someone who loves you. Grieve is a love word. God still suffers. I want to ask you a question. Does the head suffer when the body feels pain? Of course it does. Christ is the head of the church, we are his body. When you suffer, our Lord suffers. He's touched with the feeling of your infirmity. When Saul was persecuting the church, Jesus appeared to Saul and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He could have said, well, I'm not persecuting you, I'm persecuting these Christians. But friend, when a Christian is persecuted, Jesus is persecuted. When the body hurts, the head hurts. We are the bride. Jesus is the groom.
Adrian Rogers: If the bride is unfaithful to the groom, would not the groom grieve? When the church is unfaithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, is not his heart broken? Jesus suffers as a man, he suffered. The scars tell us, the scars tell us, that God has suffered. Now here's a big question. Why would God Almighty, who could do anything whatever he wants whenever he wants, why would he choose to suffer? Second point, not only do the scars of Jesus, tell us that as a man, he suffered, but the scars of Jesus tell us that as a man Jesus sympathizes, that Jesus understands. Nobody really knows the hurt. Nobody really knows the pain in the human heart except Jesus. But Jesus really does suffer.
Adrian Rogers: When we go off on a trip somewhere, Joyce will pick up some trinket somewhere. And trinkets is mostly what they are. They are souvenirs. Why do we buy souvenirs, when we go somewhere? Well, there sort of a reminder, I've been there, I have been there. Jesus, when he went to heaven, brought with him to heaven, some souvenirs from earth, and those souvenirs are the scars that remain in his hands. And what do those souvenirs of earth tell us? That he has been there. He has felt, and he understands our pain. Put down now Hebrews 2:17 and 18. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. The him is Jesus, the brethren, that's us. He's made like us, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered, underscore that, he himself has suffered being tempted, that means being tested. He is able to succor S U C C O R, which means to, help them that are tempted.
Adrian Rogers: Jesus said, when you suffer, I suffer. And not only do I suffer, but because I suffer, I understand. Hebrews 4:15, for we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tested like as we are yet without sin. He's touched, he knows, he cares, he feels, he understands and he loves. Dr. Paul Brand was a missionary, a great surgeon who spent a lot of time ministering to lepers and leper colonies. And Dr. Brand talked about, the horrible sin of leprosy. And he said, one of the debilitating sins of leprosy is, that it removes the ability of the human body to feel pain. And then here's what Dr. Paul Brand said, and I copied it down for you.
Adrian Rogers: Listen to what this great doctor said. He said, if I had the power to eliminate pain, I would not exercise that right. Pain's value is too great, notice pain's value. Rather I would lend all of my energies in doing all that I can to help, when the pain turns to suffering. I want to tell you something, our Lord suffered and our Lord sympathizes. And the pain that he allows us to have is really proof of his love. The pain that he allows us to have is proof of his love. After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God said, cursed is the ground, now listen to this, for your sake. He didn't say for your punishment, but for your welfare. For your sake, thorns and thistles, would it bring forth to you. God put a curse on the environment in which we live, because the worst thing could happen to us would be for us to have the sickness, the infection of sin, and to feel no pain.
Adrian Rogers: There is the protecting purpose of pain. When you and I walk, we stand on one foot, then on another. When we sit, we shift our weight around, but a leper doesn't do that. Dr. Brand said, that a leper that doesn't limp when his leg is hurt, because he feels no pain. So he walks on the wound, injured legs, never get any rest. When you turn your ankle, if your body is healthy, the nerves immediately order your body to take the weight off of that ankle. It happens so fast. It'll happen just like that.
Adrian Rogers: I was walking down on mountain side with my bride, Joyce. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful mountain. And suddenly Joyce was on the ground, just like that. What had happened? Joyce had turned her ankle. And when she turned her ankle, the nerves in her body caused this muscle to relax, and she went down just like that. Now, the reason for that was to protect her leg, that she would not walk on that twisted and stretched tendon. Thankfully and before long, she was feeling good again and could walk.
Adrian Rogers: Pain has a protecting purpose. Thank God for pain, it tells us something is wrong. Pain has a unifying purpose. It is pain that draws us together. Your whole body comes to the aid of a suffering member. You ever hit your thumb with a hammer? When putting up a picture for your wife on the wall? And probably one of those that turns the thumb black? I know what you did. You grabbed it with this hand. The second thing you did, you stuck it in your mouth and sucked on it. Third thing you did is a little dance. Now, why did you do that? What do your knees have to do with your thumb? I don't know, but you've got to do that dance.
Adrian Rogers: Friends pain has a unifying factor. Do you know what unifies as a church? Suffering. Do you know what brings people together? Suffering. The Bible says when one member suffers, all members suffer with it. Dr. Brand said, I can tell the health of the human body by its reaction to pain. If it doesn't react to pain, there is something wrong. You can tell the health of a church by its reaction to pain. How much does the church care for the homeless, the sick, those with broken hearts and broken hopes and broken homes? A church is unified by pain. Pain has a protecting purpose. Pain has a unifying purpose and pain has a correcting purpose. Dr. Brand said that, the lepers who would smoke cigarettes sometimes would smoke the cigarette right on down until the fire and the cigarette would burn their fingers. And they continued to smoke and burn the flesh because they could feel no pain.
Adrian Rogers: God allows pain to protect us. And if it weren't for the pain, we would never know that we're being hurt. You put your hand on a hot stove and there's a message that goes immediately to your brain and says, it's hot down here. And the brain says, well move. And it moves just like that. Now you don't realize you're doing all that thinking, but you're doing that. Because that pain says that you need to protect yourself. Pain comes in all kinds of forms. There's physical pain. There is emotional pain. There is spiritual pain. And Americans want to kill pain at any cost. That's the reason we have so many sedatives. That's the reason kids get on drugs, to kill the pain. That's the reason some adults are on drugs, to kill the pain. Now there is legitimate use of medicine, but many are trying to dull their sensibilities.
Adrian Rogers: They don't get along with their parents and they turn to drugs. And I want to tell you when kids get on drugs, they really don't care what their parents think. They are in another world. Some turned to alcohol and it's kind of pathetic to see adults addicted to alcohol, criticizing young people, addicted to drugs. Why do people turn to alcohol? So many times to kill the pain? A man is drunk. He says, I'm feeling no pain. He says, I'm going to drown my troubles. Well, his troubles can swim. The Japanese have a proverb. First, the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes the man. Oh, Why do we do this? Why do people have an affair? Why they commit adultery? Many times trying to kill the pain of insecurity and loneliness. One of the biggest sedatives that we have today is television.
Adrian Rogers: People watch television because they can't face themselves. And they live in a make believe world. The problem is that many people take a sedative when they need a savior. The pain is to tell us that something is wrong. Now, Jesus gives us peace and joy. Not primarily to remove the pain, that'll be done at the rapture, but to help us to endure the pain. Now, when we see scars in the hands of Bethlehem's babe, they are a testimony to his humanity, a God with scars. They tell us, as God he suffered, as man he suffered, as God he sympathizes, as man he sympathizes. He knows how we feel. He understands.
Adrian Rogers: And Jesus will hear the cries of a blind beggar before he hears the cries of a proud Pharisee. Now here's the third thing. Not only do the scars of Jesus tell us that as a man, Jesus suffered. And not only do they tell us that as a man, Jesus sympathizes, but the scars of Jesus tell us, as a man Jesus saves. That is so important that you understand this. Why was he nailed to that hellish cross? Why did he step out of glory? Why did he allow himself to be pierced? Why were those nails put into his quivering hands and to those precious feet? Why? Well, the Bible says without shedding of blood is no remission of sin.
Roger Marsh: Indeed and certainly a powerful image of Christ sacrifice to wrap up this edition of Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh, hope you've been enjoying this Christmas Eve presentation. We certainly hate to interrupt this powerful message from the late pastor, Adrian Rogers, but rest assured, we will continue the conclusion of this sermon. It's entitled The Stars and Scars of Christmas. That's coming up on tomorrow's program. You won't want to miss the rest of what this dynamic preacher had to say.
Roger Marsh: Now, in the meantime, visit our broadcast page at drjamesdobson.org and learn more about the ministry that continues pastor Rodger's outstanding work. Go now to drjamesdobson.org and click on today's broadcast page. Well, that wraps up this edition of the broadcast. Be sure to join us again tomorrow for part two of pastor Adrian Rogers, moving presentation. That's coming up next time on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk.
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