Christmas Violates All Ten Commandments

But what I want to look at today, from that point of view, I want to briefly look at the actual birth of Christ as it's described in the Bible. See how the world mixes a little bit of truth with life. And then I want to look at how Christmas violates the Ten Commandments. I want to go through each one of the Ten Commandments and see how it violates every single one of them. And keeping always in mind with one thing, so what? Well, what is the real evil in Christmas? And what does it hide? And so we want to go into that and highlight that, so what, from this false pagan holiday. Now, Jesus Christ's birth is clearly an inspirational event. There's no questions about that. But there is a huge gap between the truth about Jesus Christ's birth and what is highlighted in Christmas. So let's first look at Matthew chapter 1, and we're going to start reading in verse 21. Matthew chapter 1, verse 21. And look at how Matthew relates some of the announcements about Jesus Christ's birth. So Matthew 1, verse 21, and says how Mary saw this angel. And then it says in verse 21, And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. So the angel is now talking to Joseph and says, Hey, she'll bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. You will call this name Jesus. Jesus is a Greek word similar to the Hebrew word Joshua, which basically means Yahweh, his salvation. Or Y-H-W-H, his salvation. And so you will call him the eternal, his salvation. Because he, the eternal Christ, will save his people from their sins. And that's where it actually ties with the sermon. Think about it. Because saving us from our sins is saving us from death so that you and I may have eternal life. And look how the world is trying to disguise eternal life as so what, I'm going to be bored. But what the very purpose of Christ coming is to be our Savior. That is the very purpose of Christ coming. And everyone reading in verse 23 says, Behold the virgin shall be with child and better son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated God with us. Jesus Christ's other name is Immanuel, which means God with us. Now here is a very profound statement. The very creator, God, is with us. And Jesus means the eternal, he's salvation. So God came from eternity for one specific purpose, to die for us. Not to be a tiny little baby. How cute. And it's got to be protected by the mother. Yes, the birth was an important part of that process. But look at it, God had to give up eternity to be born as a baby so that he could die for our sins, so that you and I could be saved. So the birth of Christ is only one step in that process, but the particle of the process is dying, is the death of Christ. That's the purpose why he came to earth.

Then it continues just to compare to what the world believes about the birth of Christ. In chapter 2, verse 1 says, Now it's interesting, it says, wise men does not say that we're 20, does not say that we're 30. I mean, I could speculate that we're 17. I could speculate. We were nine. Oh, I could speculate we're seven. Complete! Seven! But, you know, the world says, well, we were three. Why they said we're three? Because they brought three types of gifts.

That does not mean there were three people. Now, they came from the east. Now, you just look at the map, and you look at Jerusalem, and you look Jew-east from there. What did you get? Well, maybe you get to go very far. Maybe you end up in Japan, but I don't think that's where they came from. So, if you go to Jew-east, you get Iraq and Iran. In other words, Babylon and Persian. When you think about the Jews, we've taken a slave to Babylon. So, it's very possible that we Jews, that they knew the Bible, they knew the prophecies of the Old Testament very well, and they came from Babylon to see the king.

Why is man from the east? I mean, I'm just speculating. But, obviously, I would be very surprised if there were Gentiles. Where would the Gentiles be interested to know, number one, the Old Testament scriptures, to know the prophecies that Yah is the king of the Jews? I mean, why would Gentiles be interested in that? So, I think there were men to send them some paper, and they were wise. They would just do the scriptures, because the wisdom comes from God's Word, and they just do the scriptures, then they stood there as the king, and they came on the way from Babylon. Well, if they came all the way from Babylon, that's quite a distance in those days.

It's quite a distance. And if they brought all those gifts, they got together, and they decided to get all that stuff together. In fact, they made two camels, and with the camels, they came down. And they would have taken quite a while. Maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months. And so, that picture that the world has of the wise man, being right around there with the baby on the manger and all this, it's actually erroneous. So, I'm just trying to paint bird-tries-bird into some reality based on the scriptures.

Then the other scripture that talks about Christ's birth is in Luke. See, on the four epistles, only Matthew and Luke talk about Christ's birth. So, let's look at Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, and we'll start in verse 1. Luke chapter 2, verse 1. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went up from Caesar Augustus that all the walls should be registered. The sensors which took place while Cornelius was governed in Syria, so all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.

Now imagine, now these people are just people like you and I, right? Now your wife is pregnant, now she's really Jew, and you know there's the sensors, and therefore you're probably going to go a little earlier so that you don't jeopardize the baby. And where are you going to stay? You talk about a small little town, 30,000 people maybe, or even less, you know, Bethlehem, probably even a very small town. And because Jerusalem, they say, about that town, there was about 30,000 population.

So Bethlehem was probably a very small town, I don't know, maybe 5,000 people, I don't know how many. Now where would you stay? Now there would not be a lot of best westerns and whatever hotels out there in a tiny little village that way. If you went to the land of your family, say for instance you've got relatives in Indianapolis, or if you're going to go and visit them, where are you going to stay?

You're going to stay for family? When do we go and visit the home of my wife's family? We haven't stayed with their family, we stayed for relatives. And so it would have been very logical to me that Joseph went to Bethlehem, because that's where these relatives were, that's where he was born, and where he's lineage. He had family there, probably parents, cousins, uncles, etc. and he could very well stay in one of their houses in maybe a guest room, in a separate room they would have in those days like a room upstairs and it would be a guest room.

And so he went there to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was of child. So she was expecting. So it was, then while they were there, so they were there, they would go on a little early, they were there. While they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And yeah, how great to be there with the rest of the family.

They had, you know, ladies to help her and relatives to help her through this. But the guest room was small. It's a part of the room. So in those days, in the houses, in the front room, in the front porch, they would have space in that front room to actually bring the animals in during winter so they would not be in the cold.

So they had the front room, a bigger area. And because of that, that was all made with stone and whatever it is. They had a made with stone, a manger built into the room like a fireplace, built into the room like a manger built into the room.

But it was not winter yet. The animals were still out in the field. So it will be an ideal place to clean it up nicely, put it up properly, manger there as a nice little cot. And it will be right there in the front area.

They could close it up, make it private, give birth there. There would be more space there for the middlewives and all that stuff. Rather than a tiny room up the stairs. And so, let's continue our reading. And it says, To be reached for Mary's withdrawal of what? Was her child verse 5? So it was a while away there, the days were completed.

And verse 7, And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now, the word inn-yat immediately gives us the impression that it was like a hotel or whatever. But this room, the word yat for inn, is the same word that is used elsewhere when Christ was asking his disciples to look for a room for inn to keep the boss over. And that word is the same word that says, well, they found a room for him to keep the boss over. And it's translated as an upper room.

It's the same Greek word as the upper room. But in yat, it's translated as inn. So it was like a guest room inside that house, like an upper room with, similar to in the case where Christ kept the boss over, in an upper room. It's a guest room. And there was not enough space in that guest room. Now, you can read quite a little bit of research about this.

In the November, December Good News of last year, Mr. Sigley wrote a very good article about that, explaining this whole thing, how it was a room where people could actually go there and it was a bit of space. And that is followed by the very fact, if you read that in verse 8, it says, now, they were in the country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Yeah, because it wasn't winter yet, so the flock was still out. And that's why they could use that room, clean it up and use it for that purpose.

And if you read a little bit further in verse 16, and they said, and they came with haste, and that's the shepherds. And found Mary and Joseph, and they lay in a manger, very natural room in that manger. And now, when they had seen him, they made widely known the sign which was told him, according to his child. Now, imagine if the shepherds had gone there, and it was no real decent conditions, they would have been horrified. And they would have said, hey, come on, let's get another place to put the baby out. How can we have the baby a right job?

Nobody would require all except you, quite happy, so we can see that it was not in the horrible conditions. So you and I can see that the picture that the world has made of Christmas and a baby and a manger and all that stuff, it's being taken a little bit of truth, but it's being painted in a different way. It's being painted in a different way. And there is a huge gap between the biblical truth as far as the birth of Jesus Christ and the world celebrates.

But the biggest gap is, in fact, that it is God amongst us. He's our Savior. And His mission, He came here to save us. He gave up eternal life as the word to be a physical human being born, grow and die for us. And so His mission was to die for us. That was just a step in the process of having to die for us. And therefore, Jesus Christ's death is, in a way, is rejected, or at least watered down, by Christmas. Just like Easter, waters down Christ's death.

Because Easter is this big celebration about Easter Sunday, which is to celebrate His resurrection. Now, I'm not minimizing His resurrection. But in first place, His resurrection was not on Sunday. And in second place, nowhere in the Bible are we told to have a feast day or a celebration of His resurrection. But we are told to commemorate His death, which is the possible. Which is the beginning of the feast, that opens up the possibility of the whole plan of salvation from mankind. So, what the world has done is taken pagan holidays, which were basically carried by the Romans and others and the Greeks and others, all the way to number one.

And then, so-called Christians, let's call it false Christians, so-called Christians wanted to have more people coming to church. They wanted to have numbers in church. And to have greater numbers, they made it attractive for the people to come in with their pagan ideas and accepted their pagan ideas into the church with their pagan holidays, like December 25. And then, like that, the Catholic Church and other churches have formalized this into a so-called Christian holiday.

Which is not a holiday, let's put it this way. So, once again, what is the problem with it? Oh, it's so cute! It's a baby, and the trees and the lights are so beautiful.

Yes, they are! They are beautiful! But unfortunately, it's around the wrong concept of the section that destroys the whole meaning of why Christ came to earth, to die for us, so that we could have eternal life as we heard in the sermon. So, it hides the whole process of salvation.

Because we all have sinned, and sin, the wages of sin is dead. Sin is the transgression of God's law, as we know in 1 John 3 verse 4. Don't have to turn there. And if you break one of the laws, you break them all, as John says in 2 John 10. And so, all he needs is just to break a few laws, and you break them all, and we all sinners. And that's what Satan wants, because he wants to condemn us to death. Christ came to risk you from that, to die for us, to pray for us, so you and I may have eternal life.

Not to be disdained. Beautiful eternal life, as we heard in the sermon. So, people think, oh well, but it's so beautiful, and you know it's little children, we just give them a little story. And so, people think, well, it's just lies, a few lies, but it's just a white lie.

Now, I want to look at it, therefore, from the point of the Ten Commandments, how Christmas breaks every single one of the Ten Commandments. And so, if you turn with me to Exodus chapter 20, starting in verse 2, and you might want to keep a tabby, because we're going to keep going back to Exodus 20.

In Exodus 20, starting in verse 2, and it says, I'm the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And as we highlighted last week in the sermon, it's basically how significant it is, because it's Jesus Christ. He is the Lord our God, that took the Israelites out of Egypt, and it's taking us out of slavery. And He's the one that is dying for us to take us out of the slavery of this world. And therefore, it says, you shall have no other gods before Me.

Now, He's the Son, Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God. Yes, O Him. And so, what do people worship? They worship the Son God. Yes, you Him. You have other gods. Can you see how it's breaking the first command? Jesus Christ is the Creator, He's our Savior, that is taken out of bondage, out of slavery, with a mighty strong hand, which is His own life. He died for us. That's how He's taking us out of this bondage.

And therefore, you shall have no other gods before Me. And if you just look at Deuteronomy 12, Chapter 12, Deuteronomy 12, verse 32.

Deuteronomy 12, verse 32. It just says, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them. You know, it was follow the nations. You left Egypt. You now go to the Promised Land. Don't follow these nations that you're going to conquer to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, that you do not inquire after their gods. And you know what? That's exactly what people have done. That's what Israelites did, and that's what people today do. They inquire about those false gods, and it says, how did those nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise, and that's why we're doing likewise, by keeping Christmas and Easter, and those holy days that are not gods. It says, verse 31, you shall not worship, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. That's a commandment. You shall not worship God in that way. For every abomination the Lord which He hates, they have done to their gods. They burn even their sons and daughters in the fire of their gods. And we do it today. I mean, today, you even have to pay medical insurance to cover that. We have to pay medical insurance to cover abortions. That's what it is. That's killing our firstborn. Verse 32, whatever command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. Whatever God gives us, we're not to make less, not to make more. That's exactly as God tells us to do. So, Christmas clearly violates the first commandment. Let's go and look at the second command. Exodus 20, verse 4. It says, you shall not make for yourselves a cult image. Any likeness of anything that is even above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow to them to serve them. For I am your God, and I am a jealous God.

God is very jealous, and you shall not make cult images. Are there any cult images around Christmas and the nativity scene? Hundreds of it. There's hundreds of images of Mary, and of a baby, and this and that, and people put them in places. Oh, and be careful. Don't damage them. Don't break those statutes. Don't do whatever. They become gods. These figurines, and Madonna and the child. I mean, the mother and child. The Madonna, the Virgin Mary. Madonna overshadows the baby. It's Madonna, the one that's protecting the baby. It's Virgin Mary that's protecting Christ. She is the intermediator between man and God, and so does the Catholic Church say.

Who is the mediator between man and God but Christ? You shall not worship that way. I am a jealous God.

Look at Jeremiah 10. Jeremiah 10, verse 1. Jeremiah 10, verse 1.

It's a well-known scripture. It says, hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O Israel. That says, the Lord. Do not learn the word of the Gentiles. Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the Gentiles, it is neither temple. For the customers of the people are futile, are in vain. In other words, are vanity. For one cuts a tree from the forest.

So what do you do? You cut a tree, and if you are good, craftsman, what are you going to do? You make a statue. You make, you carve a little idol. So what do you do with the tree? Whether you carve an idol, or whether you just take the tree and make the tree a Christmas tree.

Whatever you do, it's wrong. It says, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. So you guys are carved idol, because it's the work of the hands. They decorate it with silver and gold. Yes, you make, maybe you make a little statue, and you paint it with gold and silver and put little decorations onto it. Maybe it's a tree, maybe it's a Christmas tree that you decorated, or maybe it's an idol. Whatever you do. They've fastened it with males and hammers. If you make an idol and it doesn't stand off a tree, doesn't stand, you're going to fasten it with whatever.

Nails and you're going to hammer it. So it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree. They cannot speak. They can't speak. They've already carried. Yes, they can be moved, but they can't move by themselves, because they cannot go by themselves. Don't be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil. Nor can they do any good. Don't believe in it. And brethren, this is what the whole Christmas thing is.

Images, idolatry. Whether it's the tree or whether it's anything else, I mean, it doesn't necessarily say, yeah, that it's a Christmas tree. It could be an idol, it could be a sculpture, it could be anything. Because look in verse 8, it says, yeah, in verse 8. And they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish.

A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. So all these wooden things are worthless. And if you think you're giving it to God and worshipping God, it's wrong. I'm going to give you an example, which may be, what will mean, it will be interesting. I was discussing with Kathy and I was thinking, well, imagine that you are married, but before you got married, you had a girlfriend.

Okay, a lot of people had girlfriends and they got married. Now, imagine the name of that girlfriend. So I was trying to think what name of the girlfriend to give. So I didn't want to give any common name because this is a lot of people. I could offend somebody. So I thought, ah, Cruella! You know the 101 number? Cruella. So the girlfriend was called Cruella. All right, so you're married, your wife, and before you got married, you had this girlfriend called Cruella. No problem. Even the name is evil, you know.

Well, sanctity is evil anyway, so Cruella. Now, you come to your wife and say, I've got a birthday gift for you. She says, well, it's not my birthday, but it's Cruella's birthday. So you say, and I've got a birthday card to you. And in this card, it's called Cruella's name. Now, you scratched Cruella and you wrote your wife's name. Well, Cruella, your wife is not going to be very impressed, I can tell you that. Now, it happens to be a lovely dress. But probably it doesn't fit your wife. It actually fits Cruella. Oh, your wife's not going to be impressed now. It actually is not your wife's favorite color. It's actually Cruella's favorite color.

And it's printed, you know. Cruella, my dearest love. You now scratched that and wrote your wife's name. Are you honoring your wife with that? Are you making your wife special with that? Are you going to say, obviously, God, that's ridiculous. I mean, your wife's going to throw you rotten potatoes in there. But you see, that's what we do with Christmas. It's the same thing. It's not his birthday. It doesn't tell us to keep a birthday. It doesn't fit him. It's not his favorite whatever. It's just...

Do you think God is happy with that? No. And turn with me to Exodus 34. Exodus 34. Exodus 34. Verse 13 and 14. It says, But you shall destroy the altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images. For you shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.

If you did that, your wife should be jealous and she'd be very upset. And God says, He's jealous. He's a jealous God. Don't do that. Destroy it. So the decision is of the world. I know... not... I mean... The point is the world... I'm not talking to you because you don't practice these things.

But I'm just saying, the world has a decision to make. They either honor the God, the true God, the way He wants to be honored, or that will not be accepted. Christmas clearly violates the Second Commandment. We'll take on that one.

So let's look at the Third Commandment. Third Commandment, Exodus 20, verse 7. It says, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes his name in vain. Well, taking a pagan god like Saturnalia, and a holiday about the false god, and changing the name and putting it Christian, that clearly is taking God's name in vain. That is taking God's name in vain. You know, just because you dress it with a Christian name does not make it Christian.

In fact, you're taking God's name in vain. Christ was never in this pagan holiday. So when people say, put Christ back into it, He was never in it. And that is taking God's name in vain. In fact, He's trying to justify a human tradition rather than doing what God says.

Look with me, please, at Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7. We all know the Scripture, but maybe you hadn't thought about it from the context of Christmas. Mark chapter 7, but 6 through 9.

Mark 7, 6 through 9.

And it says, He answered to them, and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, people-grids, as it is written, This people honours me with their lips. I mean, Christians out there, they're honouring God, quote-unquote, with their lips. It's Christian, it's Christmas, it's honouring God with their lips. But their heart is far from God. In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines, the commandments of man. Christmas is a commandment of man. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of man. Christmas is a man's tradition. The washing, and then it goes on to specific things that he was referring to. And in verse 9, he said to them, All too well you reject the commandment of God, not to worship God this way, that you may keep your traditions. They are worshipping in vain. They are using God's name in vain. And it says, God will not hold them guiltless. The commandment says, you will not use God's name in vain, because God will not hold them guiltless. Look at the punishment that the world will have. In Revelation 18, verse 4. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive over place. Come out of Babylon. This world, and Christmas is part of this Babylonian system. And it says, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive over place. It is frightening, because those plagues will mean. Look at that. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her, just as she rendered to you, and repay a double, according to her words, in the cup which is mixed, mixed double for her, in a mixture that she glorified herself and lived luxoriously, in the same measure, give a torment and sorrow, for she sears in her heart. I sit as queen, and I am no widow, and I am not she sorrow. Therefore, her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning and famine. And she will be afterly burnt with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. He is not a tiny defenseless baby. Christ is going to come as a strong God, and he is going to judge these religions. And that's why it says, come out of it, because Christ God is strong. Yes, he is merciful, but he also is a good judgment. So Christmas clearly violates the Third Commandment. You can take that one. So let's look at the Fourth Commandment. Fourth Commandment, Exodus 20, verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep on holy. And then right at the end of the commandment says, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it in verse 11, at the end of verse 11. So remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. And God blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. It is God who sets days aside to be holy, to worship on those days. He sanctifies the weekly Sabbath. And so does he also sanctify the annual Sabbath.

It's not man that sets up the day of worship. Be it weekly or annually, it's God that sets them apart. God did not set apart Sunday. God did not set apart Christmas. God did not set apart Easter. These days violate the Sabbath commandment, the principle of the Sabbath commandment, because it is God that sanctifies a day as holy. Now where does God tell us to celebrate Christ's birth? Neither his resurrection. We are to celebrate or commemorate his death. And therefore, the hiding, by not keeping God's early days, we are hiding God's very plan of salvation. We are distorting God's plan of salvation, God's true rest for mankind. Because God's plan of salvation is what's going to give us the true rest, which is what the Sabbath gives us. God's plan of salvation, made possible by Christ's death, surely had to be born to die, made possible by his death, we can have eternal life.

He had to die. Think about it. God's plan of salvation highlights two important things. First, the willingness of the Father to let his only begotten Son to die. But secondly, the willingness of the Word to relieve eternity, to be born as a human being, so that he could give his life and to be tortured and to die, so that he could sacrifice his life for you and I, so that we may have eternal life.

This is Eden, in man's quote-unquote religious days. And therefore Christmas violates the spiritual intent of the Sabbath of God's true rest. So let's look at the next one, which is Exodus 20, verse 12. Honor your Father and your Mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given you. How can you and I honor our parents by doing the opposite of what they tell us to do?

How can we honor our parents by doing the very opposite than what they tell us to do? When we disobey, we actually dishonor our Heavenly Father. We dishonor Him. Look how Jesus Christ obeyed the Father in John 8, verse 28. John 8, verse 29 says, And He who sent Me, that's the Father, sent Me, is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone. Why? Because how always do those things that pleased Him. Jesus Christ always honored the Father, always did the things that pleased the Father.

And as we saw how pagan Christmas is, is that pleasing to the Father? No. We are to please Him completely. We are to follow and please the Father completely. And so, Christmas is not honoring the Father, our eternal Father, our Godly Father, our eternal parents. And so, Christmas violates the fifth commandment. Let's look at the sixth commandment, Exodus 20, verse 13. Exodus 20, verse 13, You shall not murder. Now, I have to scratch a little bit on that one. But I used... I thought of exactly the Scripture that Rudy used in the sermon. Now, let's turn to that Scripture, which is Romans 8, verse 44.

Romans 8, verse 44. Romans 8, verse 44. And it says, John 8, verse 44. Where am I saying? John 8, verse 44. Rudy did not use Romans. He used John. John 8, verse 44. John 8, verse 44. And he says, You are of your Father the devil. And the desires of your Father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. And does not stand in the truth, because there's no truth in him.

When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own resources, and as Rudy mentioned, of his own character. That's very interesting, for he's a liar and the father of it. Now, look how he says, Satan is a murderer from the beginning. And how does he murder through lies? Now, that's interesting. Isn't Christmas a big lie? How did Satan murder from the beginning? Let's look in Genesis, chapter 3.

Genesis, chapter 3, verse 1 through 6. Now, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And obviously he's talking about Satan. And he said to the woman, As God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Very subtle. As, You shall not eat of it. Well, God said, You could eat every one, except this little one, little tree, yeah, but every one. But he said, Oh, as he said, he kind of takes the truth in.

And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And then the serpent said to the woman, You shall not die. Satan calls to the woman and Adam, and you and I are mankind, to die. He's a murderer. How did he do that? Because he's there, he's not saying, For God knows that in the day you eat of your eyes, you'll be open, and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil.

And the woman saw that a tree was good for food, and pleasant in the eyes, and the tree desirable to make one wise. Through a line of deception, of emotion, look how beautiful, how nice, but the light so beautiful, isn't the tree so beautiful? What's wrong with it? Come on, and see what's wrong with giving gifts. Come on, it's so beautiful.

But he was the surviving God. Adam and Eve were the surviving God. And when he was the surviving God, the salary or the wages of sin is dead. And so he encouraged, through light, he encouraged them to do so by God, and therefore he caused them to die before his murderer. And that's what Christmas is all about. It's so sweet. It's all these emotional things of beauty and whatever. But it's a lie to the surviving God, which leads to death. And so Christmas, because when we sin, sin leads to death. And therefore Christmas breaks. The sixth commandment, which is thou should not kill. Well, okay, let's look at the next one, Exodus 20, verse 14. The seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery.

You know, brethren, marriage is a beautiful union between a man and a woman. And that's what is described in the Bible. In Ephesians 5, verses 28 through 29, Paul describes how that is a symbol of the marriage of the church to Christ. And so, marriage being a union which is based on faithfulness, on loyalty, on commitment, is purely an analogy of the commitment of the new covenant that you and I make at baptism, which is a covenant, like a marriage covenant, which will seal it at the marriage of the bride with Christ.

And so, breaking a commitment of marriage is adultery. So, breaking the commitment of spiritual marriage with God is spiritual adultery. And so, that's why James said in James 4, verse 4, he says, you adulterers and adulterers. Turn with me to James 4, verse 4. James 4, verse 4. Adulterers and adulterers, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Making friendship with the world and worldly things. Say, oh well, you know, my friends, and what will they say if I don't have a Christmas tree or whatever? What will the world say? What the other people will say?

That's enmity with God because we're breaking a commitment with God. And that's why he says adulterers and adulterers. That is tied in to adultery.

So, friendship with the world and worldly things breaks our commitment with God. In other words, breaks the perfection, the cleanliness, the beauty, the faithfulness that you and I are supposed to have with God. And therefore, Christmas violates the seventh commandment.

And then let's look at Exodus 20, verse 15. Exodus 20, verse 15. Thou shalt not steal.

What do we steal with Christmas? What do we steal is the meaning of why Christ came to earth. He came to earth to die for us, to be the savior, to be the Messiah.

But what do we have? We have a cutable baby, and we have Mary taking the glory, which is stealing the glory from the high priest and giving it to Virgin Mary as the mediator, as one example of stealing.

Stealing the glory. Something else that Satan does, he steals our minds. You heard in the sermon here, Satan, through religion, has deceived people that through religion, people are not interested anymore in eternal life, because the way religion is done. And that's exactly what he's done. Look in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

Verse 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. He says, This blinding is actually stealing the understanding from people so they can't see it. It's like you plant a seed, and then the evil one comes and steals that seed from one's heart, so they don't know the gospel of the truth. You know, we are there preaching the seed, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. You get a few people, they get excited, start understanding, ask questions, they will come, and then what do we have? We have all the perceptions around them, all the pressures from the world and society, and they steal that seed from the individual's heart, and they go back to the world. Satan, the God of this world, is blind, demands of those who do not believe, bless the light of the gospel of the glory of God, which is the image of God, you're shining there. So he stole that away from them through the so-called beauty and emotional love and the giving spirit, quote unquote, of Christmas. And so Christmas violates the eighth commandment, because it steals the precious truth of God. And then the ninth commandment, Exodus 20 verse 16 says, Thou shalt not be a false witness against your neighbor. Well, that's easy. That's easy. How many false witnesses are there in Christmas? That's, you know, while it's only a little children, it's so cute, you know. Just Santa Claus and this and that. And Christ was not born on the twenty-first, we all know. And it was not three wise men, we know. Could have been seven, could have been twenty. I don't know how many. Probably an entourage. You know, it came in with camels and all that. Probably a whole group of people. Christ was never in it. It's a pagan celebration. Christmas clearly violates the ninth commandment. And while we're there in Exodus 20 verse 17 says, Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, your neighbor's sins, and more than anything that you're named. If there is a day that celebrates things, materialism, and the way of death, commercialism, it's Christmas and the bulldog Christmas season. Commercialism, it's all around covet. Come and buy, come and save. Come and save. Great savings. It's all about lust and coveting of the material things. And so Christmas violates the tenth commandment. You probably wonder how it gets all weird, all ten. But yeah, Christmas does. It's unbelievable. And it is interesting, because the giant says you break one, you break them all. So you just have to start meditating and see they all so interleaved. Brethren, Christmas breaks all of God's commandments. But there's more to it. Because it gets back to the question, so what? It's because it hides God's plan of salvation, of eternal life, to mankind. You see, central to God's plan of salvation is Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf to save us. Death is central. So he, as the word, had to leave eternal life, had to come in the form of man, from being in the form of God, to be in the form of man. He had to afford, he had to die, and then he had to resurrect. But the whole great act.

Yes, resurrection is important. This birth is important. But all greatness is his mind, his attitude of humility to give everything up to die for you and I. And that is the mind of Christ. Not just birth of a baby in Christmas yet. He was born. That was part of the process. Look with me to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 describes this important mind of Christ that we must never forget. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 to 8 says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's this attitude of mind that he has. That Christ, which was the word, would be in the form of God. In other words, he was the word, he was God, he was with the Father in heaven. Do not consider it to be robbery to be equal with God. Do not consider it to be identity theft, to be said, Well, I was with God. There was no identity theft, there was no robbery. But made himself with no reputation. In other words, he left that position. He made himself with no reputation. People didn't even know he was. Taking the form of a man, in the likeness of man. And not only that, verse 8, being found in a merest as a man, he then humbled himself even further and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, that is the benefit that Christmas hides it. And says, Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. At that name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus is the Lord and nobody else, not more Hamad, not anybody else but Jesus.

To the glory of God the Father. The plan of God is clearly described by God's Holy Days. Christmas teaches us none of that, nor does Easter. It hides all this thing. It hides the offering of the Father and the sacrifice of Christ. It also hides Christ's Second Coming and all the other things that go along with it. Griefly, let us all remember what a blessing we have to know God's early days. And let us make sure that we don't get wrapped and we gently and lovingly and wisely teach our children that God's way is far better. Let us be so grateful for what God has given us because He's giving us a great reward that's eternal life in His Kingdom.