Opening Prayer - Heavenly Father we thank you for the oppertunity to worship your Son this morning. We thank You for allowing Jesus to come to this earth to give us hope! We pray that the joy of Christmas will fill everyone's heart. We pray that everyone who reads this sermon who are not saved will become saved. Please help us to be a blessing to others this Christmas and give them the hope that we have in Your Son. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGfxlGeNVmQ&list=PLE9A8CB3DEF963A22&index=11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TPcgY2hFTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=479GM-Hxu80
Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
As we celebrate Christmas, it is very important that we all know why Christmas is such a big deal, and the one word answer is JESUS!
Many of us have heard the Christmas story, but the most exciting part to that story is Matthew 1:21. From the time that Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden, the entire human race has suffered terribly. Every single problem, worry, trial, sorrow, and imperfection in this world is because of sin. This world has literally been cursed ever since (Please read the third chapter of Genesis). The devil is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he has been determined to make people's lives misrable. But according to the Bible, death is our last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), and sin is the reason. Ezekiel 18:20a says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."
Since our lives are filled with unrest, and death is lurking around the corner, what can we do? Is there any hope? My friend, yes there is hope, and the hope is Christmas! If Jesus never came to this earth over 2,000 years ago, there would be no hope.
Jesus not only came to this earth to be born in a manger and grow up to perform many miracles, He came to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). And if you have never been saved, He wants you to turn to Him and be saved today. This is why He came to this earth. Hebrews 2:3 says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;"
Jesus provided our escape, not necessarily from physical death unless He returns, but from the second death in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). He did this by dying on the cross to erase our sins and raising from the dead -
While Jesus was on the cross, God took everybody’s sins (past, present, and future) and placed them on Jesus, who became guilty for every sin. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6).
Then, God punished Him for every sin. Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities.”
After Jesus was punished, and he bled and died, God’s wrath towards sin was satisfied (Isaiah 53:10 says, “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.”), and every sin was erased with Jesus’ shed blood – “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” (Revelation 1:5). 1 Peter 1:18,19 also says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
The Good News for us is that if we are ready to start living a brand new life and believe that our sins were erased after Jesus was punished for our sins, shed His blood, and died, we will go to Heaven - “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood …" (Romans 3:25). Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
We all deserve to pay the penalty for our sins against God (who is so holy, that He can’t even look at sins), but Jesus took the punishment that we deserved and freely gave us His righteousness (as if we had never sinned) in exchange. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Then, three days later Jesus rose from the dead to prove that our sins are paid for, so we can go to Heaven when we leave this world - “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17).
If you have never prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven
If you have prayed or made a decision to trust Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins and let you into Heaven, but you are not sure that you are really saved, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure