Well, good evening and Merry Christmas. It's so good to see everyone here tonight, and I want to give you all a very special welcome, especially family and friends and maybe some neighbors that have come here tonight to our evening service. We want to give you a very warm and special welcome. I hope you're all ready for Christmas.
So I want to begin tonight by asking you all the question. And my question is, what does Christmas really mean to you? So that's my question. What does Christmas really mean to you?
Isn't it true that it's so easy to get caught up in the emotion of Christmas? And if we get caught up in the emotion of Christmas, we can really miss the true meaning of Christmas. To a lot of us, I think it's true to say that when we think about Christmas, we're caught up in social events. We see the lights and the decorations, and we are connected with family and friends and the warmth, the festivities.
And even Christmas shopping, I did my Christmas shopping just on Saturday. And I got to tell you, it's a frenzy out there. And it's crazy. It's so easy to get totally caught up in the emotion of Christmas that you can miss the real message.
It kind of comes and goes so quick, doesn't it? Like, here we are at the end of 2018. And as you look back, it might even become like a short-term fantasy where you're living in this lala land and it's all warmth and emotion. And all of a sudden, boom, January the second comes, we're all back at work, back to the grind, back to reality.
And you think, what was that all about? That happens to all of us. And so tonight, I don't want us to miss the real meaning of Christmas. I would say that it's a time when the world superficially celebrates the birth of Christ.
People will talk about that. Well, what's Christmas? Well, it's the birth of Christ. And isn't it true that for most people, that's a very superficial thing, the birth of Christ.
That people, realistically, don't stop long enough to think deep enough about who Jesus Christ really is and why He came into the world. You know that there's a reason for that. It's by design. Most people don't want to stop long enough to think deep enough about who Jesus Christ really is and why He came into the world.
Do you know why? The Bible says that the God of this age has blinded the minds of those that believe not. Less the glorious light of the gospel shine in unto their hearts. I think it's by design that most people will look at Christmas as a time of family and friends and gifts and superficiality and that moment in time will come and it will go and most of us will miss the real meaning of Christmas.
You see, if we stop long enough to think hard enough about who Jesus Christ is and why He really came into the world, it will make us face some challenging realities. The first challenging reality that it will make us think about is my own sin. The second challenging reality that it makes us think about is my own mortality. I'm not gonna be here forever.
And what will happen to me, the very moment that I die and the other challenging reality it makes us think about is why am I actually here? What's the purpose of my life? What is life all about? You see, the true meaning of Christmas is that each and every one of us, we need a Savior.
And the verse that we heard tonight really speaks so clearly to that, that unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Because in the quiet moments of our life and the music has stopped and all the festivities and the parties are over, when you are quiet and you stop and consider what life is really about, down deep in our own hearts, in our own conscience, we have to admit this fact, I need a Savior. Do you know what the good news of Christmas is? Is that you can have a Savior.
Is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Whoops, I got four verses up here and I like to capture in these four verses what the true meaning of Christmas is. What's Christmas all about? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
That's what Christmas is all about. You know, 1 Timothy 1 and 15 is a golden verse. It's a beautiful verse that is spoken so clearly about the gospel, the purpose of why Jesus Christ came. He came into the world to save sinners and I'm thankful for that.
There's another verse in Galatians 4 that we were reminded about on Sunday. It says that God sent his son to buy freedom for us who were slaves, slaves to the law. So that he could adopt us as his very own children. Galatians 4 and 4.
Folks, that's the true meaning of Christmas. That is why Jesus Christ came into the world to buy our freedom. Freedom from the bondage of the law. Freedom from sin.
Freedom from our own selves. Jesus Christ came into the world to purchase our freedom because God wanted to make us, you, I, his very own children. We just quoted this verse, Luke chapter two and verse 11. This is what the angel said.
When they announced the birth of Christ, those beautiful songs that we were just singing about the birth of Jesus Christ. Onto you is born this day in the city of David in Bethlehem, a savior who is Christ the Lord. You know what I like about that verse? There's only one savior.
There are not many saviors. There is only one savior for all mankind, for every person that has ever lived in any age, in any country, of any culture, any nationality. There is one savior and it is Jesus Christ the Lord. Three titles about Jesus here.
It says that he's a savior. It says that he is Christ, the anointed, the Messiah, the sent one from heaven, the savior, the Christ, and he is Lord of all. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. So this was good news when Jesus was born.
That bright light and the angels and the shepherds out in the field wherever they were that night, there was this great joy and announcement to the world. Onto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. You know, there's another meaning of Christmas that I wanna share with you. It's in John chapter three, in verse 17.
A lot of people will think that God is this angry God that's waiting to pounce on people and he's gonna judge me for my sin. Look at this verse. God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but here's the purpose, that the world through him might be saved. This is the true meaning of Christmas.
God sent his one and only son into the world to save us from our sins, the true meaning of Christmas. I think it's beautiful. I wanna explain the true meaning of Christmas in this verse, in three simple points. Two men, two acts and two conditions that have affected all human beings everywhere.
In Romans chapter five and verse 18 and 19, this is what it says. Therefore by the offense of one man, Adam, judgment came to all for condemnation. Even so by the righteousness of one man, Jesus, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. By one man's disobedience, Adam, many were made sinners.
So by the obedience of one man, Jesus shall many be made righteous. Two men, two acts and two conditions, two men. These two men have affected every human being that has ever lived in all of history, Adam, the very first man. Do you know how Adam affects all human beings?
He passed on a sinful nature and it's devastating corruption and the consequences of death to the entire human race. That's devastating. And I think that if each one of us would look at our own lives and look deep into our own hearts and think about our own history, we would be able to identify with us. I have a sinful nature.
And because of my sinful nature, I have committed sin and that sin condemns me. And every one of us, we wanna bury our sin. We don't wanna think about it. We don't wanna expose it because it's ugly, it's devastating and it is corrupt.
And every single one of us have been affected by this one man, Adam, who chose to sin against God and has passed on that sinful nature. But here's the good news about Christmas. The purpose of Jesus Christ, this one man, he's the son of God who came into the world to save mankind from sin and death and to offer us, you, me, everyone, the free gift of eternal life. That is the good news about Christmas.
Two men have affected the entire human race. Adam, you've got a sinful nature that came from Adam causing you to commit sin, but there's a savior and it's Jesus Christ who came to destroy death, to put away sin, to rise again, and to provide the gift of eternal life to every single person. Two men, two acts. What did Adam do?
By one act of disobedience, Adam caused death and separation for all mankind. And so the entire world became lost. But here's a second act, Jesus Christ. You know that the Bible calls him the last Adam?
Isn't that beautiful? Because Jesus Christ, by one act of obedience, came into the world and died upon a cross for our sins. And he has made available to all humanity, justification. That is, he paid the price for our sins to save us from death, to make us righteous by giving us a right standing before God, the very moment that you believe on him.
Books, that's why Jesus Christ came into the world. That is the true meaning of Christmas. We were dead. We were condemned.
Left to ourselves, we would all self-destruct. This body, this flesh is going to see corruption because of sin. But Jesus Christ came to abolish death, to put away sin, to pay the penalty so that we no longer have to be condemned. That's why this is good news.
Glory to God in the highest. Good will to man. Peace be on earth because Jesus Christ came. By one act has provided justification for every person that will believe in him.
Two conditions. The Bible speaks of a condition of condemnation and a condition of justification. And every single one of us here today in this church and everyone on planet earth is under one of these two conditions, either under the condition of condemnation, which is the guilt of God's judgment for our sins. This condemnation has passed upon all that have not believed on the son of God, Jesus Christ.
Jesus actually said that. I don't know if you realize or not, but in John chapter three, when Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, he said, everyone who is believed on the Son of God is not condemned. But everyone who has not believed on the Son of God is condemned already because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Then there's this awesome condition of justification.
It's the condition of being made right with God by faith, believing in Jesus Christ who bore our condemnation on the cross and made peace for us with God. Folks, I wanna tell you tonight that the greatest Christmas present that you could ever receive is knowing peace with God. Coming to know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, having this right standing before God, having the guilt of your sin, of your past, all gone, never to be brought up to you again, and to be able to stand before the God of heaven, clean, washed in the blood of the Lamb, having this standing of justification, which is a righteous standing with God. Do you know that Jesus Christ bore your sins in his own body on the tree?
Do you know that he exchanged for us, his righteousness, and he took our sin upon himself? If I was in 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 21, that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might be made righteous in the sight of God, that's good news. Folks, we all need a Savior. And the good news of Christmas is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins.
He took our condemnation and he gave us his righteousness. And by believing in him, we are justified before God. That is the true meaning of Christmas. The good news and the true meaning of Christmas is that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins and make us right before God.
I'd like to invite everyone to share a time of refreshment and fellowship with us. And I trust that each one here will go away tonight with peace in their heart, knowing Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Thanks for coming and let's have a word of prayer. Father, we bow today with thanksgiving on this Christmas Eve.
We recognize Lord that this is the time when we think about your Son, Jesus Christ, and the purpose of his coming into the world. And Lord, we are filled tonight with grateful hearts when we realize that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And we're so thankful that he was able, willing to take upon himself our condemnation. And we thank you Lord that he's given to us the gift of eternal life to everyone who believes in him.
We just pray that you would bless us and bless this church and bless our families. And Lord, as we go to our homes tonight, we just pray that you would help each one of us to reflect upon who God is and why Jesus Christ came and the joy of knowing the gift of God, which is eternal life through our Lord Jesus. We thank you Lord for this time together. And we thank you for these refreshments that have been provided.
And we just commit us to you and ask your rich blessing upon us all this evening as we give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen. Amen.