The True Message of Christmas

I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 1 and pick up with me

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

! as we begin reading there in verse 18. Matthew chapter 1 beginning with verse 18.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

!

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to

Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her away to shame, resolved

to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him

in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,

for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people from their sins.

Let's pray.

Our precious God and Father, this morning as we take this passage of Scripture in hand,

we recognize that it represents

your revelation to us.

It is the truth.

It is of eternal worth.

It's the words of life.

And as we hold it, as we read it, we recognize that

we are dependent this morning upon your

spirit to work in us

as your children

to allow the word to have free course

and make a difference in our thinking and our affections.

We recognize that as we come together

this morning, there are many things that would

distract us from the significance of our time in your word.

And so we ask, as Paul prayed,

that we would cast down every imagination

and every vain thing that exalts itself against our Savior,

and that this morning, by your enabling,

we would appreciate your word,

that we would find it to be a thrill to our souls,

an encouragement to us in our anticipation of seeing you face to face,

that it would be part of your process in shaping us

as your children to be more like Christ,

and stirring our hearts that we would be faithful in our

high and holy calling of being your representatives in this world

in the time that you give us.

And so we are going to say thank you in advance

for what we ask you to do in us

for the glory of our Savior.

We pray this in his name.

Amen.

Well, as you look at this passage here in Matthew,

I want to stop just for a moment and have you think with me

about what the Christmas season represents to all of us.

And as I think about Christmas,

I recognize that we are here together

in many, many different mindsets.

There are some of us here, actually,

when we think about Christmas,

as we come towards the last week,

our life becomes a little more anxious.

How many of you find that to be true?

Because you're thinking about the list you have

and the things you haven't done yet

that should be done by the 25th, right?

Yesterday, I was out on an errand

and I happened to stop in a store

and it was just packed.

And I have to confess that I thought to myself,

self, aren't you glad you shop on Amazon?

If I can't hit Amazon and get what I need,

the idea of going out and braving the traffic

is just beyond my imagination.

Others of you are thinking with anticipation.

You've given your little list to your parents

and you're hoping that at least some of the things

that you asked for, you get.

I mean, you didn't put socks or underwear

and you know those are coming,

but there are a couple things that you said, right?

You're thinking, well, Christmas morning

and that's going to be a wonderful thing

and I'm looking forward to it.

Let me ask you this.

How many of you that are older

kind of find your approach to Christmas

to be a little less enthusiastic

than when you were like five?

How many of you here used to wake up

and had your parents put that wet blanket

across your enthusiasm of saying,

don't be making noise until I get up?

How many of you are in that space?

Yes.

You know, it's like,

and so you were trying to think of ways

that you could kind of waken your parents

within a reasonable frame.

You know, before it was like 11, 30 or 12

and the presents had all kind of dissolved

under the tree.

But you spent your time doing what?

Shaking the boxes?

Double checking to see whether or not

it sounded and weighed about

what you thought you were going to get?

We all had a certain amount of enthusiasm

for Christmas earlier on.

And this morning, as we think about

the subject of Christmas,

here is the thing that I appeal to you in advance.

I want you to consciously and deliberately

ask the Spirit of God to give you,

through His enabling,

just a wonderful sense of appreciation

for what the Christmas story really is.

Because I know that every one of us here

have heard it many, many times.

And sometimes the things that we've heard

many, many times,

because they're not novel and they're not new,

can kind of fade away

to become things that are just kind of routine

and redundant.

And that is not the purpose

of opening the Word of God.

His mercies are new every morning,

and the sweetness of His Word

is new every morning.

In particular, when we ask the Spirit of God

to do something in our hearts.

So as we take this passage

and think about it carefully,

I want you to say at the outset,

I need God's help to think carefully

and with sweetness about the truth

that God's Word has here for us.

Now we look at the passage,

and it reminds us here,

in verse 20,

I do want you to know that this evening,

when we come together again

to study the Word of God,

the focus on this evening's message

is going to be particularly

on the matter of the incarnation.

Jesus Christ,

all man,

and all God.

A mystery

that we accept by faith,

and yet there is benefit

in thinking about it very carefully.

We'll do that tonight.

What we want to do this morning

is look more particularly

at the statement that is made

there in verse 21.

She will bear a son,

and you shall call His name Jesus,

for He will bear His,

He will save His people

from their sins.

Now here's what I want you

to think about

as we start into this passage.

Here is the Holy Spirit

saying to Joseph,

here's what you're going to do.

You are going to,

you're going,

and not the Holy Spirit,

but an angel, okay.

It says,

here's what you're going to do.

You're going to call your child

by a particular name.

So I want you to think with me

just for a moment

about the purpose

that names had

in the ancient world.

In most cases,

when people in the modern age

decide that they're going

to name their children,

they really don't go about it

the same way

the ancient world did.

I remember when Judith and I,

and we were in the pre-internet

phase of life

when we named our children,

and I remember when we started

thinking about naming children.

How many of you

have been through that process?

You're deciding on what

you're going to name your child.

In our case,

our first one,

I was fully convinced,

I was fully convinced

that it was going to be a boy.

Hi, Heather.

In fact,

I was so fully convinced,

I was rather full of myself

back then,

struggled with it still,

but I remember thinking,

I wouldn't even let my wife

talk about girls' names.

It wasn't going to happen.

It wasn't on the agenda.

It was all planned out,

boys' names,

and we worked through them.

You know,

never choose a girl's name

until the last day

we're in labor and delivery,

and Judith says,

well, just as a matter of chance,

why don't we think about

a girl's name?

I said, really?

Okay, Heather.

It wasn't that simple.

We had a friend who had a daughter

that was named Heather.

In those days,

when you decided

you were going to name a child,

what you did was

you went and bought

a little book,

you know,

in the grocery store,

you could,

Mary Ellen,

you remember that.

You're my age, kind of.

You go through the grocery store,

and there was a little book there,

100 top boys' names,

100 top girls' names.

Now what do you do?

I knew it.

I knew it.

I did actually do that

earlier this last week.

I just said,

okay, let me check

what is out there on Google,

and I figured out

here are the top 100 boys' names

in America.

By the way,

did you know that

they're the 100 top Jewish names

and the 100 top Muslim names

and the 100 top Hindu names,

and if you want to break it down

to the state of Ohio,

they'll tell you

what the best names are in Ohio.

It's very neat,

and people choose names

largely on the basis

of popularity

and what sounds good

at the moment.

It really is true,

and some of you

are teachers.

You walk into a classroom,

and you have six of them

that have the same name.

Are there any Jadens in here?

Raise your hand

if you're a Jaden.

Okay, you walk in,

and there are six Jadens.

What you know is that

about five or six years ago,

Jaden was a top-end name,

and everybody picked it.

Why?

Because it was on Google.

And so,

in the contemporary world,

we go about picking names

for a completely different reason

than they did

in the ancient world.

The ancient world

tended to choose names

for a completely different idea.

Names were chosen

to reflect a truth,

a particular feature,

or a purpose.

When Isaac and Rebecca

had their little twins,

they used very interesting features

of the two little boys

to give them names.

How would you like

to be called Harry?

Harry.

That's what Isaac means.

I'm not Isaac.

I'm sorry.

That's what Esau means.

And the reason is,

is when he came out,

he was,

how many of you look at a baby

and say,

whoa,

there was Esau.

I mean,

he was one hairy little dude.

And so,

pop,

there he is.

We'll call him Esau.

And guess what little Jacob was doing?

Jacob had clutched a hold

of the heel.

And as a result of that,

I mean,

here is the dad and mom

thinking,

well,

we don't have Google yet

and we don't even have books

that we can check.

So what are we going to do?

We're going to call him Jacob,

which means what?

Supplanter.

Or another thing that it means

is one who trips.

The idea is,

there's that little Jacob

still in the womb,

grabbing onto the heel

of his brother

and insisting on having

the preference.

And sure enough,

according to the choices

that these names

were given to the boys,

they ended up being a lot

like what was being said

about them.

And so,

you find this idea

that names were used

to communicate

particular features

or particular purposes.

As a result of that,

you will find a lot of people

that were named

with kind of some prefix

or suffix

according to God's name.

That's why you have names

like Jehoshaphat

or Joshua

or Joash.

Do you know where the J

comes from in Hebrew?

What's the idea behind J?

Jehovah.

Right?

So,

you don't want to say,

you don't want to call

your boy Jehovah.

Right?

I mean,

that's a little over the top.

But you just stick a J

on the front

and it's safe.

It's a good idea.

It communicates that

you've got some kind

of Bible interest.

How many of you

have bumped into people

and there you are,

you're shopping

or whatever else

and the lady

at the checkouts,

you ask her,

so what's your name?

She says,

Grace.

Well,

why did you get that name?

I don't know.

My mom,

you know.

What does that tell you?

It tells you something

about the person

when you pick up

on the name

and you find out

they don't have any idea

what it's about

or they communicate,

yeah,

I understand

what my name's all about

and here's what

it communicates.

In the old days,

they used names

to tell you truth

about the person

or something

you wanted to emphasize.

And so,

as a result of this idea

of using names

to communicate truth,

one of the very popular names

in the Old Testament

was Jesus.

Does anybody know

what the alternative name

for Jesus was?

Joshua.

Joshua.

And what does the name

Joshua or Jesus communicate?

How many of you know

up front

that the name Joshua

or Jesus

communicates the idea

Jehovah is salvation?

Who's the one?

And so,

when you named

your little boy

Joshua or Jesus,

you were in essence saying

God's the one who saves.

It was a theological statement.

It was a statement

about who you believed in

and who you were dependent upon.

So now here,

when we stop and realize

that in the ancient world,

names meant a lot,

you find God

saying something

about what he wanted

Joseph to name his son.

So what was God's purpose

in naming his son Jesus?

You look there,

and in verse 21,

we find that the angel says,

here's what you are to do.

You are to call

this little boy Jesus.

And then we find

an explanation why.

Going back to the verse,

it says,

you shall call his name Jesus

for,

for he will save his people

from their sins.

So when God chose

to name Jesus

with the name

that he gave him,

he was announcing

that salvation

would be through Jesus

from the very beginning.

Little boy comes,

born in a manger,

born in human form,

taking upon himself humanity.

And here we have

an angel telling Joseph,

when you name the son,

what we want you to do

is we want you

to make it clear

that this little boy

is going to be

the savior of the world.

And when God sent

his son into the world,

he did not make it

something that was unclear

and uncertain

as to what his purpose

was going to be.

He came to be our savior.

That's why he came.

And I want you to understand

that in his first coming,

he did not come

to be the judge of the world.

He came to be

the savior of the world.

Turn in your Bible.

You're there in Matthew

and we'll come back there later.

But I want you to turn over,

if you would,

to John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

John chapter 3,

John 3 · chapter mention

verse 16 and 17.

For God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son,

his only son,

that whosoever believes in him

should not perish

but have eternal life.

Explanation of Christ's purpose

and coming.

And then look at verse 17.

For God did not send his son

into the world

to condemn the world,

but in order that the world

might be saved through him.

And so when you look at this passage,

going back there to Matthew,

you recognize that

at the very beginning,

when the announcement

of Christ's birth was made

and his name was attached

to that little baby,

what God wanted everyone to know

is that from the very beginning,

the purpose of Christ's coming

was for our salvation.

I want to stop just for a moment

and have you think,

how important is that to you really?

How important is the reality

of your salvation to you?

How important is it?

The importance that you attach

to the significance of your salvation

when you stop and think about it

is reflected in, for one thing,

the emotional sensation

that comes with that thought.

How many of you understand

what I just said?

If your salvation does not mean much

and you stop and think

about your salvation,

it's like, yeah, no big deal, right?

What does that say

about the value you attach

to your salvation?

It indicates that there's something

missing in your thinking.

Not only that,

but when we stop and think

about our salvation

and along with that thought

of salvation comes an interest

in living appropriate

to our salvation,

that's an indication also

of the value that we place in it.

Why do I behave the way I do?

Why do you behave the way you do?

It should be because

we regard the salvation

that we receive

and our interest is in reflecting

the value that we have in Christ.

So let me have you follow along

with me here in the passage

and you think about this statement.

It says,

He will bear a son.

You shall call his name Jesus,

for He will save His people.

He is coming to be

the Savior of the world.

God sent His Son, Jesus,

first of all,

to make the way of salvation

through His blood.

And even though at this moment

in the passage,

we do not find reference

directly to Christ coming

to be our Savior

by dying on the cross,

what you need to understand

is that behind the reality

of the incarnation,

why did Jesus come in the flesh?

It was for one,

to live a sinless life

and two,

to be a sacrifice

in my place

and your place

and satisfy the debt

that our sin had created.

So I want you to stop

and realize

that as you look at this passage,

it says,

He is coming,

He came

to be our Savior,

to save us from our sins.

So let's think together

of what does it mean

to be saved from our sins?

Jesus came to save us

from our sins.

Let me stop just for a moment

and ask you this question.

How many of you

in this last week

have found yourself

pretty irritated

with sin

in somebody else's life?

How many of you

have been irritated

with sin

in somebody else's life?

Happened to you?

Illustration.

I remember

yesterday driving

and I happen

to have not been

as quick

in responding

to a light

as I should have been.

How many of you

have been in that moment?

Right?

And someone about

one, two cars back

just, I mean,

laid on the horn

and just let me know

that I had been dozing

or whatever else

thinking about something else.

I was like,

and I just thought to myself,

bless him, Lord.

No, that's not really

your thought.

How many of you

this week

got frustrated

with sin in your own life?

Got frustrated

with other people's sin,

but how many

got frustrated

with sin in your own life?

I want you to understand

that when we stop

and think about

why Jesus came,

one of the incredible

blessings is this,

is that he came

to free me from my sin.

He came to free you

from your sin.

And as you look

at this passage,

one of the things

that really stands out

is that salvation

really is the exclusive

work of God

in the lives

of broken and ruined

sinners.

Look at the passage.

Jesus will save

his people

from their sins.

The fact of the matter

is that we cannot

save ourselves.

How many of you

have ever given a shot

at trying to do

a little bit

of self-improvement?

We've all done that,

right?

Oh, I need to work

at this,

I need to work

at that,

and there are

some things

that we can make

reasonable progress in,

but at the end

of the day,

when it really comes

down to changing

the heart attitudes

that we have

and really growing

to be the person

that we need to be,

is that something

that we can do

on our own initiative?

What's the answer?

I want you to think

with me just for a moment

of something that we

find over in Jeremiah.

I want you to turn

to Jeremiah chapter 13.

Jeremiah 13 · chapter mention

Go back,

if you will.

Jeremiah chapter 13,

Jeremiah 13:23

verse 23.

Jeremiah chapter 13,

Jeremiah 13:23

verse 23.

Can the Ethiopian

change his skin

or the leopard

his spots?

What's that saying?

How many of you

understand that

your genetic code

is your genetic code

and you may wish

that it would be different,

but it's not going

to change?

Furthermore,

the reality of the matter

is that the sin

that is in your life

is not something

that you can arbitrarily

choose to change.

You may make some

improvements in your behavior,

but the attitudes

of your heart

remain the same

apart from the grace

of God.

And we need to recognize

that this business

of self-improvement

is beyond us,

and that is the reason

God sent His Son

to be our Savior.

If the Ethiopian

can't change

His skin color

and the leopard

can't change

His spots,

nor can I,

nor can you,

ultimately bring about

change in our own

behavior and attitudes,

that is something

that will not take place

apart from Christ

who came to be

our Savior.

And so I want you

to look at this

and recognize salvation

is something God

has to do,

and that is what we find

announced in the text.

Yes, salvation

is the work of God.

Now I want you

to think with me

a little bit more

of what it says here.

He will save His people

from their sins.

Think with me

about what salvation

does in regards

to the matter of sin.

For one,

salvation saves us

from the penalty

of sin.

Salvation saves us

from the penalty

of sin.

Now think with me

of what it says

in Romans 6,

Romans 6:23

verse 23.

It says this,

For the wages of sin

is death.

The wages of sin

is death.

Why is it that people die?

They die because of sin.

They eventually die,

and it is an undeniable

reality that death

in every case

is a reminder

that sin came

into the world,

and with sin

came death.

And when God says

the penalty of sin

is death,

He made it undeniably

clear that that

is the consequence

of sin

from Adam on.

And yet,

we find here

in the passage

that God sent His Son,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

to die in our place.

And when He did that,

He's paid our debt,

He's satisfied

the debt that you

and I have

because of our sin.

You look first of all

at Romans chapter 6,

Romans 6 · chapter mention

but I want you to turn now,

if you will,

to 1 Corinthians chapter 15,

1 Corinthians 15:3

verse 3.

1 Corinthians chapter 15,

1 Corinthians 15:3

verse 3.

Why did Jesus come?

He came to be our Savior,

and that involved

His dying for our sins.

You look at 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:3

chapter 15,

verse 3,

and let me read

the passage to you.

It says,

I love having

conversation with individuals,

and in the course

of conversation,

asking them the question,

well, why did Jesus come?

People don't have

a great deal of trouble

yet, still,

in admitting that,

well, yeah,

Jesus did come.

He was a wonderful guy.

He was here.

My question then is,

okay, so why did He come?

Well, I suppose He came

to show us

how to live good lives.

Well, do you believe

that He died on the cross?

I mean, you know,

our culture celebrates Easter

and all those kind of things

about the resurrection.

Do you believe

that He died on the cross?

Well, yeah, I suppose.

Why did He die?

He did not die

for His own sins.

He died for mine.

He died for your sins.

He died to satisfy

the debt

that sin creates.

And so here it says

in 15.3,

Christ died

for our sins

in accordance

with the Scripture

because God had ordained

His death

for our sins.

Christ came to do that.

So come back again.

Salvation saves us

from the penalty of sin

and because Christ died

for our sins,

then we can say

with what Paul says

in Romans 8.1,

there is now therefore

no condemnation

to them

who are what?

In Christ Jesus.

How many of you

ever had those moments

when your memory

brings back things

from your past

that you just prefer

you forgot?

Ever had that?

Yeah?

When that happens,

those of you

who are here today

and know Christ

as your Savior

have the undeniable

privilege of being

able to say,

Christ died

for my sins.

He died for all

of my sins.

He died for the sins

that I committed

in the past.

He died for the sins

of the moment

and He died for my sins

in the future.

Therefore,

I can say with Paul

in Romans 8.1,

there is now therefore

no condemnation

to them

who are in Christ Jesus.

Salvation saves me

from the penalty

of sin.

Salvation also saves me

from the power of sin.

Prior to salvation,

we were absolute slaves

to sin.

Now, it doesn't mean

that we did everything

always invariably.

In every case,

we immediately sinned.

But lingering in our heart

was that desire for sin

and the readiness to sin

and ultimately,

we were slaves to it.

Now, what is a slave?

A slave is a person

who is under obligation

to do what his master

says to do.

And prior to our salvation,

you and I

were absolutely

in bondage to sin.

There are many of you

here this morning

that actually grew up

in Christian homes.

And one of the things

that's hard for you

to understand

to a certain degree

is growing up

in a Christian home,

a lot of the major,

the big-time sins,

you know what I mean

by big-time sins?

The filthy five,

the nasty nine.

Oh, we didn't do

all those things.

You know, our parents

kind of coached us

against those.

And we,

what does it mean

to be a slave to sin?

Others of you here

did not grow up

in a Christian home

and your youth

and your adulthood

in many cases

just absolutely clouded

with the wickedness

of your heart

and you have no trouble

remembering

what it was

to be an absolute

slave to sin.

The truth of the matter

is, is that all people

apart from the grace of God

equally enslaved to sin,

obligated to do

what it says

and as a result of that,

salvation delivers us

from that slavery

and leaves us

in a state

where we're no longer

obligated to sin.

Now, is that a blessing?

Undeniably so.

It is something that

you and I

who know Christ

no longer

have to behave

the way we used

to behave.

Does that make sense?

We don't have to be that way.

I want you to think with me

just for a moment

to what it says

in Romans.

You're there in Matthew

but turn over to Romans

Romans 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6.

Romans chapter 6

Romans 6:20

verse 20

and 21.

For when you were

slaves of sin

you were free

in regards to righteousness.

You could hear

the expectations

rattling around there

but ultimately

I mean you were a slave.

You know what I find

kind of curious

is that sometimes

we as believers

we get quite frustrated

when sinners

act like sinners.

It's like

so?

What do you expect?

Sinners act like sinners.

But when a believer

who is no longer

a slave to sin

misbehaves

sins

he is going

against the freedom

that he has received

he's falling back

into the old patterns

and not only that

but the word of God

the spirit of God

the prompting

of his conscience

works to draw him

away from that

and convicts

and brings him

out of it.

Salvation frees

the believer

from being a slave

to sin

and makes him

a servant of God.

Finally I want you

to recognize this morning

when you think about

what we receive

in our salvation

in relationship to sin

we're freed from the penalty

we're freed from the power of it

but we're also

eventually promised

that we will be freed

from the presence of sin.

Salvation does much

more for the believer

than just free him

in this life

it frees us

in eternity.

In the resurrection

those who are believers

and who have died

in Christ

and will rise again

rise incorruptible.

Now when it says

incorruptible

it's talking in part

one is the flesh

we are not going

to see corruption

but why does

corruption come?

What's the cause

of corruption

in life?

It is

sin.

And so what it tells us

in 1 Corinthians

15 52

it says

we will rise

incorruptible

we will no longer

be under the influence

of sin.

Furthermore

I want you to understand

that in eternity

we are going to be

in the presence

of Christ

and his presence

assures us

that we will not

ever be influenced

affected

choose to sin.

I want you to turn

if you would

to a passage

in 1 John

1 John chapter 3

1 John 3 · chapter mention

how many of you

look forward

to the fact

that there is

coming a day

when you will

no longer

sin

period

complete

end

you look forward

to that?

How many of you

on periodic

moments

find yourself

man I am so

disgusted

I remember

a couple days ago

just thinking

to myself

man I'm 67

what is the deal

with this?

And I thought

to myself

you know

when I get

to heaven

I will not

have to mess

with that anymore

why?

Look at 1 John

1 John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

there in verse 1

see what kind

of love

the Father

has given

to us

that we

should be

called

children

of God

and so

we are

the reason

why the world

does not

know us

is that

it did

not know

him

beloved

we are

God's

children

now

that's pretty

good isn't

it?

We're God's

children

now

it doesn't

get any

better than

that

but then

he goes

on and

he says

this

we're

God's

children

now

yet

what we

will be

has not

yet

appeared

for we

know

that

when

he

appears

we

shall

be

like

him

because

we

shall

see

him

as

he

is

now

what is

Jesus

like?

look forward

just for a

moment

if you

will

into

verse

3

and

everyone

who

thus

hopes

in

him

purifies

himself

because

he

is

what?

What is

Jesus

like

right

now?

He

is

absolutely

sinless

and

the day

is coming

when I

and you

as believers

in the

presence

of Christ

are no

longer

going to

have

that

ongoing

battle

with

sin

come

back

to

understand

the

Christmas

story

the

angel

said

to

Joseph

here's

what

I

want

you

to

do

I

want

you

to

call

your

son

Jesus

why?

because

he

not

you

he

is

going

to

save

his

people

from

their

sin

from

the

penalty

there's

no

condemnation

from

the

power

I

am

not

a

slave

from

the

presence

and

the

reality

the

day

is

coming

when

you

and

I

who

know

Christ

are

going

to

be

in

his

presence

and

the

truth

of

matter

is

is

that

you

will

have

no

more

battle

with

that

struggle

that

you

know

today

so

when

you

read

the

Christmas

story

whether

you

read

it

in

Luke

whether

you

read

it

in

Matthew

I

trust

one

of

the

things

that

happens

is

this

is

that

you

stop

and

am

incredibly

blessed

that

God

sent

his

son

Jesus

to

be

my

savior

and

I

am

thankful

in

the

power

of

the

Holy

Spirit

I

am

incredibly

thankful

and

I'm

joyful

because

of

who

Jesus

is

and

what

he's

done

for me

let

me

encourage

you

if

you

are

here

this

morning

and

the

thought

of

Christ

coming

and

the

blessing

that

you

have

received

in

your

salvation

does

not

resonate

with

your

soul

there

are

probably

a couple

reasons

that you

need to

think

carefully

about

for

one

it

may

be

that

you

are

here

and

you

do

not

know

Christ

it's

not

impossible

that

you

grow

up

in

a

!

home

you

hear

all

the

you

do

I

am

fully

persuaded

that

in

the

day

to

come

when

we

all

stand

to

give

an

account

there

are

going

to

be

some

who

are

ultimately

surprised

by

the

reality

of

their

salvation

not

being

what

they

thought

it

was

remember

when

Jesus

said

not

everybody

that

saith

to

me

what

Lord

Lord

shall

enter

the

kingdom

I

don't

want

you

to

be

surprised

and

so

I

want

you

to

stop

and

consciously

think

this

morning

is

the

coldness

of

my

heart

towards

the

sweetness

of

my

salvation

a

reflection

of

the

fact

that

I

really

don't

know

Christ

as

my

Savior

and

if

that's

the

concern

of

your

heart

this

morning

I

would

plead

with

you

right

where

you

sit

call

out

on

God

and

say

listen

I

can't

save

myself

but

your

spirit

is

prompting

me

to

be

concerned

for

the

well

being

of

my

soul

and

I

ask

that

you

drive

me

towards

reality

convicting

me

and

bringing

me

to

faith

there

are

some

of

you

here

today

that

know

Christ

you

can

think

about

times

where

there's

been

sweetness

and

joy

and

satisfaction

in

the

Holy

Spirit

and

your

heart

has

grown

cold

I

think

about

the

church

at

Laodicea

remember

that

you

have

lost

!

your

what?

your

first

love

well

you

can't

gin

it

up

on

your

own

can't

do

that

but

you

can

come

with

a

humility

and

a

brokenness

and

say

Lord

I

have

lost

my

sweet

affection

for

what

you've

done

in

saving

me

and

I

ask

that

you

by

your

grace

would

rekindle

that

in

my

heart

that

my

satisfaction

and

my

delight

would

be

with

you

do

you

know

what

it

says

in

the

scriptures

prayer

of

the

contrite

and

the

humble

he

hears

when

the

broken

hearted

cry

out

and

if

you

are

here

this

morning

and

you

know

Christ

but

man

that

joy

is

gone

don't

let

this

Christmas

season

pass

and

allow

that

spiritual

mediocrity

to

just

continue

creeping

on

down

the

road

you

cry

out

and

say

do

whatever

is

necessary

rekindle

in

my

heart

and

affection

for

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

a

thankfulness

for

my

salvation

and

that

the

spirit

will

do

let's

close

in

prayer

our

father

God

this

morning

as

we

think

about

what

the

scriptures

tell us

about

you