The Obvious Reason for Christmas

I would like you to turn your Bibles this morning to the passage that we are going to study

! Matthew chapter 1. We're going to be looking at verses 18 through 25, which brings to us one of the

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

pieces of the Christmas story. I go back and forth on telling you this in advance, but I suppose I

will. I am a very, very poor secret keeper. My wife knows me well enough to know that if I buy her a

present, I just can't help it. I've got to tell her ahead. It's so much fun to buy her presents. It's

like, I can't wait. And so, Lord willing, should He allow, I, next year on Christmastime, am going to

preach through the genealogies of Christ. That's actually an accurate response because there is

not a single word in the Scripture that is not for our benefit. Is that not right? And what it says in

Romans, and I love the passage in Romans 15 verse 4, it says, these things are written for our

Romans 15:4

encouragement. So, by the way, we will not get bogged down, Lord willing. I have a whole year to

work on this, trust me. Prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, lots of prayer. But when we

look at the genealogy of Christ together, it is going to be a rich, a rich overview of the plan of God

in bringing us redemption. That's what that is. By the way, no matter where you are in the Bible,

ultimately, the path leads back to Jesus. Do you know that? Do you realize that? Because He is the

center of the book that we love and are thankful for. And so, I want you to know in advance,

Lord willing. That's what I intend to preach on next year. And I almost kind of bumped over there

this year, but I thought, no, we've already got this far in the process, and I want you to be in

prayer this morning. Now, a second thing that I will say to you is that preaching is an active

and demanding responsibility, but also listening is an active and demanding responsibility. And I want to

plead with you to do that which I have probably done more repetitiously than any other thing that I

have asked you to do in the almost 27 years that I have served as your pastor, and that is that you

pray for me. Pastor Saul and I are humbled by your kindness in thinking about us around this Christmas

season. We are thankful for your generosity. You are a wonderful congregation to serve among.

And your gift is something that we are thankful for. But I know I can speak for my brother and

companion in the gospel when I say that while we are thankful for that, the thing that we appreciate

even more is that you are a persistently prayerful people for those who serve among you. We're thankful

for that. And so, it goes without saying that if I'm going to open the book, you're going to keep your

eyes open and you're also going to pray. And you can multitask, at least most people can. And so,

I ask that as I am preaching that you pray that the Spirit of God would enable me to bring the Word

with authority and with accuracy and with the affection of heaven and that you also would be

affected by it. And you can do that, can you not? Please understand this. Listen to me carefully.

Prayer makes average preaching better. I don't have an intention of being average in preaching,

but I recognize that as the Scripture says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels.

And so, please multitask that you might be enabled by the Spirit of God to be part of what He's doing.

Let's pray. Our Father, we ask the power of the Spirit that You have given to us as believers

to anoint my lips, that I may speak with unction, and that Your people may attend to the teaching of

the Word of God with the enabling of the Spirit. For as Jesus rightly taught us in John 15, apart from

Me, You can do nothing. And so, we ask that this morning we would hear carefully, we would allow the

Word of God to make a difference in our lives, and as we listen to the Word of God, that it would

have an effect that we would be different in the way we think and the way we act, that the unbelieving

world might be drawn to the cross, and we might be a joy and a delight to You. We ask this in Your

precious name. Amen. Let me have you look at Matthew chapter 1, verse 18. It says,

Matthew 1:18

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place on this way. When His mother Mary was 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 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 will call His name Jesus,

for He will save His people from their sins. I want you to understand that at the heart of

preaching is really the wonderful responsibility of communicating what God has to say. Preaching is

really not about being witty. It's not about having some sappy stories or poems that kind of resonate

off the heart, and they sound good in and of themselves. Really, preaching is about being

clear about what God has already revealed to you, and I trust that that is what you are looking for

this morning, is to hear the Word of God stated clearly and with conviction and with a desire that

you are formed by what you hear. I've got to admit that life is foggy. Do you understand what I mean by

that? It's not as easy to have it all focused and in line, and there are so many dissonant little

voices that are calling out to us and trying to have an effect on us, and life can be a little

confusing. I was shopping the other evening, and I just couldn't help but notice that the retail

culture really doesn't get Christmas. Do you understand that? I mean, you know, you can have a

little baby Jesus in a Cretion. You can have a great big old jolly Santa Claus right next to the

same setting, and you can have...so which is really Christmas? I took a walk around my neighborhood a

couple nights ago, and I counted up in my proximity. That's just one loop of a little area. There were 33

houses, I think, that were decorated with Christmas. At least, that's what I say. They had lights hung all

over the place, and I thought, AEP must love this season. You know, it's like cha-ching, and I mean,

there were some houses that I thought should have their own transformer. It was pretty serious.

Powerful. Hallelujah. Somebody must work for AEP. But I remember walking around, and I had to...I kind

of...at the end of the circle, I noticed aside from fat little blow-up Santa Claus, I really didn't get any

idea that Christmas had anything to do with any kind of religious focus. Aside from the festive mood

and the lights and things like that, no indication. And it's not just in the stores.

My computer inbox is just filled, filled with help of messages of things that I really didn't know I

needed to be warmer, to be happier, to be more productive, to be more satisfied. I mean, just

an incessant delete, delete, delete, delete, because they just clog up the system.

And I'll admit, I get caught up in the flow a little bit, too. I was sitting there in the family

room, Judith and I together, and I was sitting there on my laptop, and she looked over, and she said,

hey, what are you doing? I was actually reading the news at the moment, and I admitted that, and I said,

well, I just happened to be kind of flying through some of the news articles, and she says, oh, really?

I said, why? She said, well, you never want to buy anything until right around Christmas,

and then you buy things that other people were thinking about buying for you.

And she said, stop, don't do it. And so I thought to myself, well, what prompts me around Christmas

time to begin thinking about things that I desperately need? And it has to be the advertisements.

So I admit, the tractor beam of retail draws me in just like the rest of you, and it's pretty easy

to get caught up in what's going on with the season. And so I want to take the Word of God and

lay it out like a compass and say, where's true north and what really is this time all about?

So I want you to turn in our passage here just to verse 21 in particular as we focus on this text,

and let me make three points that rise out of the passage itself. First of all,

it's undeniable that Christmas is about Jesus, isn't it? That's what Christmas is really about.

And so I trust that as you celebrate Christmas as a family, and that's a good thing to do,

now listen to me, don't kind of read the Christmas story kind of out of obligation like,

okay, when I get back to church, I'll be able to say, pastor, we read this Christmas story.

We're good. Hey, listen, weave the Lord Jesus into the life of your family in more than just that

particular thing. Make Him center, not just of that day, but of every day. And we look here at

this passage, and as you look, you recognize verse 21, it says, listen, you'll call His name Jesus.

Now question, how many of you know what the name Jesus actually means? Just, you can have three

options. Nod your head, that's one. Smile at me real big like you're kind of doing a dental thing,

or just raise your hand. A, B, C. Some of you are going like this, and you need to stop, okay?

Hey, listen, up here, up here. Here's what Jesus means. It means Jehoshua is salvation. Joshua,

Jesus, the Lord is Savior. When Joseph was given instructions on what to name his son,

he said, listen, you're going to call Him God is Savior, Lord is Savior, because that's what He's all

about. No matter where you are in this wonderful book, Jesus is the recurring theme, and all things

come back to Him. Now, in the Old Testament, the hints are a little harder to see on occasion.

Wouldn't you agree with that? You recognize in particular, let me give you a couple of illustrations.

You remember when Abraham was called to sacrifice his only son, and up the hill he went, and remember,

his son Isaac says, hey, listen, where's the sacrificial lamb? Where's the sacrifice? And what did

Abraham say? God will provide. God will provide. And the New Testament becomes profoundly more clear when,

as Jesus was coming, John the Baptist says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The New Testament makes the issue of the centrality of Christ and the story of redemption much clearer,

and both Matthew and Luke lay out some of the details of the first Christmas,

and though each of the accounts give us a different set of facts, nevertheless, at the center of all of these

facts is the Lord Jesus. Our text today explains the miracle birth. It explains how Joseph intended to respond

and how the Spirit of God came to him, where actually an angel of the Lord came to him and pointed out that he was

not to handle things appropriately. And the Old Testament, as we have just alluded to, really

points towards Jesus with prophecies and symbolic imagery. I'm reminded of the fact that when in the

Old Testament a believer sinned, the way in which to deal with that sin was through sacrifice, and as he

sacrificed, he was not thinking that the blood of that bull or that goat or that lamb, whatever it was,

was actually an adequate atonement for sin. But he was thinking forward to the day that God had

promised would come when someone he would send would be the substitute and the sacrifice for sin.

The theme of God's provision is the lone bright star against the incredibly dark background and backdrop

of what took place in Genesis chapter 1. I want you to think just for a moment back to Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention Genesis 1 · chapter mention

chapter 3. Actually, I said chapter 1, I meant 3. 315, where remember after Adam and Eve had sinned and God

comes to them, he makes this statement. He says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, talking about

Satan, the serpent, and he says, between you and your offspring, and he will bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel. It's called the proto-evangelism or evangelism, but it's the first reference

to the fact that God would provide a sacrifice for our sin.

We see throughout the Old Testament sacrificial system the reference to the fact that God would provide,

and when in the temple people would come and offer their sacrifice,

they were thinking of the day that God would provide His Son to be the sacrifice.

I want you to look at two more texts in which we see things a little more clearly,

particularly in the New Testament. If you will, turn to John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

John chapter 5, verse 39.

John 5:39

Very interesting statement that Jesus makes to His detractors,

who were specialists in the Old Testament.

They prided themselves in knowing what the Bible had to say, the Old Testament.

And by the way, Jesus had a lot of fun with them. One of the things that He would say

was, have you never read? What was their attitude towards that?

It was like, duh.

I mean, the supreme insult to say to a Pharisee,

now listen to me, the Pharisees were so well versed in the Bible,

the Old Testament, that you could have them,

you could give them a reference and they could recite the whole thing,

or you could start a sentence and they could finish it.

We can do that with a couple things.

Here's an illustration.

For God so loved the world.

See, you can do that, but how many of you can go much beyond that one?

The Pharisees had it down cold.

And Jesus loved to point out to them that while they heard the Scriptures,

the Scriptures didn't make any difference to the way they lived.

In John chapter 5, verse 39, He says,

John 5:39

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life,

and it is they that bear witness to Me.

If you were to walk into my office,

and you were to sit in the chairs that are in there,

behind you would be the verses that I see when I study.

One of them is John chapter 5, verse 39,

John 5:39

and it is written out, and then it says this,

How does this sermon testify to Christ?

You see, the Scriptures bear witness to Jesus.

Let me have you look at another one in particular,

and this is over in the book of Luke,

just a brief comment on this.

And I, for one, am inclined to think that probably Hebrews,

a wonderful book,

is the more complete unpacking of what Jesus taught on that road

and the little sermon that He gave to those two grieving disciples.

Look at Luke chapter 24, verse 25.

Luke 24:25

And He said to them,

O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,

was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things

and enter into His glory?

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

So when Jesus came that first Christmas,

He who was God's gift to a broken and wicked world

was and is also the central figure of it.

And I cannot help but wonder this morning,

as we gather and we sit under the teaching of the Word of God,

whether or not Jesus is really central in your life.

Do you understand that?

Is He at the very center?

Or have other things crowded Him out?

I'm reminded of what it says over in the book of Revelation

where Jesus, as He writes to the church,

He says there at Laodicea,

you have lost your, what?

Your first love.

Can I tell you something about love?

It doesn't do well unnurtured and uncared for.

Do you realize that?

It can fade and lose its power.

And so this morning, as you sit and listen to the preaching of the Word of God,

ask yourself that practical question,

how connected is my heart

to the beauty and the glory of the Lord Jesus who came to be my Savior.

Second thing that I want you to see going back to that passage in Matthew

is that Christmas is about salvation.

Christmas is about salvation.

And I've got to tell you,

I can understand why the world gets so bent out of shape

when we, with any level of clarity,

declare what Christmas is really all about.

You look at the passage there in Matthew chapter 1

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

and mark what it says.

It says that Jesus came to be our Savior.

And so we recognize, as you look at the passage

and think about it here just for a moment,

it says He came to save.

The Bible is crystal clear

that men cannot save themselves.

That's really actually pretty offensive.

Do you understand that?

I mean, for one,

we'd like to believe that God grades on the curve,

at least the curve that works for us.

And we don't mind the way He treats other people.

I mean, they're scoundrels

and they deserve what they've got coming.

But us?

Hey, cut me slack.

I'm doing my best.

The truth of the matter is

is that all mankind is in a predicament

that He's eternally dangerous.

In the face of that,

we have a tendency to be a little bit like the rich fool

over there in Luke chapter 12, verse 16 through 21.

Luke 12:16–21

Remember the rich fool?

He had it all happening.

It was good.

He was gathering just beaucoup.

It was coming in.

In fact, he had so much

that, you know,

he decides, he reaches the point and says,

hey, I am kicking back

because I've got enough

to kind of coast on towards the sunset.

You know, I'll buy myself a third vacation home.

I'm going to have an RV and a yacht

and I'm in.

I'm on.

It's a good, good thing.

Remember what Jesus said to him,

thou fool,

tonight your soul will be required of you.

When we read the remainder of that lesson,

we realize this self-focused man

really was not thinking about eternity at all

and in consequences, he was doomed.

Others are amazingly pleased with themselves

and their relative goodness.

I had a wonderful chance earlier,

well, it's actually last week.

I keep forgetting.

Sunday is the beginning of a new week, right?

Gotcha.

Okay, yeah, it is.

But last week,

I had the chance to share the gospel with a guy.

We had a little extra time.

We're sitting in a hospital

and so how we drifted left of center,

I don't know how it happened.

But anyway,

he got to talking about spiritual things

and he shared with me

that he was a very generous and kind man

and he didn't judge other people.

And so I followed up

and asked him the logical question.

I said,

so Hitler's in heaven?

Do you follow the logic there?

I mean,

he doesn't judge

and God doesn't judge

and everybody's okay.

And I said,

well,

is Hitler in heaven?

Well,

he got a little flustered

but he says,

no,

I don't think so.

I said,

well,

if Hitler's not in heaven,

how far down the line

do you have to come

with being nasty and naughty

to get to the point

that God cares about it?

You know what the answer is?

The Bible tells us

all have sinned

and come short

of the glory of God.

There is none that are righteous,

no,

not one.

And I didn't give him the reference.

You know,

sometimes,

how many of you figured out

that sometimes the reference

is like sticking a finger

in a guy's eye

is like dingbat,

boom,

Bible verse,

boom,

you know,

not to be done.

Okay.

I said,

you know,

truth of the matter is

is if God's holy

and perfect

and his mother

was in surgery,

I said,

you know what,

I bet you you're hoping

that the doctor

is exercising

all due caution

and you want

a bug-free environment

for your mother's surgery

right now,

right?

Well,

yeah.

I mean,

I remember when my father

would scrub for surgery

and I thought,

you know,

hit it a lick

with water

and leave it go.

You know,

go on in.

You know,

timer running,

ding,

ding,

ding,

you know,

and there was

this protocol

of putting on gloves

and gown

and it's like,

oh,

but you know what?

If what you want to do

is come out of surgery

without an infection,

do those kind of things

make a difference?

And the answer is yes.

Well,

heaven has zero infection.

I'm reminded

of what it says

over in Hebrews chapter 9

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

where it says,

it's appointed unto man

once to die

and after that,

the judgment.

It's really surprising

to tell people

that there will be

no do-overs.

Do I get a second chance?

No.

And if you have not

trusted in Christ

and you are planning

to face the judgment

on the basis

of your own self-righteousness,

the answer from Scripture

is you are doomed.

The truth of the matter

is is that the Bible

makes it clear

that all mankind

is utterly unable

to save themselves.

It's one thing

to be told

that we need

to be saved.

It's another thing

to be told

that you can't

do it yourself.

And when we read here

in this passage,

He will save

His people

from their sins.

The supposition

of the text

is that we can't do it.

We need someone else

to do it.

Think with me

just for a moment

to another passage.

And so if you want

to follow along,

I want you to turn

in your Bible

over to Ephesians chapter 2

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

where the apostle

in the second chapter

of Ephesians

does just a phenomenal job

of explaining

some of the details

of salvation.

and look what He says

there in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

It says,

for by grace...

Now what does grace mean?

It means I get something

that I didn't earn.

I am amazed...

Everybody look up

and smile at me

so I know you're with me.

Like this.

I'm amazed

at how many people

go to church

and at the end

of the day

really believe

that the reason

they're getting

into heaven

is because

they're pretty good people.

Now I admit

there are some churches

where the gospel

doesn't have

a floating chance.

But don't deceive yourself.

It's only by the grace

of God

that a person

comes to faith.

There it is

in verse 8.

It says,

for by grace

you have been saved

through faith

and this is not

of your own...

What?

Doing.

Knock, knock, knock.

Hi Tim.

How are you getting in?

Well, I've been

a pretty good person.

Ha!

You know,

anybody that knows me

knows that

is a lie.

And it's the same thing

for you.

Now aren't you glad

everybody doesn't know

all the things about you

that God does?

But the truth of the matter

is you're not getting there

because of who you are.

You're getting there

because God sent His Son

to die for your sins.

I want you to go back

with me now

to Matthew

as we recognize

the third point.

Christmas is about

saving us

from our sins.

Looking at

Matthew chapter 1

Matthew 1:21

verse 21

and picking up again

on that theme

there in the text

it says,

for He will save

His people

from their sins.

God has ordained agents

such as our families

to help us with that.

Our conscience

that bears witness.

And the government.

I was driving

in a particular area

the other day

and I happened to notice

that people were being

exceptionally prudent

in their driving skills.

And I thought,

hmm,

what is all this about?

And then when I rounded

the corner

I discovered

what was prompting

their conscience.

It was an officer

of the law

sitting over in the berm

and kind of sitting there

happily waiting

for someone

who was brain dead

to go by.

So, you know,

and I,

everybody and I

kind of rolled

the traffic

and you know

what happened

after we were

out of sight?

Guess what happened?

Does anybody know

what happened?

Does anybody know

what happened?

Everybody just burned

the petrol

like they had

no thought

in their mind

of what was dangerous.

And off they went

and I'm sitting there

going,

ooh,

okay.

Here's the truth.

all men

are sinners.

Even with the restraints

in place

the heart of man

is a dark place

and a factory

for every imaginable sin.

I want you to understand

that sin harms man

in this present life

and it condemns

in the life to come.

Turn back in your Bible.

I've referenced Genesis

a number of different times

and so we're going to take

a couple minutes.

You can keep your finger

in Matthew

if you wish

or not

but go to Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

as we look at

what God has to say

about sin

in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

And by the way

let me tell you

a little secret

about Bible study.

It's always good

to get it right

from the beginning.

Would you understand that?

How many of you

have done math problems

that rely upon you

getting the starting facts

right?

And if you get

the starting facts wrong

what happens as you

go down the line?

Do you understand

that it only gets worse?

Okay.

Well Genesis 3

I've been talking

so let me get there.

I want you to recognize

as you look at

Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

that first of all

sin leads man

to be self-deceived.

Look at Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3:7

verse 7.

It says

then the eyes of both

were opened

after they had sinned

and they knew

that they were naked.

Okay.

Now

the reasonable thing

to do when you

recognize you're naked

is say

hey God

I have sinned

and I desperately

need your help.

Right?

What'd they do?

Oh look at the passage.

It says

what they did

was they grabbed

fig leaves

and sewed them together

and made themselves

loincloths.

Hey what do you think?

Looks good right?

Did I fool you

with my fig leaves?

Listen to me carefully

so you don't miss this.

Sin leads mankind

to be self-deceived.

Instead of recognizing

and admitting

the broken

and helpless state

that sin produces

we try to cover ourselves

one way or another

with fig leaves.

Second

sin leads mankind

to have broken

relationships with God.

Verse 8

they heard the sound

of the Lord God

walking in the garden

in the cool of the day

and the man

and his wife

hid themselves

from the presence

of the Lord God.

prior to sin

Adam and Eve

welcomed

their communion

with God.

They enjoyed it.

They found pleasure

in the presence

of the Almighty.

And do you know

something?

Listen to me carefully.

in the heart

of every believer

is a longing

for the day

when we will have

complete

whole

unfettered

unrestricted

communion

with the Lord

of hosts.

I love

Psalm 16

11

where it says

in thy presence

is the what?

The fullness

of joy

and that your right hand

are pleasures

evermore.

And here in Genesis

we find that

man and woman

incredibly deceived

by sin

thought that they

could actually

hide from God

and he didn't

see them.

Third thing

is that sin

leads mankind

to have broken

relationships

with one another.

It was really

interesting in this

conversation

that I referenced

earlier

the man let me

know that he was

fully persuaded

that all wars

were the consequences

of religion.

How many of you

figured out

that sometimes

arguing is not

a good idea?

You know?

In the presence

of a man

who's fully

persuaded

you know

it's just

you just have

to kind of

wait for the

opening

such as

since God

doesn't judge

is Hitler

going to heaven?

You know

you just give

him enough rope

and then what

happens is

there's kind of

a tripping process

that takes place

and I remember

this person

going on

about the subject

of all wars

being the consequences

of religion

and I said

hmm

I let him talk

and I said

I'm wondering

what religion

led Mao Zedong

to slaughter

50 million Chinese

you know that

right?

I said

or

while we're

talking about it

I'm thinking

about Pol Pot

how many of you

know Pol Pot?

or I said

what about the

Hutus and the

Tutsis?

you know

no that's

about religion

that's because

of the heart

of darkness

the heart

of darkness

and when we

read what the

scriptures have

to say

we understand

that when

Adam and Eve

fell into sin

it affected

their relationships

in a millisecond

now here was

the man who

just moments

earlier was

doing cartwheels

because God

had given him

a wife

and now he

turns like a

brute and he's

willing to

sacrifice her

on the altar

if it'll get

him off the

hook

you know

what he says

you know

this sin

problem I

wouldn't be

having if it

wasn't for

that girl

you gave

me

I mean

what a

boor

that's a

polite word

are there any

boors here

I don't think

so

you see

here was

Adam by

the way

listen

Adam was

the one who

had been

given the

operating

instructions

for the

garden

do you

understand

that

and he

had stood

by

as he

watched

Eve

trundle

over

and listen

to the

snake

and he

listened

and heard

what was

happening

and he

let her

go right

ahead

and do

it

by the

way

all of

you who

are out

here

are men

God

is not

in favor

of you

being a

passive

low

life

he's

not

asking

you

to be

an

ayatollah

but buddy

he expects

you to

protect

your wife

by providing

a little

bit of

Bible

help

on

issues

let's

come to

one more

thing

Christmas

is about

great

news

that's

what

Christmas

is

now

let's

be

honest

great

news

is always

prefaced

by

terrible

news

do you

follow

that

and let

me tell

you

something

you can't

get to

good

news

without

dealing

with

the

bad

news

first

everybody

smile

at me

so you

understand

where

I'm

going

you

can't

get

to

good

news

without

accepting

bad

news

how do

I want

to say

this

this

last

week

has

been

quite

a

little

dust

up

over

ill

advised

comments

made

in

questionable

environments

I thought

about the

passage

that says

don't

throw

your

pearls

to

swine

lest

they

turn

again

and

rend

you

that's

one

thought

that I

had

but

another

one

is

this

is

hey

listen

I

could

regardless

of the

environment

recite

Romans

chapter

one

and I

tell

you

what

if

people

understood

what

Romans

chapter

one

said

they'd

want

to

crucify

me

in this

contemporary

culture

do you

understand

that

so

here's

what

Christians

get to

do

kind

of

shut

up

and

act

like

you

don't

care

and

by

the

way

does

that

make

Jesus

happy

what's

the

answer

smile

at

me

because

you're

going

to

hate

me

for

this

no

I

mean

at

the

end

of

the

day

you

have

to

choose

which

side

you're

on

can

you

be

a

little

more

discreet

and

a

little

more

gentle

and

the

answer

is

yes

but

let

me

tell

you

something

about

truth

it

makes

those

who

don't

want

to

hear

it

upset

now

here's

the

truth

bad

news

comes

before

good

news

here's

what

Jesus

said

remember

the

Pharisees

they

were

all

lit

up

all

the

time

I

mean

they

walked

around

with

a

perpetual

grunt

a

groan

grumble

forget

they

they

were

unhappy

people

they

were

looking

like

some

of

you

this

morning

you

know

it's

like

why

come

to

church

you

can

frown

at

home

okay

and

and

Jesus

really

was

merciless

on

them

and

Jesus

made

it

clear

they

are

all

stewed

and

steamed

and

he

says

hey

let me

tell

you

something

the

only

people

who

need

a

physician

are

those

who

are

sick

and

so

the

truth

of

matter

is

is

that

beloved

we

cannot

save

ourselves

we

stand

justly

condemned

before

a

holy

God

and

there

are

every

one

of

us

in

here

that

do

not

know

Christ

are

just

a

heartbeat

from

hell

but

the

good

news

is

this

Jesus

came

into

the

world

to

save

sinners

that's

why

and

those

who

cry

out

to

him

for

salvation

will

be

saved

does

it

get

any

better

than

that

well

what

do

I

have

to

do

just

accept

the

reality

the

undeniable

clear

evidence

that you

are a

scoundrel

and hopelessly

unable to

save yourself

and God

seeing your

condition

sent Jesus

to be

your

savior

doesn't

it count

that I

went to

a good

church

grew up

and knew

all the

Sunday

school

lessons

even

was

baptized

let me

tell you

something

there

will be

lots

of

baptists

in

hell

how

can

I

say

that

well

there

will

be

Presbyterians

there

too

and

there

will

be

Methodists

and

there

will

be

other

people

here's

the deal

you don't

get to

heaven

by being

a member

of a

church

or

wearing

a

particular

label

you get

to

heaven

by having

faith

in the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

and

in

him

alone

and

faith

in

Christ

means

coming

to

the

point

where

you

with

all

humility

say

I

am

a

miserable

wretch

justly

condemned

before

God

who

is

holy

and

I

cry

out

to

Jesus

and

ask

that

he

save

me

do

you know

what it says

in the

Bible

I love

this

I like

saying it

to

everybody

whosoever

calls

upon

the

name

of

the

Lord

shall

be

saved

how

should

I

end

a

Christmas

message

I

should

end

it

this

way

by

saying

that

the

gospel

is

something

that

to

every

believer

is

profoundly

sweet

because

when

you

hear

what

Jesus

has

done

for

you

that

makes

you

say

that's

my

Jesus

and

for

you

who

do

not

know

Christ

that

sit

this

morning

under

the

preaching

of

the

word

of

God

have

an

opportunity

to

cry

out

and

say

I

am

a

sinner

and

I

need

Christ

to

save

me

and

the

Bible

says

whosoever

calls

upon

the

name

of

the

Lord

shall

be

saved

let's

pray

a

Thank you.