WEBVTT 00:00:01.080 --> 00:00:02.180 One week. 00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:03.600 Are you ready? 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:05.740 Everyone has. 00:00:05.780 --> 00:00:08.620 I'm assuming that perfect tree already picked out, right? 00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:11.780 I've been fighting all the traffic at the mall. 00:00:12.520 --> 00:00:18.730 Your budget has taken a December blow, and now you're worried about all the quality time with your family. 00:00:20.340 --> 00:00:21.860 If you're like my family, it's been. 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:24.880 We've had some divorce and remarriages experience. 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:32.130 And so that fight for that time of where you go and how you spend your time on Christmas is very valuable. 00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:35.340 Guys, if you don't know, it works like this with her family. 00:00:35.440 --> 00:00:41.520 She gets Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas and you get Groundhog's Day, Presidents Day. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:42.120 No, I'm just kidding. 00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:47.200 Christmas can be complicated. 00:00:49.160 --> 00:00:56.160 So complicated, in fact, that we oftentimes forget the point or we miss the point. 00:00:57.040 --> 00:01:04.239 It's possible to be born in America today under the advertisement of Christmas, and really have no idea of why Christmas began and 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.580 what the point of Christmas is all about. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:09.420 What about this, guys? 00:01:10.600 --> 00:01:11.440 Is your shopping finished? 00:01:12.520 --> 00:01:14.240 I know most guys you've got. 00:01:14.300 --> 00:01:15.530 How many days before the mall closes? 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:17.240 What day is that? 00:01:17.240 --> 00:01:18.340 What time? 00:01:18.520 --> 00:01:18.880 Right. 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.240 Are you looking for that perfect gift this year? 00:01:22.380 --> 00:01:23.210 What are you going to go with? 00:01:23.220 --> 00:01:23.920 Are you going to try it out? 00:01:23.960 --> 00:01:24.800 Do your gift this year. 00:01:24.820 --> 00:01:30.060 Are you going to go with the more expensive side this year or more of the sentimental side? 00:01:31.080 --> 00:01:32.820 I know some of you have probably already tried this. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.660 You've gone to your spouse and you said, honey, what do you want for Christmas? 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:38.400 And she said, oh, nothing. 00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:39.780 I'm okay. 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:41.730 I just want to spend time with you. 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:42.380 Right? 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:47.840 But woe to the man who shows up on Christmas morning with nothing under that tree. 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:57.240 Buying that perfect gift can be difficult and sometimes complicated, especially 00:01:57.240 --> 00:01:58.920 if you're a guy. 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:01.860 Maybe you live under that pressure that I. 00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:07.800 I feel where you've got to buy that special gift for someone where it's exactly what they needed or wanted for Christmas. 00:02:08.300 --> 00:02:10.060 You know, you couldn't go over your budget. 00:02:10.060 --> 00:02:15.150 But somehow, Lord, if you could bring under that $25 range somewhere to get that gift for that person. 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:19.540 And what about those presents you have to buy that are just bad presents? 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:26.040 And what I mean is, your name got thrown into a hat somewhere, and you've got to buy an office party gift for someone that you've never talked to all year long. 00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:26.800 Right? 00:02:26.940 --> 00:02:31.340 You might as well just exchange $25 bills, right? 00:02:31.440 --> 00:02:38.980 Buying the perfect gift for someone can be difficult when you think about the 00:02:39.060 --> 00:02:39.630 point of Christmas. 00:02:41.100 --> 00:02:45.600 Christmas is all about that perfect gift, God. 00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:51.840 Knowing exactly what you needed in your life and bringing that gift to you. 00:02:53.760 --> 00:02:57.440 Christmas is a story about the greatest gift ever given. 00:02:58.880 --> 00:03:01.370 Christmas is about an unbelievable gift. 00:03:03.100 --> 00:03:10.560 Together, we've been studying an unbelievable Christmas and how it was perceived by the early followers of Jesus, the Zacharias 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:16.080 who pronounced the coming of the Messiah, and Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus. 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:23.520 The idea of Christmas running around in their heads and how God coming in the flesh seemed unbelievable to him. 00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:30.940 And today we're going to understand the whole gift of Christmas and the unbelievable idea of what Christmas is about as it's presented to us as people, 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:32.060 as a gift. 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:38.000 We've seen in Luke together, we've studied the first two chapters of The Christmas Story. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.080 We talk about an unbelievable gift, the pronouncement of the angels as he came to the shepherds. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:46.340 He declared this to them as they were tending their sheep. 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:54.680 So but the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:54.980 the people. 00:03:56.220 --> 00:04:03.040 For today in the city of David there was there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:12.800 When you think about Christmas, what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Jesus 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:14.340 on Christmas? 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:16.240 What do you think about? 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:23.540 Under the stress of what Christmas has become, I would have to say that it's not always happy times. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:32.860 But I think for just a moment and just reading this text and the pronouncement of the angel when he came before the shepherds, that if when I think about Jesus 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:36.820 and I think about Christmas, as the angel said, if the first thing that I. 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:44.810 I'm not thinking about is great joy, perhaps someone has misrepresented to me what 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.810 Jesus and Christmas is all about. 00:04:50.060 --> 00:04:57.140 If there's anything about this story that does not strike you as good news or joyful, perhaps someone has given you 00:04:57.140 --> 00:05:02.840 a poor characterization of what the story of Christmas possesses for us as people. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:11.300 When someone mentions to you Christmas or someone mentions to you good news, the first thing that comes into your mind shouldn't be, well, what's this 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:12.360 going to cost me? 00:05:12.940 --> 00:05:15.420 Or how much time is this going to take? 00:05:16.580 --> 00:05:18.120 Or what is it I'm going to have to do? 00:05:19.740 --> 00:05:23.140 The pronouncement of Christmas is of good news. 00:05:25.280 --> 00:05:31.460 It tells us in this passage of Scripture that this great joy which was given for all people. 00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:34.620 This joy was given for all people. 00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:39.760 It says, for today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior. 00:05:41.760 --> 00:05:47.380 The Christmas story is all about God wanting to be with you. 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:53.360 The joy of Christmas is that God wants to know you. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.520 And God came to this world to demonstrate it. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.320 We've seen the unbelievable journey of Christmas together. 00:06:04.380 --> 00:06:11.440 We've seen how Jesus has fulfilled Old Testament prophecy in coming to this world and being born of a manger, living an 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:16.780 incredible life that led him ultimately all the way to the cross, to die for the sins of all the world. 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:25.080 But how is this unbelievable gift of Christmas good news for us. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:29.100 What is it about Christmas or about Jesus that we've misunderstood? 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:36.200 That when we think about the great joy of what Christmas is supposed to be, how did it get lost from the joy of the pronouncement of the angel to 00:06:36.200 --> 00:06:38.400 the stress that we feel in Christmas today? 00:06:40.830 --> 00:06:42.840 This morning we're going to answer that question. 00:06:43.020 --> 00:06:45.440 If you brought a Bible with you turn to John chapter one. 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:53.140 We're going to simply ask this question how is the unbelievable gift of Christmas? 00:06:54.140 --> 00:06:54.500 Good news. 00:06:56.460 --> 00:07:03.520 If you turn to John chapter one and verse one, you see a very clear pronouncement about the coming of Jesus as written by the Apostle 00:07:03.520 --> 00:07:03.960 John. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:09.460 And the first thing that he wants us to recognize is he begins his book in John. 00:07:09.520 --> 00:07:16.660 Is that the good news about this unbelievable gift, different than probably any other Christmas gift you've ever received, is that it's totally free. 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:20.860 You don't have to buy someone else a gift to get this gift. 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:25.420 Jesus came to this world for you before you were even born. 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:32.720 God desires a relationship with you so much that 2000 years ago, Jesus saw the need to come to this earth for you. 00:07:34.200 --> 00:07:38.030 The good news about this Christmas gift is that it's free. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:45.120 It says in John one and verse one, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.660 The word in this passage is referring to Jesus. 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:53.560 Let me just substitute the name word for Jesus in this passage and reread it. 00:07:54.620 --> 00:07:55.820 In the beginning was Jesus. 00:07:57.160 --> 00:07:59.520 And Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:07.370 If you're just skipping to John chapter one all the way down to verse 14, and John clarifies a little bit more about Jesus. 00:08:07.460 --> 00:08:14.720 And it says, And Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:21.160 his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:30.680 To understand the unbelievable gift of Christmas, we have to begin to unpack what John is telling us as 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:34.799 readers in verse one and verse 14 of beginning chapter of his book. 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:43.640 He says, When Jesus came to this earth, the reason that it's good news for us as people is because this gift to you was full 00:08:43.640 --> 00:08:45.660 of grace and truth. 00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:48.240 What is grace? 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:56.700 I would say in society today we use that term often, but rarely use it in the proper context. 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:02.000 The Bible clarifies for us what the idea of grace is all about. 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:10.280 In Romans four four says, now to the one who works his wage is not credited as favor, but as what is due. 00:09:11.220 --> 00:09:13.500 In the King James, the word favor there would be grace. 00:09:14.460 --> 00:09:17.220 It's the same Greek word favor, and grace is the same Greek word. 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:22.340 And it sang to us, when you work for something, it's counted as a wage, and it's not counted as grace. 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:28.480 It says in Romans 11 six, but if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. 00:09:28.780 --> 00:09:32.320 Otherwise grace is no longer grace. 00:09:34.640 --> 00:09:41.080 When God came to this earth for you, the gifting to you was completely free. 00:09:43.740 --> 00:09:51.160 In fact, if you were to read in John one and verse 16, as we saw in chapter one, it says, for of his fullness we have all received grace 00:09:51.160 --> 00:09:52.620 upon grace. 00:09:54.380 --> 00:09:59.060 God has not delivered to you just a little bit of grace on top of what you needed in life. 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:02.360 Jesus has dumping his grace into your life. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:10.800 It says in John 316, For God so loved the world that he gave this free gift, came out of love for God giving 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:11.280 to you. 00:10:11.280 --> 00:10:18.380 And it says in Ephesians 289, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not a result 00:10:18.380 --> 00:10:19.340 of works. 00:10:21.430 --> 00:10:28.520 When you think about the good news of Christmas, the first thing that you shouldn't think about is what's it going to cost me? 00:10:28.740 --> 00:10:30.720 Or what am I going to have to do? 00:10:32.400 --> 00:10:36.630 The good news about Christmas is that it's full of God's grace to you. 00:10:39.780 --> 00:10:40.580 It's not a story about straighten up. 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:43.000 It's not another to do list of something you have to do to earn something. 00:10:44.300 --> 00:10:46.480 It's not about even going to church and listen to this. 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:49.140 It's not about giving yourself to God. 00:10:51.160 --> 00:10:58.400 The only message that's contained in the message of Christmas is that God has freely given himself to you. 00:11:00.780 --> 00:11:07.820 Imagine for a moment what this was like for those during the time of John and the Greek 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:09.700 culture and a Roman society. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:19.580 In their mind, in order to appeal to God, in order to win God's favor and even begin to experience God's love, you had to work yourself to death 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:24.140 and try to keep God happy, because most of their gods sat on clouds throwing lightning bolts at you. 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:32.280 They were angry gods, and now all of a sudden, John is delivering this message to people and saying, listen, you've missed the whole point of 00:11:32.280 --> 00:11:33.310 Jesus's coming. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:38.360 It's about nothing that you've done but what God wants to bring to you. 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:47.720 The message of Christmas is a message of grace, because it's a message that is free without having 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:52.210 to give yourself to God, without having to straighten up, without having to obey any rules. 00:11:52.660 --> 00:11:56.130 God simply has declared to us that he wants to deliver himself to you. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:03.520 Second, the message of Christmas is an unbelievable gift for us because we need it. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:09.940 We talk about a word as John 116 says, grace upon grace. 00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:14.960 It's not as if Jesus just throws the sprinkles on top of your ice cream cone here. 00:12:16.020 --> 00:12:19.320 It's not like you've got a pepperoni pizza and Jesus throws a little extra pepperoni on it. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:20.420 You know, for you pepperoni lovers. 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:23.600 We talk about grace upon grace. 00:12:23.640 --> 00:12:29.600 The way that Jesus lavishes this grace upon you is because you need to experience his grace. 00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:36.700 It's as if you have a naked man walking around unclothed, or a child going to bed hungry, or someone staying without shelter, sleeping 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:37.640 through the night. 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:38.650 They are in need. 00:12:38.680 --> 00:12:44.680 And when Jesus talks about his grace upon grace in your life, he's delivering this grace to you because it's your need. 00:12:47.040 --> 00:12:51.840 It becomes joyous to us because we see Jesus delivering for our need. 00:12:53.980 --> 00:12:54.680 The Bible says this. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.520 Your iniquities have made a separation between you and God. 00:12:59.520 --> 00:13:00.820 Iniquities is sin. 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:07.900 Your sin makes a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 00:13:09.800 --> 00:13:16.820 Bible says in Romans 310, there is none righteous, saying to us as people, no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you might think 00:13:16.820 --> 00:13:21.480 you are, you're not good enough when it measures up to God because no one is righteous. 00:13:23.400 --> 00:13:26.040 Romans 323 tells us, for all have sinned. 00:13:26.040 --> 00:13:30.460 In Romans 118 says this God's wrath is against all sinners. 00:13:32.540 --> 00:13:39.780 If the Bible is declaring us to be sinful, and it's telling us in Romans 118 that God's wrath is against us, and we've seen that we can't earn his favor, 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:42.410 what position do we stand in before him? 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:51.080 When we talk about the coming of Jesus and we see it as grace upon grace, Jesus is saying to us before me, you have no hope, but 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:55.740 I'm bringing you this grace upon grace to introduce to you life through me. 00:13:57.920 --> 00:14:05.200 Says to us and other passages of Scripture in Isaiah 64 and verse six, all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:09.020 are like a filthy garment before God. 00:14:09.020 --> 00:14:15.040 You think about before God trying to earn his favor, and he's saying to us, it doesn't matter how hard you try. 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:23.360 Romans 320 by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified, justified in his sight. 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:30.000 This gift is glorious on Christmas because it's free. 00:14:31.280 --> 00:14:35.900 This gift is glorious to us on Christmas because we need it. 00:14:37.660 --> 00:14:40.080 Psalm five and verse four and five says this. 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:43.230 For you are not a God who treasures pleasure in wickedness. 00:14:43.780 --> 00:14:45.640 No evil dwells with you. 00:14:45.660 --> 00:14:47.920 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 00:14:48.420 --> 00:14:50.440 You hate all who sin. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:02.400 I don't want to change the message of what I'm trying to share with us this morning, because I said to you, the message of Christmas is all about God 00:15:02.400 --> 00:15:03.100 giving to you. 00:15:05.140 --> 00:15:08.400 What's important for us to recognize is the joy of this gift. 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:15.620 And the news of this gift is so important to our lives, because we are in a position of desperation and in great need for his glorious grace. 00:15:18.400 --> 00:15:25.520 When we think about the coming of Jesus, it should bring us such joyful hope, because before God, without him, we 00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:26.620 are in a desperate position. 00:15:29.160 --> 00:15:36.360 And no matter how we chose to live our lives, it was never going to be good enough to amount to the goodness that God required of us as 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:36.600 people. 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:42.630 Jesus's grace is more than just sprinkles on top of your ice cream cone. 00:15:43.020 --> 00:15:47.700 It's a it's a clothing of you who stand before him naked and without hope. 00:15:49.580 --> 00:15:50.720 And the good news about Jesus. 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:54.260 I know I'm talking about sin today, and that's sort of the Debbie Downer statement. 00:15:54.780 --> 00:16:02.580 But the good thing about Jesus was when he comes to you and he gives this message, it says in John chapter three and verse 17, For 00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:09.760 God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through 00:16:09.760 --> 00:16:09.860 him. 00:16:12.520 --> 00:16:19.540 The good news about this gift and the joy that comes with this gift, is that Jesus supplies every need 00:16:19.540 --> 00:16:20.750 that you have in your life. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.260 Jesus didn't come to this world wagging his finger in front of your face. 00:16:28.420 --> 00:16:30.260 Jesus already knew where you stood before him. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.060 Jesus simply came to this world to give you himself. 00:16:37.260 --> 00:16:41.300 It's not about what you don't have, but what you get with him. 00:16:42.780 --> 00:16:45.400 It's not about where you've been or what you've done. 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:48.700 It's about Jesus coming to you. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.520 God has brought you his free gift. 00:16:56.020 --> 00:17:03.230 Perhaps the most famous verse in all the Bible, I'm sure Tim Tebow is going to be wearing it today when he plays my Patriots down with Tebow, right? 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:11.220 Verse says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:14.560 not perish but have eternal life. 00:17:16.800 --> 00:17:21.540 The question that we have this morning is, do you want that gift? 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:31.060 The message of Christmas, of if you thought about Jesus and you thought that God is more than him wanting to give himself 00:17:31.060 --> 00:17:35.200 to you, and I say this morning that someone has misrepresented that to you. 00:17:36.800 --> 00:17:42.070 The message of Jesus is that God desires to give himself to you and for you to respond to him. 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:46.660 And the question we ask this morning is simply, do you want this gift? 00:17:47.620 --> 00:17:50.380 You know, some of the smartest people on earth on Christmas morning are children. 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.200 You know where they are on Christmas morning. 00:17:54.340 --> 00:17:55.160 They're under that tree. 00:17:57.020 --> 00:17:58.630 They know what's there for them. 00:17:59.540 --> 00:18:06.560 And with open arms, they're ready to wake Mom and Dad up before the sun even comes up for you to enjoy the opening of this joyous 00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:08.800 gift that they know they need, right? 00:18:11.970 --> 00:18:13.720 The same is true with Jesus. 00:18:16.100 --> 00:18:20.760 It's as if Jesus has come to this world, and he's presented himself under the Christmas tree of your life. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.870 And he's saying, if you want me in your life, all you have to do is open. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.580 It says in this verse, For God so loved the world that God did what loving people do. 00:18:33.560 --> 00:18:33.860 He gave. 00:18:35.880 --> 00:18:39.720 And when you think about the giving of God, it wasn't because of anything that you've done. 00:18:39.800 --> 00:18:42.980 It was despite what you've done. 00:18:44.520 --> 00:18:52.280 Even while we were yet sinners, it tells us in Romans five eight, Christ gave his life for you, goes 00:18:52.280 --> 00:18:58.100 on and says that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in the invitation begins to be opened up for all people. 00:18:58.140 --> 00:19:03.680 And when John was writing John chapter three, this was the first time John was presenting to someone how to trust in Jesus. 00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:09.860 And he says, when we share this message, it's for whoever wants to believe. 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:14.240 It's an open invitation to anybody at any time. 00:19:15.700 --> 00:19:19.460 And it says whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:27.340 That phrase believe in this passage of Scripture is an interesting word in the Greek language. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:33.400 It was the first time they've ever discovered in any Greek writing that this word believe in was put together. 00:19:34.560 --> 00:19:38.960 John carefully chose these two words because in the Greek language, they don't have a word for trust. 00:19:40.300 --> 00:19:45.180 And what John is trying to get across to us as people, Is that what it takes to inherit this eternal life? 00:19:45.220 --> 00:19:49.460 What it takes to get this gift with Jesus is simply your trust in him. 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:53.280 And the promises at the end of this verse is that you will have eternal life. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.390 I'll give you an illustration for a moment. 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:05.060 Suppose for a moment we came today to commit idolatry and worship this stool, and 00:20:05.060 --> 00:20:06.410 we were to trust in this stool. 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:07.530 This morning was our goal. 00:20:08.500 --> 00:20:11.210 But I spent all morning long just telling you about the stool. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:13.040 We walked around the stool. 00:20:13.060 --> 00:20:14.440 We looked at the stool. 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:14.520 We. 00:20:14.820 --> 00:20:15.890 We talked to the stool. 00:20:16.580 --> 00:20:22.940 At some point, someone even got brave and halfway trusted the stool, but still trusted themselves. 00:20:25.020 --> 00:20:30.200 What the Bible is saying is that when we believe in Jesus, we give up on everything else. 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:36.770 Jesus is promising us eternal life in him. 00:20:37.980 --> 00:20:45.660 And there are all sorts of ways throughout this world that men and women have determined that they would achieve a life everlasting with God. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:47.340 One is they try to earn their way. 00:20:47.460 --> 00:20:50.340 And we've seen in Scripture that according to the Bible, it's impossible. 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:54.930 But the way that Jesus shares is just simply trusting in him. 00:20:56.600 --> 00:20:58.260 Rather than trusting in anything else. 00:20:58.360 --> 00:21:05.460 You lift your feet on the ground, and you just lean as heavily as you can into Christ, trusting in him with your 00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:05.700 life. 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:13.790 Some believable gift comes to us through Christ because it's free. 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:15.880 It's unbelievable. 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:19.830 Gift comes to us through Christ because we need it. 00:21:21.020 --> 00:21:21.740 It's unbelievable. 00:21:21.780 --> 00:21:25.360 Gift comes to us because Jesus supplies it. 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:34.640 When we read this scripture, I just want us to note this morning that when we reject Christ in 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:41.020 our lives and the gift that he offers, we aren't rejecting a list. 00:21:42.520 --> 00:21:43.680 We're not rejecting rules. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:46.080 We're not rejecting a religion. 00:21:47.580 --> 00:21:49.190 What we're rejecting is Jesus. 00:21:51.060 --> 00:21:59.140 And no matter what other people have tried to represent Jesus to you this morning, God's Christmas wish 00:21:59.140 --> 00:22:02.360 to you is that you would embrace him. 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:10.200 God's Christmas gift to you is that he has given himself. 00:22:11.100 --> 00:22:13.680 The Bible says that whoever believes will inherit eternal life. 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:22.520 It says in John 116, for all of all of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:26.080 We're rejecting Jesus. 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:29.960 What we reject is his grace upon grace. 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:39.380 The promise we saw in John chapter three and verse 16 this morning tells us that whoever believes, whenever they 00:22:39.380 --> 00:22:42.620 believe, will inherit eternal life. 00:22:44.380 --> 00:22:51.440 The good news and the joy about Christmas amidst everything else is that 00:22:51.540 --> 00:22:54.920 God has given himself to you. 00:22:57.130 --> 00:22:59.890 Everybody bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment. 00:23:06.120 --> 00:23:07.760 God has given himself to you. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:11.770 And the quietness of your heart. 00:23:12.580 --> 00:23:17.620 God has also said that if you believe in him, you'll inherit eternal life. 00:23:20.280 --> 00:23:27.460 If you've never taken the time just to trust in Jesus, to believe in him, I'll 00:23:27.460 --> 00:23:34.880 give you that opportunity this morning with your head bowed and just having conversation 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:36.260 with God in prayer to him. 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:42.100 Take the time just to say, Lord, I believe you're my Savior. 00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:46.040 God, I believe you came to this world and died for me. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:49.500 God and I want to trust in you. 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:53.480 As you trust in him. 00:23:56.020 --> 00:23:57.920 God promises that you receive eternal life. 00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:07.180 And as you share that joyful message with the Lord, our hope this morning is that you share with other people and what God has done for you. 00:24:09.860 --> 00:24:10.830 And for you here this morning. 00:24:12.560 --> 00:24:14.260 Let this set into our hearts. 00:24:16.020 --> 00:24:19.630 God has given himself to you. 00:24:20.820 --> 00:24:25.500 Christmas is about nothing more than God has given himself to you. 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:30.880 As believers this morning, take the opportunity just to thank him for it.