Born To Be A Better Savior Series

There was a Christian who gave a Bible to somebody who was going through a rough time. Their life had been one disaster after the other, but in all that time there was never really made an effort to follow Jesus. So, as this Christian gave a Bible to the man… he encouraged him to read it, and he suggested that (since it December) that the man might start by reading the Christmas story. The man looked at him with real surprise and said: “You mean the Christmas story is… in the Bible?” (Rodney Buchanan)

Today is Christmas … December 25th. There are a lot of people who struggle with that date, not only because most scholars agree that Jesus was NOT born on December 25th, but also because of a lot of the stuff that surrounds the holiday. As a result, a lot of folks have trouble with the whole Christmas thing. I understand that… but I disagree.

Why? Because there are 2 (count them – TWO) Gospels that deal with Jesus’ birth - that's 196 verses. And that's not counting Galatians 4:4-5 which says: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

In addition, there are number of prophecies in the Old Testament like Genesis 3:15 where God tells Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he (the male child of the woman) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

That phrase “OFFSPRING of the WOMAN” points TO Jesus, because ordinarily, AN offspring would describe a child as the offspring of a MAN, or of both a MAN and a WOMAN (Pause). But this boy-child was only described as being of a woman. I mean, it’s kind of like the child was – I don’t know - born of A VIRGIN or something! Which of course, is what Isaiah 7:14 declared: “Behold, the VIRGIN shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Now, my point is this: IF you take the 196 verses in the Gospels, and combine that with the prophetic promises about that Messiah (things like) He would be born of a virgin… you’ve got a lot of verses. And that means that the story of Jesus’ birth is important to God and is important to our faith.

Now, I don’t know who decided Christmas should be on December 25th, or who was responsible for all the stuff associated with the Christmas season. AND I DON’T CARE. All I know is that the celebration of Christmas during season is a powerful tool of evangelism.

According a survey conducted by “Pew Research” (back in 2015) 81% of non-Christians celebrate Christmas (including Buddhists and Hindus) and 75 to 80% of ALL Americans believe that 1) Jesus was born of a virgin, 2) An angel appeared to the shepherds to announce His birth, and 3) That there were wisemen who brought Jesus gifts in Bethlehem.

Say what you will about Christmas, that opens the door to talk to people about Jesus. It opens the door to introduce the reason WHY Jesus was born. And it opens the door to explain the reason why THEY need… a Savior. Because, that’s why Jesus was born. He was born to be our Savior.

That’s what the Angels told the Shepherds abiding in the field - Luke 2:11 says “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Jesus was born to be a savior. But what does that mean? What did Jesus come to save us from?

Well, that’s where our text this morning comes in. Hebrews 7:25-27 says “Consequently, (Jesus) is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”

Jesus came to offer HIMSELF as a sacrifice for sins. For OUR sins. He came to offer Himself to save us from our sins.

In preparation for this sermon, I did a little research on this word: SAVIOR. And I found the definitions to be … interesting. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a savior was a person who saves someone from danger or harm. Collins Dictionary told an individual who saved others from ruin, or defeat. And the Britannica.com Dictionary explained it was 1: Someone who saves something or someone from danger, harm, failure, etc.; 2: used by Christians to refer to Jesus Christ.