He Has Come

He has come

John 3:16

Welcome to service everyone- I don’t know where you are listening to this from but we have gotten some snow- 10-20 inches depending on where you live. Parking lot cleared last night so we could tape the sermon. As we celebrate His coming, were also dealing with some snow coming!

I pray that God’s glorious Spirit would fall fresh on us as we look to Him. Maybe that is what we need- to be snowed in with Jesus!

Introduction-

This morning we are in the fourth week of Advent.

We have lite the candles of hope, peace, joy and now love.

As we have journeyed together, it has been my prayer that we rediscover Christmas.

Discovering that Christmas without Jesus is not Christmas!

We can have presents and decorations, we can have a time of food fellowship, but without Jesus, we cannot have Christmas.

You can call it Christmas, but without Christ it is not Christmas.

Prayer-

Father, today, would you allow us to rediscover Christmas in a fresh and powerful way. May we see the love of God not only shown in Scripture but His love would come alive in each of our hearts and life. May we walk from this place refreshed and renewed of your love for us and we show our love back to you. In Jesus name! Amen.

Text- John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

That is not a verse usually spoken on Christmas but when you stop and think about it. If God the Father had not sent Jesus, we would not have a celebration of salvation but a judgment of condemnation.

God’s love yet while we are sinners, He came for each of us, He sent Jesus- He has come.

For each of us on this side of the incarnation (birth) and his love shown on the cross (death) God raised him up.(His resurrection)

We experience His resurrection just like He did and can have eternal life with Him.

Somewhere down the line we have as a society watered down the gospel. (Let me explain)

The gospel is God coming to this earth to redeem mankind.

Jesus life, death, burial, and resurrection. In that order, He had to come and He had to complete the task of redemption for each of us.

We as a society have felt like we needed to help God a little bit. To soften it so as to have not so much conflict and get more people on board.

We decided to pull the boundaries out so that more people are included.

We decided to add to the gospel loop holes.

We cannot improve on the fact that God said that whosoever believes on Him shall have eternal life.

We decided… did you catch that!

That is the widest boundary God could have given provided that we believe who His Son is and what His Son has done for us. We must believe that in our hearts.

“For unto us a child is born, to us a Son is given- And He will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

That is not an option! He will be. called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

They will call him Immanuel- which means “God with us”

For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a King.

“Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; He is the messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger”

Scripture does not have to prove itself though it does- Jesus is the savior and He came to redeem mankind. It is based upon his rules and His Word.

Illustration-

A number of years ago a Christmas card was published by the title “If Christ Had Not Come.” It was based on our Savior’s own words, “If I had not come,” in John 15:22.

The card pictured a minister falling asleep in his study on Christmas morning and then dreaming of a world into which Jesus had never come.

In his dream, he saw himself walking through his house, but as he looked, he saw no stockings hung on the chimney, no Christmas tree, no wreaths of holly, and no Christ to comfort or to save us.

He then walked onto the street outside, but there was no church with its steeple toward Heaven. And when he came back and sat down in his library, he realized that every book about our Savior had disappeared.

The minister dreamed that the doorbell rang and that a messenger asked him to visit a friend’s poor dying mother. He reached her home, and as his friend sat and wept, he said, “I have something here that will comfort you.”