2012 12 24 ASH PM Christmas Eve Communion
It’s Christmas Eve.
What does Christmas mean to you?
Has the real meaning of Christmas changed for you over the years?
How long have you known that Jesus is the real reason for the season?
I’m assuming that you must have known it for some time - otherwise why would you be here for a Communion Service on the evening of Christmas Eve?
But, perhaps some of us need a little reminder, to help us remember why Jesus is the reason.
The night that Jesus was born, an angel appeared to the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night. Luke 2:10-11 says “The angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”
The Angel had an important message to deliver:
The Saviour, The Messiah, The Lord had been born.
Now that’s a Christmas kind of message isn’t it.
An amazing announcement from a few simple words.
Saviour, Messiah, Lord.
You may know Jesus as the Real Reason for the Season, do you also know Him as Your Saviour, Your Messiah, Your Lord?
Jesus came to be more than the baby in a manger, Jesus came to be your rescuer.
Jesus came to be your deliverer.
Jesus came to be your saviour.
The preacher J. John puts it this way:
“If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us a financial planner.
But since our greatest need was forgiveness,
God sent us a Saviour.”
The Bible says we need Jesus to save us.
But what does Jesus save us from?
The angel that appeared to Joseph told him that Mary would give birth to a son “and you are to name him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
What does that mean?
Maybe compared to the next person, you think your not that bad.
But as much as we try to fool ourselves, all of us have sin in our lives.
If we are honest, we know we have sinned.
We know in our own strength, we have failed.
The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of God’s standards.
In our own merit, we aren’t worthy to go into the presence of a holy God.
All of us at some time in our lives, have done something we regret doing, maybe something we look back on and hate, or something we are ashamed of.
The reality is we are not the nice person we would like the world to think we are.
The devil loves to remind us of our guilt, maybe while we are eating a meal, in the shower, driving to work, standing at the kitchen sink.
In the moments we least expect it to happen, a thought is triggered, a memory resurfaces, we remember something we have said, something we have done, something we have thought.
We can feel shame, guilt, anger, embarrassment.
“and you are to name him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
Jesus came to set us free from the penalty of our sin.
Jesus came to live and die and rise again so that you could be forgiven.
We can’t change our past, but Jesus has come to change our present and Jesus has secured our future.
There is stuff we can’t remove from our past.
Things we can’t fix.
Things we can’t undo.
But the Bible tells us Jesus is Saviour.
Jesus is the Messiah.
Jesus is the Lord.
Jesus was not born to condemn us, He was born to save us.
Jesus was born to remove the guilt of our sins.
Jesus came to set you free from the penalty of your sin.
In Jeremiah 31:34 God promised that when He would create a new Covenant (the Covenant that Jesus came to establish) “… I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Isaiah 1:18 promised “…Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...”
And that’s exactly what 1 John 1:7 says: But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
How does Jesus do that?
How does He remove our sins and purify us?
He does it it by paying the price for our sins.
Ephesians 1:7 tells us that “In (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…”
The price for us to be redeemed was Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.
The Bible clearly states that sin has a price. Romans 6:23 says “… the wages of sin is death…”
Sin is a terrible thing with a terrible result.
But God’s law says sin can be forgiven.
Sin can be forgiven if something else or someone else, dies for a person’s sins.
Hebrews 9:22 says “In fact the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
In the Old Testament people sacrificed sheep and goats and bulls to gain forgiveness.
When Jesus came… that all changed.
Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice.
Jesus came to die to pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus came to pay for our mistakes
Jesus came to change our destiny.
Jesus came to be your Saviour.
Jesus came to be my Saviour.
As John 3:16 says: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
That’s the real meaning of Christmas, the real story of Christmas, the real message of Christmas.
Jesus came to be our Saviour.
Jesus came to be our substitute.
Jesus came to die FOR us.
