What'd You Bring Me?

Introduction

A. Read Lk. 1:67-80

B. When I was a child my mom used to work as a nurse on second shift. Often she would bring me a candy bar home from work. It got to the point where when she got home I would ask the question, "So, what’d you bring me?"

C. We all know that at that first Christmas Jesus "became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (John 1:14). But I think that it is important to consider what he brought when he came.

Transition: When Jesus came He brought...

I. Redemption (67-68).

A. Brought Us Back

1. Redemption: "A release secured by the paying of a ransom" (SFLSB, 1692).

2. In Bible times a slave could gain his freedom by serving a certain number of years, or if someone, like a relative, would buy him back.

3. Illustration: Once during the Civil War, a black man who had bought his freedom, saw a group of Union soldiers and said, "If I’d of known you gum men was comin’, I’d of saved my money!"

4. Rm. 3:24

B. We Were Slaves

1. Before Christ we were slaves to our own sin.

2. Jn. 8:34

3. Because we were slaves we needed someone to buy our freedom.

4. The OT tells us that the only price that would do is blood!

a. Day of Atonement

b. Spotless Lamb

5. Heb. 9:22

Transition: Jesus came to buy us by His own blood.

II. Rescue (69-75)

A. Horn of Salvation

1. Illustration: Jews rescued from concentration camps at the end of W.W.II.

2. "In scripture, a horn symbolizes power and victory" (Weirsbe, vol. 1; 174).

3. Ps. 89:17

4. Jesus not only set us free, but He also defeated the enemy so that he could not take us captives again.

B. Victory Through Jesus

1. Illustration: In a football game, when the clock reads "00" it is an indication that the team that is ahead has won the game.

2. For us, our "00" was when Jesus said "It is finished!"

3. 1 Cor. 15:54-57

Transition: Jesus brought us victory!

III. Remission (76-77)

A. Remission

1. "To send away, dismiss as a debt" (Weirsbe, vol. 1; 174).

2. Illustration: When a disease is in remission, it means it has gone away.

3. When a debt is forgiven it is no longer held against them.

B. We Were In Debt

1. We were in debt because we failed to live up to God’s standards.

2. Rm. 3:23

3. Mt. 6:12

Transitoin: Jesus came to pay our debt.

IV. Radiance (78-80)

A. Dayspring

1. "’Dayspring’ means ’sunrise’" (Weirsbe, vol. 1; 174).

2. We all look forward to the sunrise because it brings hope.

3. Illustration: Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Often people that are depressed and without hope stay in doors with the shades drawn.

B. Jesus The Light of The World

1. We were in the darkness of our own sin.

2. But Jesus brings us back into the light.

3. 1 Pt. 2:9

4. Jn. 1:7

5. Finally we don’t have to live in hopeless despaiar, because the light has come.

Transition: Jesus came to bring us out of the darkness.

Conclusion

A. Restatement

1. Redemption

2. Rescue

3. Remission

4. Radiance

B. So when Jesus comes and we ask Him, "So what’d you bring me?," His answer will be "Eternal Life!"

Thesis: Jesus brought us eternal life.