SERMON –11PM CHRISTMAS 2011

Over this past year there has been a growth in the “Atheist Movement”.

I suppose the movement divides itself into the hardcore atheists,

And those who are simply growing in cynicism and unbelief.

I imagine that the person on the street could find the events of Christmas “far fetched” and hard to believe,

Virgins, angels, announcing messages from God, singing from the sky, wise men, shepherds, bad kings,

Then I suppose that many events that we read in the Bible could be regarded as “far fetched” or hard to believe,

When you think about it,

The whole notion of a GOD is hard to believe,

In the Bible there are people who find the idea of “God” a challenging one.

Read through the Psalms or Job and witness the struggle of understanding GOD,

This where FAITH or TRUST comes into the equation.

I want to do two things tonight…

First, explain why Jesus came on that Christmas 2000 years ago, and

Secondly, to explain how He is going to finish up what He came to start all those years ago.

First, then, why did Jesus come as a baby 2000 years ago?

Luke 19:10 says it well – in the account of Zacchaeus,

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost”.

According to this verse, Jesus purpose in coming into this world was to seek out and to save those who were lost,

LOST FROM GOD, LOST FROM ETERNITY,

Jesus describes himself as the way or the path or track to God,

The freeway to eternity

He says “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)

But how does Jesus “seek” people?

If God is completely just (which He is), completely loving (which He is), completely fair (which He is)

Then He must give everyone an opportunity to come to Him.

Not too hard to do – the Bible tells us that everyone has a knowledge of God written on their hearts.

That is why we are prompted to think about Him,

to link Him to events in our lives.

That is how he SEEKS us.

He came to SEEK AND to SAVE the LOST.

How does he save?

Not only was He born, but He lived and died,

And we are told in the Scriptures that HIS death was a sacrifice,

In the Old Testament OR with the Old Covenant forgiveness came through the sacrificing of an animal.

It was all very unusual – but it was God’s way for then.

Since then, Jesus has come, lived and died.

His dying was in place of US dying.

It was a sacrifice – it only happened once & it was for all time.

Jesus died eternally so that we could live eternally.

This is God’s way for now.

That is one of those “hard to believe”/hard to understand things,

But believe it we must/ understand it we must –

To be a part of God’s Kingdom

To be a Christian person,

We must trust that Jesus’ death – was God’s way of bring each of us back into friendship with HIM,

You see – the Bible tells us that this Jesus who came in the first place -2000 years ago,

To seek and to save the lost,

And that He Is going to come again at some stage,

In the meantime,

Everyone has an opportunity to respond to HIS first coming,

And so He is going to come and finish off what He started.

Jesus coming to earth – being born – living, dying – THAT WAS NOT THE END,

IN FACT IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING,

Jesus is coming back to do 5 things.

(1)Jesus is going to come back and make everything new.

We see that in Revelation 21:5 where Jesus says, “I am making everything new”

(2) Jesus’ coming back will bring eternal happiness

We are told in Revelation that in heaven God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

There will be no pain, suffering, divorce or death,

Or any of the other things that break our hearts.

(3) Jesus coming back will bring an end to hatred, wars and conflict.

We hear of all the terrible things that people do to each other NOW,

But it won’t be like that when Jesus comes back,

There will be an end to all conflict.

(4) Jesus is coming back to judge wickedness and reward faithfulness.

Jesus is coming back to settle all those things that made us wonder and ask “Why?”

Good and evil will receive their eternal rewards.

Let me read from Matthew 25

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory…he will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”,

The sheep hear the invitation,

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”

To the goats, He says,

“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”

Jesus is coming back and when he does he is going to put everything right.

(5) Jesus is coming back to put an end to death.

In the new heaven and the new earth,

There will be no death – there will be life that goes on forever.

To finish:

Jesus came to seek out (find) and save spiritually lost people,

And to prepare them for an eternal life lived with Him.

That leaves us with two questions:

Have you been found?

Are you being prepared?

Let’s pray.