“I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”. I stand before you today a Criminal guilty of breaking the law. I have broken ten very serious laws and I have not just broken them once but countless times. I am a criminal guilty but despite all I have done I have been set free, no longer held by the law. The crimes that I have committed are serious and the punishment is the death penalty but I have been let go because the judge Himself took the punishment in my place. And He is a good and just judge, being a good and just judge by His very nature He had to find me guilty but He also loved me so much that He didn’t want to punish me, so He Himself took the punishment for my crime and this is all He asked of me. To admit I had broken the law and deny myself the pleasures that breaking these laws gave me and put my trust in Him, to follow Him.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul”. Why is the law of the Lord perfect converting the soul? “For by the law is the knowledge of sin”. The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the church in Rome: “I would not have known sin except through the law”. It was the law of God that showed Paul and me both that we are sinners (law breakers) in need of repentance. These are but a few of the laws I have broken. I have lied countless times, more times than I care to imagine, which makes me a liar. Have you ever told a lie? I have stolen things that didn’t belong to me, it doesn’t matter the value of what I have taken, what matters is it wasn’t mine to take, this makes me a thief. Have you ever stolen anything? I have used the Lord’s name in vain, I used God’s Holy name, the name of the one who gave me life, gives me the air I breath, the food I eat, the legs I stand on, and I used His name in place of a filthy curse word to express discuss, making me a blasphemer. Have you ever used the Lord’s name in vain? The law of God says do not commit adultery and I thought I was good on this one then I read what Jesus said, He said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. I have looked at many women with lust making me an adulterer at heart. Have you ever looked at someone you’re not married to with lust?
Now I have just mentioned four of God’s Holy Ten Commandments with six more to go, and I have broken these, a multitude of times. If you sin just five times a day, in one year that’s 1825 sins (that’s 1825 times you’ve broken the law in one year), and if you live to be 80 that’s 146,000 sins over the course of your life. Could you imagine all of those sins laid out before you and having to account for every single one of them? That’s exactly what will happen. The Bible says:”it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”. The Bible says that “God will judge the world in righteousness”. “Each of us shall give account of himself to God”. Now I ask you like I asked myself, when you stand before God on Judgment day and He judges you by His law, will you be found innocent or guilty? Will you go to heaven or Hell? Keep in mind that you have broken the law. The Bible says “No thief and no adulterer will inherit the kingdom of God”, “and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death”. Speaking of the lake of fire and brimstone the Bible says:”And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”.
Jesus came into this world from God, born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem. He was both fully God and fully man, He himself being man was subject to the law but never once breaking God’s laws lived a perfect sinless life. Then He did something incredible, He who never sinned, laid down His life for guilty sinners like me and you. He was beaten and hung on a Cross crucified, dead and buried then on the third day He rose from the dead defeating death. He offers forgiveness of sins and this is available to everyone who will accept it. I began this with the Christmas message: “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”. It is a message of great joy for all people because there is a savior, there is salvation from our sins in Jesus Christ and it is a free gift; it is the gift of God available to all who accept it. There is nothing we can do to earn it, what we have earned is death in Hell but “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus”. It is by the grace of God that we are saved, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”.
To receive this gift what you must do is Repent and trust in Jesus, turn away from sin and turn to the Savior Jesus. Jesus said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me”. To deny yourself is to turn away from the sins that give you pleasure, to take up your cross is to die to yourself admit that you are not good, that you have broken God’s laws no longer trusting in your own goodness but trusting in Jesus’ goodness to save you from God’s righteous judgment. So “I implore you on Christ behalf, be reconciled to God”. Repent of your sins, do a 180 degree turn away from the sins that give you pleasure and turn toward the saver, do it today, you don’t know when your life will end putting you be before the judgment seat of God. Repent and put all of your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do that you will move from death to life, God will give you His spirit as a deposit for your salvation, He will give you a new heart with new desires. So go to God in prayer admit that you are a sinner, and say you’re sorry, commit your life to God. Repent and trust in Jesus. Do it today, receive the Christmas gift, receive eternal life in Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas,
Mike Peek
(Bible verses quoted NKJV: Luke 2:10-11, Psalm 19:7, Romans 3:20, Romans 7:7, Exodus 20, Luke 5:27-28, Hebrews 9:27, Acts 17:31, Romans 14:12, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Revelations 21:8, and Revelations 20:10, Romans 6:23, Luke 9:23, 2 Corinthians 5:20)
