The Gift of Forgiveness - Christmas Eve

Transcript (Auto-generated)

Merry Christmas Eve. How are we this evening? It's great to sing songs, isn't it? And this time you reflect about the birth of Jesus and what it means and the songs encapsulate that. And that clip, that short video is, I suppose, one way of saying, well, how do we understand the birth of Jesus in terms of the world has so much crowding in? And it's a prayer today that as you participate in the service and God will give you some revelation about that and speak to you about that. Well, folks, for the last month in our church we've been doing a series called Jesus is the Gift. And one of the great joys of that was we looked at all the different aspects of that. We started off with our Christmas Eve carol service on the 7th and we had a rapping competition. We worked out who was good rappers and who was bad rappers. Rappers with a W, not that sort of rapper, but that was too loud. Sorry, sound team, a bit carried away. But yeah, and we looked at what it means to receive gifts and what type of receiver you are of the gift. And so then we started down a journey and looked at different things. But one of the things we understand that Jesus is the perfect gift. Over the past month it's been a challenge for us to dig deeply into that and I pray tonight as we read God's Word, as we talk about that, as we look at gifts and look at and consider baby Jesus, what that means for you personally at this time of the year. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord, that we can take time, Father, just to take a breath on this Christmas Eve. Lord, to sit back, Lord, to contemplate and just spend some time, Lord, thinking about what it means. Father, there's so many things happening on the roads around us and all the shops are busy. Father, I pray You just quieten our hearts tonight. Father, just meet with us here. Notice we look at Your Word, look at what the Bible says about Christmas. Father, the challenge it may even be for some of us. But Lord, we thank You, You're always consistent, You always loved us. And that's why You sent Your Son, Jesus. Well, we give You thanks and praise for that. And Lord, I pray the words of the speaker be Your words, Lord. Amen. Well, before we start, I've got a gift box here. Now, this gift box has been with me over 20 years. And one of the amazing things about this gift box is that the contents has never changed. Now, what do you think is in this gift box? Can we have a few lights on, fellas? I'm having trouble connecting here. My eyes are bouncing off the glasses. And so we have here, in here, what do you think might be in here? That's it. Thank you. What do you think? Just remember, if you guess badly and poorly, you'll be embarrassed later on. But there is something in there that's really, really important and I value it deeply. I've opened this gift several times. Tonight we're going to open it a little bit later. But I'm just going to let that sit there for a little while and just let you contemplate perhaps what a gift you would like to see in here. So as we've had a look at our gift box and we've think about that, just have a look at this gift of Jesus. There's titles for Jesus, lots of titles for Jesus. In the Scriptures we learn it's His mighty God, His everlasting Father, His Savior, wonderful counsellor, Emmanuel and His King of Kings. All those are great titles. We learned over the last month, though, in looking at our understanding of Christmas, that Jesus, because he was the gift of us, he bought certain gifts with him. Gifts for you and I to enjoy, gifts for you and I to engage in. We had learned about joy and the gift of joy that Jesus was, the gift of peace. And we learned about the gift of relationship. Well now we're going to learn about another gift today. And it's a gift that I believe fits right in. It slots right in with all the other gifts. It makes up the good news that the shepherds talked about. And one of the great things about that passage we read is that when the angels came to the shepherd, they weren't coming with, hey, keep this to yourself. This is awesome news for you. And I think it's great that we can think about it tonight. So what is this gift that Jesus has brought? It's a gift of forgiveness. The gift of forgiveness comes in the shape of a little baby. And when we understand the gift of forgiveness, well, things start to make sense for us a little bit more. Because Jesus was the saviour of the world. And the saviour of the world, as we've read about the shepherds, talked about it, and the angels said to the shepherds, we've read it about today, Pastor David to you. Today in the town of David, a saviour has been born to you. He is Messiah the Lord. It's in Luke 2.1. Great words we spoke. We hear him every Christmas, but our prayer is that this Christmas might be a bit different. That this Christmas for you might be a special time that you encounter God in a different way. So what is it about forgiveness that makes this gift of Jesus so important? The gift that connects for us and the gift that helps us to understand what forgiveness is about? Well, we all know when we need forgiveness. Is that true? It is. Husbands, you know when you need forgiveness, which is probably about 23 and a half hours a day, depending on how things are going. And so we know what forgiveness is. We know we've done something wrong. We just need to put it right. And sometimes that's a tough thing to do because we have to take a big swallow and we have to then take a step forward and say, this is what it's about. One of the things about forgiveness that really does permeate to us is we need to have the capacity to forgive others. Because when you've been wrong, that's a tough gig. When something's gone against you and someone's hurt you or insulted you, it's a hard thing. You have to have that capacity inside you. Then we have the other side of it is the acceptance of forgiveness. You have to be able to accept that you are forgiven. Sometimes people walk around this terrible weight in their shoulders for such a long time because they haven't understood what forgiveness is about. Forgiveness cuts through the chase. It debilitates, it holds us down. What we're talking about today is forgiveness that God is talking about. Helps us to not only be healthy in our forgiveness with each other, but healthy with God's relationship as well. That's the challenge we have at this time of the year. We can go through all the traditions. We can do all the wonderful things when it comes down to it. It comes down to those human conditions we have and the way we relate to each other and the way that God wants to relate to you. That's why I love these Hawaiian shirts. You can buy two for the price I want at Lowe's, but they don't make them up to a certain size. I have to go to the big boy's section now because all the wine is shrunk in the wardrobe. I was just wondering whether or not as a sign of celebration that if we could have like a photo out the front after church, after the service tonight of everyone wearing their Hawaiian happy gear, would you be in that? That's the real joy, isn't it? Because we've been forgiven. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll get a bit excited, sorry. When we have freedom in forgiveness, forgiveness leads to restoration in a relationship. That's the key point. Let's just let me say that with you again. Forgiveness leads to restoration of relationship. If you have a falling out with someone and you can work out how the forgiveness thing works, your relationship is restored. And that's pretty special. It's tough when it doesn't happen, but God has gone ahead of us with Jesus to help us to understand that better. So what is the key forgiveness? The big forgiveness for us as the gift is from God. Number one, and that's a message tonight that God has for you, is that he wants to let you know about forgiveness because we need forgiveness from sin. The Bible tells us that sin entered the world through one man. And that's Adam. We read about him in Genesis 3. In Romans 5, 12, it says these words, therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all have sinned. And you might be thinking to yourself, well, really? Am I that bad a person? Well, if you heard the man on the video before, he was saying, well, I'm not as bad as some, but guess what? We're all born into it. But there's a difference. We have the forgiveness of God. The forgiveness of God all that helps us to understand that sin separates us from God. In Romans 3, 23, it says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What a great message for Christmas time. For Christmas Eve to think, baby Jesus, that's going to do that for us. He's going to help us overcome the things we're born into. And that's pretty special. That's something we need to hold on to. You see, folks, we all need to give an account of who we are before we found Christ, who we are in the world today. And it says that in 2 Corinthians. It talks that it says that all people need to, we're all appointed one day to die, and we will need to give an account for ourselves before God, if not for the grace of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. How cool is that? So here we have the gift of forgiveness. And we have this gift here, which is pretty special. Did you forget about this one over here? And who would like to see inside this? Oh my gosh, no one's put their hand up. Oh, thank you, kids. I was worried there. I'm into participation, by the way, if you haven't worked that out. So please feel free to yell things out. Kind things, but yeah, yell them out. So I might need a hand. Would someone like to open this gift box for me? I don't like this. I have a volunteer. Someone come forward. No, young person. Come on, Linda. Up you come. Looks like Linda's the youngest person I can find. Up you come, Linda. That's all right. People are pretty shy. Come on, Linda. Come on down. Come on down, Linda. Come on down. Okay, I'll get you to open this up for me, please. Just lift the lid off this. It's very, very telling it. Okay, do you want to take out what's in there? Just take it out. It's a little lamb. Who was expecting baby Jesus? Yeah, okay, righty. It's a lamb. You think, that's weird, Pastor Doug. You've lost your marbles, but it's not that at all. Thank you very much, Linda. If it was a little person, I'd say you can't keep that. I'm sorry. I need a bag. But thank you, Linda. So I'm going to leave him here, just peeking out. Not to make you feel bad. Just look at somebody who needs a touch from the Lord of Lamingtons. So why the lamb? Scripture tells us, it's a great passage in Scripture, just a few short sentences, that this gift that I've had for 20 plus years, this box and this contents reminds me of something special about Jesus. In John 1, it talks, he was, John was, the Baptist was Jesus really relative. They hadn't seen each other all their life. It tells us in Scripture, he didn't recognize him at first. Then he saw him as a grown man in his ministry. And he said, look, there goes the Lamb of God. In the Bible, it's got an exclamation mark, which means it says, look, there goes the Lamb of God. He was so impressed by what he saw. You're so overcome with what he saw as Jesus walking forward. He said these words, he called him a sheep. Is that respectful? Well, in the understanding of those times, in the way that it is said, in the way that people understood it at those times, it's the word, those words mean that this is a person who is going to sacrifice themselves for the world. Because the Lamb was used in a sacrifice so people could be right with God. But because Jesus was the gift of forgiveness, he came and he became that Lamb in the place of others. And if you want to, the word he would have yelled out, everyone thinks he would have been actually Hebrew. And the Hebrew, do you want to learn Hebrew tonight? The Hebrew is, shah ha elwim. Everyone repeat after me, shah ha elwim. A bit louder? Shah ha elwim. You just called out the Lamb of God. Now you can speak Hebrew. You can go away, at least I learned something tonight. I can speak Hebrew now, Pastor Doug. But the Lamb of God, which directly connects to the sacrificial system, is a New Testament concept of an Old Testament understanding that means that this Jesus was going to sacrifice his life for others. This is the gift of forgiveness, the symbol of the little Lamb. I know I've got Jesus down here in the manger. Thank you, little Jesus. But I want you to concentrate on the Lamb for just a moment. It may be how you might relate to the Lamb. Sometimes the Lamb is a frail. Sometimes they need help. I worked for a long time, or a few years ago, a long time ago now, but for a while on a property where we had orphaned lambs. And they are helpless. Did you imagine someone saying in a crowd of people, there goes the man who's going to sacrifice himself for you and me? Man, you can't get much more about forgiveness than that, because that's what Jesus is doing. He's taken the place for us. When John the Baptist declared those words, he was changing the way that people perceived Jesus and perceived the understanding of God. Did you need my little sheep? So why the Lamb? Well, the good news is that God loves you. In 1 John 4.10, it says, this is love. This is love. Not that we love God first, but that He loved us and sent His Son to atone the sacrifice of our sins. Because sin entered the world through one man, Jesus came to take the sin away. Isn't that pretty cool? That's a great message, isn't it? That's a great message to be thankful for. Thank you, Lord, for that. Some people don't understand it, and some people, they struggle with the concept, and that's okay. But also understand that God desires that all people need forgiveness, because all of them fall short of God. In 2 Peter, it says, the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise. As some understand slowness, instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. The word repentance there means to turn around and look to God. So why the Lamb of God? Because God loves you. God desires all can receive forgiveness, and God's love, grace, and perfect timing are always at work. In Ephesians 2, 8, 9, it says, for as grace you've been saved, by this little lamb who's representing Jesus, through faith. And it's not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works that no one can boast. No one else can save you except Jesus. That is the great spirit of Christmas. That is the great joy of Christmas that we have this lamb who's dying for us, who's going to be in our place, and that's what Jesus is. He is the understanding of forgiveness for us. And you want to put us succinctly, and quite shortly, it's that Jesus took our sins to the cross for us. Jesus took our sins for the cross for us. Okay, so how do you receive this gift? We talked about that a couple of weeks ago, but all these people who receive gifts happily and some that do it with a funny smile on their face, some start thinking and re-gifting as soon as they open at those sort of receivers. Well, I'll ask you today to contemplate receiving this gift of Jesus, this gift of forgiveness that he's offering you tonight. Well, how did we do that? Well, first of all, we need to acknowledge that Jesus died for you. We were always at Christmas time, it seems weird, but at Christmas time we talked about the birth of Jesus, but he was on a mission, and his mission was to die. So we need to acknowledge that Jesus died for us. You need to acknowledge Jesus died for you. In Romans it says in the Bible, for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. That's great joy, that's a great gift. In 2 Corinthians it says we can be reconciled with God, we can have a relationship with God, no more cast away, no more living in doubt because we have Christ. For all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ Jesus and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. How special is that? We have this wonderful gift of forgiveness that we can tap into. And when we have that gift of forgiveness, we have a different understanding. The mask of unforgiveness can fall off. If you're having issues with folk and you have a struggle about forgiveness in your life, can I encourage you that when we first engage in forgiveness of Christ, then it helps us to see things from a different light. Some things that happen fast, some things that slow. I'm not going to put a timeline on it. But the lifts the masks from your eyes so you can see more clearly. And your vision clears and you're able to see God for who He is. What a great joy at Christmas to contemplate this. What a great opportunity to think through all the gifts that Jesus brings us and the forgiveness is one of those. Romans 8, Romans 10, 8 to 11 says these words. But what does it say the word near you? It is in your mouth and in your heart. And this is the message concerning faith that we proclaim. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified as with your mouth that you confess and your faith are saved. The scripture says anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame for there is no difference between you and Gentile. So when we say those words from our heart, say yes, Lord, I need forgiveness. We're receiving the gift that God has provided for us and we receive it with nothing we can do. We just have to put our hand out and receive it. That Jesus is the gift for all of us. He's the gift of peace. He's the gift of joy. He's the gift of relationship and He's the gift of forgiveness. And I suppose the Christmas message that God has for you today is will you receive Him? Will you take Him in? Will it be something you can hold on and say, yes, I remember that Christmas in 2025 when I understood that I need forgiveness and Jesus was the gift of forgiveness for me. Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, that in this world it has so many different false doctrines and teachings. Your word is consistent. Father, I thank you for your son Jesus who came as a baby. Lived his life, Lord, in obedience to you that, Father, we may have that relationship with you. But, Lord, we understand too, Father, in our heart of hearts that we need forgiveness. Sometimes it's forgiveness from our fellow man, but, Lord, most importantly, we need forgiveness, Lord, from you. Thank you for the gift that Jesus brought for us. Father, I pray that as hearts and minds are contemplating what you're saying tonight, let us be singing this last song, Father, this last worship song. You'll help us, Lord, even to take it to heart even more. Lord, you are a good and gracious God. We give you thanks and praise for who you are. Amen.