The Gift of Forgiveness - Christmas Day

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Well, Merry Christmas, happy birthday Jesus, yeah that's a great video to help us just to think about things where it all fits doesn't it because we can get involved in the things of the earth and we can get involved in things that please us today but the birth of Jesus goes for eternity, it goes far beyond those things and as we saw at the end the challenge was us just about to receive the gift and we've been looking at Jesus as the gift for the last month for our Advent month for December on December 7 at our carols night we had a wrapping competition and we had people come up and in that we had people who had to be creative in their wrapping but we also talked about the types of people that give gifts and what goes into thinking of that but also those how they receive gifts and I wonder how you are today with all the things that are happening how you receive the gift of Jesus as we acknowledge and we celebrate the joy of his birth let's pray heavenly Father we thank you Lord that we can Lord pause and amongst all our Christmas celebrations and family gatherings and things we need to be at and things we're going to Lord want to have big sleep in the after all those things that happen but we thank you that we can pray Lord and pause Lord just to contemplate the birth of your son and what it means for us Lord for each person here and each person around the world Lord is such a joy for us to contemplate this Lord we know there's challenges too and we just ask Father that as we Lord just go through your word today and consider the message you've prepared that Father how Lord impacts us personally I'll just give you thanks and praise for meeting us right where we are in your name amen well folks as we've been looking at the three gifts of so far we've had a look at joy and peace we've had a look at at relationship and then we have a look in our today at a special gift but when we think about Jesus and the birth of Jesus we have these titles for him and the titles of things like mighty God everlasting father savior wonderful counselor Emmanuel and king of kings I have over here on the podium which is probably not the bright place for it but if all I could find so we could have visual presentation here is get a mate is we have a gift here now I've had this gift box for 20 plus years and in here something very special it certainly means a lot to me it's something of because I've kept it for 20 years I open it every now and then on special occasions we're gonna open it this morning and you were dying to see what's in it which is so valuable now if you were here last night please don't yell out and spoil it I'm just looking at the gallery over that corner but I wonder if you could put something in a box in a gift that was so meant so much to you wonder what it would be let's leave that for a little minute just wet your appetite we learned about the gift of joy and the gift of peace we learned about the gift of relationship in the last four weeks and how Jesus was those things he was the gift of joy he was the gift of peace and he gave us the gift of relationship but there's one gift that's missing we haven't talked about yet and it's not necessarily the be all and end all but I believe it's an important one I believe it slots right into the sequence of these gifts that Jesus brings the gifts for you sorry for you and for me I don't know how you're sitting without the moment and this gift is the gift of forgiveness Jesus brought us the gift of forgiveness and you say well that's an interesting one Pastor Doug forgiveness that's an interesting one why how does it work well if you're a regular church person you probably understand what that's about if you're visiting with us today because it is your real practice to come to church on Christmas day it's so great to have you here I want to encourage you that as Pastor Dave said before we have the invitation to come all through the year it's great to have you with us this morning perhaps this is the message God has for you when it comes to forgiveness we usually have forgiveness at a personal level that's the stuff that's healthy for us be able to forgive and be forgiven when we have that we have our relationships that are strong forgiveness between you and God is both healthy and personal and that's the message of Christmas that's the gift of forgiveness at Christmas time I suppose I could stop the sermon there and you can all go home and unwrap your presence by the way who's already unwrapped presents this morning let's do a survey all right I love those enthusiastic ones who's waiting to go home to unwrap presents after the service will only keep you for a couple of hours okay I have prepared a fair bit and so we'll just see how we go so if Jesus is the forgive to get given sorry the gift of forgiveness then also we understand that the angels have said to us and Dave read it out before that he is also our Savior so Jesus is the Savior of the world and it's through that we find forgiveness it's great that the angels came to the shepherds first I could ask this question a couple of weeks ago why the angels and I said well for me the angels are just the the down-to-worth guys who are pragmatic and if Jesus if the angels could come to them it can come to anybody if Jesus would be presented to anybody it'd be presented through them because they were just blokey bloke bloke's and they had a hard job to do and so this gift of forgiveness comes through the Savior as it says in Luke 2 11 well how do we know we need forgiveness well I think you know when you need forgiveness when you've done something wrong you think yeah I think I should sort this one out things aren't quite right and so you make steps to do that sometimes you have to take a big gulp big breath and go listen I need to seek your forgiveness I'm sorry for what I've done I'm sure husbands you know what that's like 98 percent of your time is you know you've gone something wrong usually it's just walking down the hallway leaving a door open air con on letting the dog out and you know but when we understand that we all need forgiveness it really strikes at our core at our heart because we need a couple of things I mean two things the capacity to forgive others when you have to when you get to that point there's got to be something so overwhelming in you that you're able to draw upon that capacity to forgive because it's not easy when you're called to forgive when you're prompted to forgive when you're convicted to give forgive then you step into that place but it comes on from capacity God has this enormous capacity to forgive there's a reason why we need forgiveness we're going to talk about that in a little minute then we have the acceptance to be forgiven the acceptance or humility to be forgiven and sometimes that's a hard one because you know you go cap and hand to somebody and say look I'm really really sorry you have to be pretty humble about it you know there's something special in that transaction though in somewhat the capacity forgive approach or you'll approach them or they approach you all the circumstances present themselves and then you draw upon that humility and say I need your forgiveness it puts you in a very vulnerable and that's the most unblokey un-Australian thing you can think of is to be humble because Australian blokes have a Paul Hogan headwobble all the time and they think yeah nah you'll be right mate we'll just let it slide but the most important thing is forgiveness leads to the restoration of relationship so when we have the capacity to forgive we have that humility to be forgiven or seek forgiveness then we have a restored relationship we learned about how important that was last week in church and Pastor Dillon shared that message with us I encourage you if you haven't heard that message all our messages are online just look us up Macapulchup Baptist there's freedom in forgiveness and without it we are weighed down that's why it's important to think about this now in the whole context of Jesus being the gift of forgiveness well why do we need forgiveness from God because God's up there we're down here 21st century Kabbalja we're okay well the key word this is why he's called the Savior is because there's sin in the world the gift of forgiveness comes because there is sin in the world that's the need you see sin entered the world through one man Adam in Genesis 3 we learned about this and in Romans 5 it talks about it very briefly it says therefore just a sin entered through one man and death through sin and this way death come to all people because all have sin that sounds a bit in your face doesn't it but that's the truth that's what scripture teach us and you can see the world like that I encourage you if you're thinking about forgiveness what it means for you what this message is for you today I pray that God is just working on you and maybe prompting you about something that you can grasp on to hold on to the other aspect of sinners that this is the big one the big S in I call this is it separates us from God this sin in our life we're all born into separates us from God Jesus is the gift of forgiveness to help to restore that relationship in Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God we can't have a relationship with God and feel his blessing and his encouragement and his comfort in all times if we don't have that relationship with him and Romans 5 10 it says we all need to give an account sometimes you don't hear this spoken very often but we all need to give an account before God this is what it says in Romans 5 10 says for almost appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due to us for all things good and bad have you ever thought about that before we all must appear before the judgment seat but there's great joy in knowing that someone has gone before us that the spirit of the gift of forgiveness has been done in our in behalf of us and we can engage in that we can be part of that and that's what baby Jesus is all about this is what Christmas is all about this little bloke here that we represent in all different ways it's about the forgiveness we have through him so that brings us to my gift here does anyone worked out what's in here is it money riches a model of a Lamborghini a model of a 300 series Land Cruiser twin turbo high liver kit I wonder if someone would like to help me would you like to open this for me do you feel brave enough could I just get you to just open that gift for me because I've got a microphone you whatever you think in there okay I'll take the I'll hold the box and you take that out okay hold it up really high oh it's a lamb it's a lamb this is a oh thank you you're gonna give it back oh that's awesome well can I leave him here did you want to give that lamb a name you can I call him Lammington's better he means something more than just being given a name you see the lamb for me it's very important scripture it talks about the lamb being the symbol of forgiveness John the Baptist is the first one to call this out when he saw Jesus now John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus his mum and Mary were pregnant together but they never really crossed paths until they were men and Jesus was in ministry just being baptized and John the Baptist was called upon by God to go and tell people about the coming Messiah so it was pretty exciting stuff anyway he turned around in the crowd and he saw Jesus coming and this is what he said he said look there is the Lamb of God there is the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world this is the Lamb of God take away the sins of the world now I've got to encourage you and warn you now that he didn't say it like that he didn't say there's the Lamb of God over there the way it's written in scripture it says look there is the Lamb of God and then people all turned and looked and they saw a carpenter wandering around with these blokes beside me smelly fishermen that was Jesus he was the Lamb of God now the reason why he's called him the Lamb of God is because in their understanding in an our understanding the Lamb of God means a sacrifice of atoning for the sins of the nation that's pretty cool isn't it that the Lamb of God little Lamington's here is my little thinking pot about that reminds me that's about that and he there's a Hebrew word they used he would have yelled this out in Hebrew I don't know the rest of the translation but I know Lamb of God is she ha Elohim the Lamb of God would you like to say that with me she ha Elohim you gotta get the back there let's try it really loudly she ha Elohim the Lamb of God if you've just spoken Hebrew you can go home from church this morning you say I just learned Hebrew but what it does it's very meaningful it's meaningful for this because we're gonna take away the sins the world something has to happen that means has to give his life for us and that is where forgiveness comes in that is why it's important to understand that that in amongst all the gifts that Jesus gives us forgiveness fits right in because he was a sacrifice he took away the sins of the world so why do we need this Lamb of God why do we need baby Jesus forgiveness why do we need these representations why do we think about these things well it's because God loves you God loves everybody but he wants none would perish so a couple of scripture verses just to help you to understand that and to take it to heart is that in one John 410 this is love not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins he sent his son so we can have our sins paid for in John in 2 Peter 3 9 it talks about what we need to understand how God is going to do this the Lord is not slow and keep his promise for some understand slowness instead he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance so not only does God love everybody but he also wants everyone to be able to experience what it's like to be in relationship with him through repentance that's a very interesting word repentance it means to do 180 degrees it means you have to make a decision and the decision that comes to forgiveness is you have to receive the gift and the challenge I suppose we all have is it how do we go about that what are the words we need or how do we express that you see one of the great things about us God's timing is perfect his grace is perfect and Ephesians 2 8 9 it says for his by grace you have been saved true faith that is not from yourselves it is the gift of God not by work so that no one can boast not by works that no one can boast when we are rescued by God and his perfect timing for you and for me and for anyone who hears God's word and responds it's about God having his perfect timing we're rescued from eternal separation from him because of this lamb because the lamb of God because of their baby Jesus this is why forgiveness is important for us see forgiveness lifts the masks from our eyes when you receive forgiveness from God through Jesus Christ it gives us a capacity to actually understand God a little bit better day by day gives a capacity to understand just what it means just to see oh I need to repair that relationship because I haven't done that for a while I'm gonna do my best and you don't worry about what the reciprocation is because you just called to forgive because you've been forgiven through Jesus but you must and it implore employ you to consider what it means to receive that gift because Jesus took our sin to the cross for us that is the message we have pretty special isn't it it's pretty awesome that when Christmas time we spend time pondering this and we can and I pray that as you go home today and you're exchanging gifts you be able to ponder what this reception thing and the receiving thing is and and what the the giving things all about as well how it personally impacts you how it impacts those in your family as well so how do we receive this gift well we can still receive with a humble heart can't we we can receive it by doing good things but we're called upon to a little bit more than that we need to acknowledge something see when we acknowledge that Jesus died for you and he you will be forgiven that's what the Scripture says in Romans 10 13 for everyone who calls upon the name will be saved so soon as you say Jesus I need you I'm received forgiveness for my sin and you will be forgiven you'll be saved that is the message of the cross the message of the Lamb the message of baby Jesus you see when that happens then you'll be reconciled with God that means you'll be made right with God means your relationship will be right with him because in it says in 2nd Corinthians 5 18 all this is from God who reconciled himself to us through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation and the steps are quite simple the steps that I haven't got on the screen the steps are to repent receive be renewed and be restored Romans 5 Romans 10 8 says these words and a reading through to the end of verse 11 what does it say the word is near you the word is in your mouth word is in your heart that this the message concerning faith we proclaim verse 9 if we declare with your mouth that Jesus Lord and believe in your heart that he raised him from the dead you'll be saved for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified it's your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved as the Scripture says anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame I wonder how you're sitting with the understanding that God is a king forgive you that you can have relationship with him that Christmas time is about joys about peace about relationship but also about forgiveness and forgiveness that Christ did in our behalf we have up the screen those things again and the question I have and I want to leave with you that will you receive the gift you haven't already done so will you receive the gift of forgiveness and come to Jesus in prayer perhaps there's someone in your family can help you do that one of the pastors here would love to or anyone as Dave said in a Hawaiian shirt or a party shirt will be able to guide you but can I say just reach out cause prompt this morning say Lord thank you for this message of Christmas all these things we have at Christmas look great gifts and all the things and the fun we have but thank you for this gift of joy the gift of peace the gift of relationship and for the gift of forgiveness let me pray heavenly Father we just thank you Lord that you do it didn't want to stand by and watch the world go to oblivion and father your heart of hearts and in your mind Lord Lord in your actions through your son Jesus we are restored in you father thank you for your message that comes through the thousands of years since your birth your death and your resurrection that there is everyone can be saved they just have to receive that gift father thank you for that opportunity Lord as we go about our day I pray father you just impact upon our hearts what it means to celebrate your birth in a meaningful way amen