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KEY VERSE:
Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The birth of Christ brought more than just another person into the world. It brought hope! Christ is the Hope of the world and if he had never been born, the world would have been left in dark despair.
I. CHRIST WAS BORN TO PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Mark 1:38
And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
A. Christ came to announce that we are forgiven through belief in Him! What Good News indeed! B. The “Good News” is that God was among us and that He Himself died for our sins! C. Christians are sent into the World to be God’s ambassadors of Christ. We are to proclaim the Good News!
II. CHRIST WAS BORN TO DIE ON THE CROSS.
John 12:27
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
A. If Christ did NOT die, then their would be no payment for Sin. God demands blood for Sin!
1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Grace is for all those who repent and believe!
John 6:29
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
RELIGION SAYS: “You have to work for God’s Love”
GRACE SAYS: “You already have God’s Love, just believe!”
III. CHRIST WAS BORN TO BE A DIVIDER OF MEN.
Matthew 10:34
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
A. Christianity puts a divide in the world.
B. Christians will be hated just like Christ is hated among those who do not accept Him.
John 15:18
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
IV. CHRIST WAS BORN TO BE A DEMONSTRATION OF GOD’S LOVE.
1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
A. God just doesn’t SAY He loves us, He shows us through CHRIST!
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Conclusion:
The birth of Jesus was a wonderful thing because without it, we would not have His atoning Death.