CHRISTMAS SERIES

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING

“JESUS TAKES AWAY OUR SINS”

MATTHEW 1:18-21

 

There are a ton of Christmas movies aren’t there?  There are the classics, from Miracle on 34^th Street to White Christams to A Christmas Carol to It’s A Wonderful Life.

 

Then there are the family favorites: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

 

Then there are the just for fun, light-hearted ones:  The Santa Claus and Christmas Vacation.

 

In Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold is impatiently waiting for his annual Christmas bonus check from the company he works for.  Each day goes by and there is no Christmas bonus check.  He asks fellow employees if they have received their check.

 

Finally, a messenger arrives at Clark’s house with an envelope from the company.  He figures it’s his bonus check.  He announces to the entire family that he’s going to use his bonus check to have a swimming pool put in.

 

He opens the envelope and much to his disbelief, there is no bonus check this Christmas.  Instead, there’s a gift certificate for a one-year membership to the jelly of the month club.  Cousin Eddie chimes in, “Clark, it’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year!”

 

Have you ever received a gift that keeps on giving at Christmas? Like a subscription or membership to something that you can enjoy throughout the year.

 

Jesus is the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.  Jesus gives us joy, peace, mercy, and grace all year long.  Ultimately, the gift that keeps on giving that Jesus gives us is eternal life.

But Jesus is also the Christmas gift that keeps on taking.  My Christmas series this year is THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING.  In this series, we’re going to look at a few of those things that Jesus keeps on taking from us: guilt…..shame….and fears.  And because Jesus takes those things from us, we can have joy, peace, mercy and grace and ultimately eternal life.

 

Today we’re going to begin with the one thing that Jesus takes away that takes away all the other ones.  JESUS TAKES AWAY OUR SINS.

 

READ MATTHEW 1:18-21

 

Matthew was to name Mary’s child, Jesus, because he would save his people from their sins.  Jesus is the one who takes away our sins, once and for all; for all time.  Let’s pray and then we’ll jump into the message.  PRAYER

 

When it comes to talking about Jesus taking away our sins, we have to start here, by addressing…..

 

1.THE REALITY OF OUR SIN

 

G.K. Chesterton, the 20^th-century apologist wrote perhaps the shortest essay in history.  The London Times asked various writers for essays on the topic, “What’s Wrong with the World?”  Chesterton wrote: “Dear Sirs.  I am.  Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton.”

 

We often look around at our world and we ask the same question, what’s wrong with the world?  We have ready answers.  Other people are what’s wrong with the world.  Our enemies are what’s wrong with this world.  People who disagree with me are what’s wrong with this world.  Criminals, the thieves and murderers are what’s wrong with this world.  The political party that I do not belong to is what’s wrong with America.  We become experts at pointing our fingers and laying the blame at someone else’s doorstep.

 

But perhaps we need to take our cue from Mr. Chesterton.  Maybe we each should say, “I am what’s wrong with this world.”  We live in a broken world.  Our world is broken because of sin.  And we’re all sinners.  By virtue of our sin, we all contribute to the world’s brokenness.

The Bible does not pull any punches.  Romans 3:23 says:

 

“Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard.” -Romans 3:23

 

Sometimes we may think we’re not too bad.  That’s because of the standard we measure ourselves by.  It is human nature to find someone who makes us look good by comparison.

 

For example, you’re maybe a little overweight or out-of-shape.  What do you do?  You find someone who is more overweight and out-of-shape than you are.  And so you conclude, I don’t look so bad.

 

A guy is starting to lose a little hair.  What does he do?  He finds a cue ball like me and says to himself, “at least I have more hair than that guy!”

 

We do the same thing morally.  We find another person, whom, in our pride, we think makes us look morally superior.  We conclude, I’m not the sinner that person is.

 

But other people are not the standard God judges us by.  God doesn’t grade on a curve.  God’s glorious standard is Himself.  We don’t measure up to his perfection.

 

Sins basically fall into one of two categories.  There are the sins of commission and the sins of omission.  The sins of commission are the bad things that we commit or do.  I John 3:4 says:

 

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” – 1 John 3:4

 

On the one hand, sin is wrongdoing.  Breaking God’s 10 commandments.  Doing bad things.  Saying bad words.

 

But, you might be pretty good at avoiding sins of commission.  You don’t do too many really bad things.  So you begin to think, “hey I’m doing really good in the I don’t sin category.”  Please look at what James said about sin:

“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” -James 4:17

 

Sins of omission are those good things we know we should be doing, but we don’t always do them.  We omit them from our lives.  What is that old saying, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions?”

 

There are good things God commands us to do that we don’t always do.  We have the opportunity to show kindness.  But we’re too busy.  We are to encourage others, but we’re too self-absorbed.  We are to forgive others, but we’re too angry.

 

Whether it’s the bad things we do or the good things we fail to do, we’ve been caught red-handed.  We’re sinners. 

 

We just need to realize it and own it.  Perhaps the church could take a cue from A.A. Participants introduce themselves with a confession: “Hello, I’m Sam.  I’m an alcoholic.”  Might we do the same at church services?  “Hello, I’m Dennis.  I’m a sinner.”

 

If Jesus is going to take away our sins, it begins with us owning up to our sins.  We each need to admit.  I took the wrong path.  I ignored the direction of God. 

 

And once we acknowledge the reality of our sin, we need to fully understand….

 

2. THE RESULT OF MY SIN

 

I’ve literally been going to church my entire life.  Mom put me on the cradle roll of the church nursery.  Maybe you can say the same thing.  There is a blessing in this.  You were taught about Jesus from a really young age.  You might say you can’t remember a time when you did not believe in Jesus.

 

However, there can be a danger in this if we’re not careful!  The danger is we might think we were Christians before we made a faith commitment to Jesus.  We might think we’re saved because we grew up in the church.  We think we’re saved because our family has always been a part of the church.

But, even if we’ve gone to church our entire lives, it is NOT until we make a personal commitment to trust Jesus to save us that we’ll go to heaven.

 

We need to talk about this, for this reason.  To appreciate where we are now spiritually, we need to remember where we were spiritually before we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

 

We need to truly understand the result of our sins.  We see this in what Adam and Eve did after they sinned in the Garden of Eden.  They hid from God.

 

Our sin separates us from God.  We were alienated from God.  That’s the reality that Paul wrote about in EPHESIANS 2:1-2 & 12.  LOOK UP AND READ.

 

Paul lays out our spiritual condition before we placed our faith in Jesus.  We were dead in our sins.  We were without God and without hope.  We did not have a relationship with God.  Before we accepted Jesus as our Savior, we weren’t going to heaven, even though we grew up in the church.

 

Now, you might not have grown up in the church.  But the same thing applies to you.  Before you accepted Christ you were not going to heaven.  If  you haven’t accepted Christ yet, you do not have the hope of going to heaven.  This leads us to talking about…….

 

3. THE REMEDY FOR OUR SIN

 

God doesn’t do  random.  God doesn’t do anything without a purpose.  Take the angel appearing to shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus.  It was not an accident or coincidence that the shepherds were the first to hear of the birth of the Messiah.  It wasn’t because they were the only ones awake at that hour of the night.

 

Those shepherds, who were keeping watch over their flocks by night, were temple shepherds.  They who raised sheep that would be offered as sacrifices in the temple for the sins of the people were privileged to be the first to hear about the ONE who would be sacrificed for the sins of all mankind.

 

When Jesus appeared on the scene, John the Baptist took one look at his cousin and declared, “BEHOLD! THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

 

How did Jesus take away our sins?  Jesus took our sins away by taking our sins upon himself on the cross.

 

Have you ever participated in a gift exchange at a Christmas party?  Usually, it’s a small, inexpensive gift.  But it’s a fun thing to participate in.

 

God had a great CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE.  Paul wrote about it in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

 

Here’s how God’s Christmas Gift exchange works.  Jesus took on our sins.  Once we come to God through Christ, God gives us the righteousness or perfection of Jesus.

 

Jesus also took away our sins by taking the punishment of our sins upon himself.  READ ISAIAH 53:3-6

 

On the cross, Jesus died for us, in our place, for our sins.

 

Christmas has some great colors.  Several years ago I preached about the Colors of Christmas during the Advent Season.  We looked at what each color represents.  The colors of Christmas are gold, blue, white, green and red.

 

From Santa’s suit to Rudolph’s nose; to the ornaments  & lights on the Christmas tree; to wrapping paper with ribbons and bows; candy canes and poinsettias, Christmas is bursting with the vibrant color of RED.

 

The color red represents the blood of Jesus.  The color red symbolizes the redemption and forgiveness we have because Jesus shed his blood for our sins.  Paul wrote about this in Ephesians:

 

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins; But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” – Ephesians 1:7 & 2:13

 

Whenever you see the color red this Christmas, may it remind you of the blood that ran red from the veins of Jesus to cover all your sins.  Now, when God looks at you, he looks at you through the filter of the blood of Jesus.  When God looks at you, he doesn’t see your sins.  He sees his Son.  And he sees in you the perfection of Jesus Christ!

 

The remedy for our sin leads to…..

 

4.THE REMOVAL OF OUR SIN

 

That is the promise of Scripture.  And the removal of our sins is total and complete.  Psalm 103:12 makes us this promise:

 

“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12

 

Are you up for a little geography lesson to bring this verse to life?  We all know  there is a North Pole and a South Pole.  Once you leave the North Pole and head toward the South Pole, you’re traveling south and once you get to the South Pole you’re heading back north.  North and South meet at the Poles.

 

But there are no East and West Poles.  When you travel east, you’re always going east and the same when you are traveling west.  East and West never meet.

 

That is the promise of Scripture when it comes to our sins.  Once God forgives our sins through Christ, we will never meet up with our sins again.  They are totally removed for us.  Gone forever!

 

So, how can we personally accept God’s gift of salvation and have our sins removed from us?  Jesus said that the person who believes and is baptized will be saved.

First, we believe in Jesus.  We believe that he died on the cross for our sins and we trust in his death to save us.

 

Upon our believe in Christ, we need to be baptized into Christ.  Acts 2:38 says that we are baptized for the forgiveness of our sins.  The apostle Paul, in recounting his conversion to Christ, said that Ananias told him to be baptized to have his sins washed away.

 

So, our sins are washed away when we are baptized.  But what about the sins we commit after we are baptized? My minister talked to me about this after I was baptized.  Joe pointed me to 1 John 1:9:

 

“If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right.  He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.”

-1 John 1:9

 

We are going to talk a lot about confession of sin during this series.  But here’s the point.  Once you are baptized, you don’t have to be baptized again every time you sin.  If that were the case, I would have to be baptized every day!

 

Now, all we need to do is to simply confess our sins.  Once we confess our sins, God cleanses us from our sins.

 

Once Jesus removes our sins from us, he takes away the guilt of our sin and the shame that we feel because of our sin.  That is where we are going during the next 2 weeks in this series- THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING.

 

Perhaps you are here this morning and you are ready for Jesus to take away your sins.  You are ready to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior so you can have the hope of going to heaven.  You believe and you’re ready to be baptized.

 

We invite you to come forward as we sing our commitment song.  If you are already a baptized believer and you want to belong to our church family, you can also come forward at this time to place your membership with our church.