Christmas Eve 2023

Children’s Reading p 177-182

We’ve come to a Christmas Eve service

We’ve read to children from a decorated rocking chair

We’re going to close our service hold candles at the end and sing silent night

Because we’re Baptists, that’s what we do—Hold electric candles, sing silent night.

Those are all good and right things.

During Christmas, it’s easy for us to sentimentalize Jesus.

We set up nativities and tell about the angel, the shepherds, the star, and how Mary gave birth to Jesus.

All good and right things.

We don’t find our peace in Ricky Bobby’s 8lb 6oz baby Jesus.

The silent night baby isn’t where we find our peace

We find our peace and life in the ruling and reigning King Jesus who defeated death.

we don’t find our peace in the baby, wrapped in a Manger, rather than a king on a Cross

The baby wrapped in swaddling cloths was God wrapped in flesh.

This child in a manger is God on a mission.

Today, we’re going to look at two things Jesus came to do.

Jesus give us something for Christmas and take away something.

Big Idea: He will save His people from their sins

The baby in the manger would eventually be led to the cross.

The precious baby we celebrate at Christmas time, would go to the cross to be brutalized for sin.

But on that cross, Jesus would defeat the power of sin and death forever.

The cross was the fatal wound for the serpent.

The Lord was going to use an instrument of death to ensure eternal life with God for you and me.

The thing about Christmas is that:

It was never about the manger; it’s about the cross!

Stand to read

Luke 23:32–34 ESV

32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

The eternal Son of God humbled Himself to set aside glory and praise and became a man.

Mankind needed a Savior because mankind was guilty.

Before the world began, God put into motion a plan to redeem everything back to Himself.

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied Jesus would be numbered among the transgressors.

Here’s that prophesy fulfilled.

Jesus was crucified between two criminals.

Crucifixion was reserved for the ruthless, lowest criminals

This was the most inhumane form execution.

Nailing someone to a wooden post and left to die.

This would humiliate the criminal with torture and send a message.

While Jesus was nailed to the cross, suspended from the earth, wasting away in pain as His blood flowed, Jesus begins to pray.

He did nothing to deserve this, yet He doesn’t curse those nailing Him to the cross.

Jesus is praying for His executioners and for us.

“Father, forgive them.”

We didn’t understand that not only were we driving nails into His hands/feet, it was our sin that nailed Him there!

This shows us Jesus’s motive for coming to die on the cross.

Jesus came to bring us forgiveness for our sins

You and I have made a mess of ourselves in one way or another.

We’ve separated ourselves from God and rebelled against Him.

We have all sinned

But the sole purpose for the baby in the manger was to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21)

The whole purpose of the manger was to led us to the cross.

Jesus, God in the flesh, took our sins from us.

No matter what you’ve done, when you did it, or who you did it with—there’s forgiveness for you.

You can come to Jesus and receive forgiveness today.

Now, there were those who would mock Jesus.

There are three instances where people tell Jesus, “Just save yourself!”

Luke 23:35–39 ESV

35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

They question Jesus’s identity

“If He is the Christ of God!”/”If you are the King of the Jews”/ “Are you not the Christ?”

They did not believe that Jesus was who He said He was.

They laughed, they mocked, the spit on Him, they beat Him, and they were actively killing Him.

This was dark, y’all.

They did not mean to at all, but their mocking voices carried a little bit of good news.

“He saved others!” *Just take away other text on the slide**

If I’m a sinner who has been waiting on a Savior because I can’t save myself… This sounds like really good news to me.

He did? That means He can save me!

Jesus is a serial Savior—If He’s saved someone else, He can save me too!

This little twinge of the gospel is enough to draw our attention!

If this Jesus, hanging on the cross has saved others, then there is hope that He will save us too!

This cross was the reason He came!

He was going to save us from our sin and shame by taking that sin and going to the cross to die in our shame.

Some of us aren’t convinced it’s for us.

“I receive what you’re saying, sins can be forgiven. But surely Jesus doesn’t mean it for me.”

One criminal joined in with the soldiers and Pharisees to mock Jesus.

A thief, murderer, perhaps worse crimes.

This dude deserved to be on the cross.

Jesus didn’t. And the other thief recognizes this.

He speaks into the situation.

Luke 23:40–42 ESV

40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

“Yo, we deserve to be here! We’ve earned this! We got what was coming to us. But not Him.”

What do you think it was that changed his heart?

Something had to happen in order for this man to believe Jesus.

I’m sure no one preached at the foot of his cross.

No one gathered to pray for his salvation.

No one invited him to trust in Jesus.

Maybe it was the sight of Jesus.

This guy had seen the worst of society, never a man like Jesus.

He saw Jesus walking to be crucified.

He likely heard the people crying for Jesus and wondered to himself, “I wonder if someone would ever weep for me..”

He saw Jesus nailed to the cross with hammers

Jesus didn’t reply with cuss words, He prayed for His murderers.

He prayed such a loving, forgiving, Godlike prayer.

Who else would do that?

He saw the sign hanging about Jesus’s head (v. 38)

Could this be Him? The Savior we’ve been waiting for?

I mean, everyone else said “He saved others!” (v. 35)

The thief might have thought, “He saved others? Why couldn’t He save me?”

I think that could have been enough of the gospel to draw him to Jesus!

Perhaps, all this thief needed to see was Jesus hanging on the cross.

God called this man to Himself by seeing Jesus hanging on the cross.

Perhaps he understood what Paul would go onto write in Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The thief was hanging there, still a sinner and Jesus was dying there, still the Son of God!

Regardless of what it was that led this thief to saving faith, we can be assured that he was saved by Jesus.

He didn’t asked to be let in to the Kingdom… just remembered.

Jesus looks back at him, both are suffering together, dying the most shameful death

Jesus gave him this promise...

Luke 23:43 ESV

43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Earlier that morning, that man was going to hell.

He woke up not saved/believing in Jesus.

He died that night and is currently spending eternity with Jesus all because Jesus said He could come.

Not because he earned his place, but because Jesus is full of grace.

Jesus gave Him the greatest gift: Grace.

The world despised this man’s existence, yet Jesus received Him into the Kingdom.

This is huge.

In God’s Kingdom, there cannot be sin.

Yet, the sinless Son of God underwent this horror so that you and I wouldn’t have to.

God’s wrath was coming after us because of our sin.

God’s white hot anger toward sin was going to destroy us.

If you’re a hunter, or you shoot stuff

The gun pointed at us. It’s loaded and ready to go. We’re in the cross hairs because of our glad rebellion and sin against God.

That would be absolute justice.

But as Jesus was nailed to the cross, He caused the gun to move off us and onto Him.

He took the punishment, so that we don’t have to.

What we just saw Jesus do, was take this man’s sin away.

This should fill us with joy because:

Jesus came to take away our sin.

The thief admitted his sin before God, recognized he needed a Savior, and turned all of his attention toward Jesus.

He didn’t wait until he cleaned up his life; wait to be baptized; waited until he’d conquered the sin in his life.

He simply turned to Jesus in faith and Jesus immediately took His sin away.

In a world of instant gratification, we fail to see salvation as something that could happen in an instant.

“I’ll come to Jesus when I get my act together or when I get rid of ___.”

Jesus offers you His love and grace today.

We celebrate the fact that Jesus was born in a manger to bring peace on earth, but our peace doesn’t come from the manger.

Our peace really comes from the sacrifice of the cross and the resurrected King Jesus.

That’s the Jesus who can save me from my sins and change my life!

If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, take heart!

This isn’t too good to be true!

If you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, the weight of your sin is too heavy,

Look to Jesus to bring you forgiveness and take your sins away!

In the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has made a way for us to be made right with God again!

Through faith in His Son!

This Jesus, who was crucified, lives!

He is the Son of God born as a baby!

He is the resurrected King, reigned as Lord!

Without the cross, there’d be no resurrection! Without the resurrection, we’d have no salvation!

No one who comes to Jesus for forgiveness is denied.

He promised He’d never cast us out.

This is the Jesus we celebrate.

Transit to sing

This is the Jesus we sing about that was born and laid in a manger.

As we prepare to sing Silent Night, I want you to think on the implications of this Silent Night Holy Night, all is calm all is bright.

Think about God’s love for you as He sent His only Son to endure the cross so that you can become a son or daughter of God.

There is no Christmas without the cross.