Advent: A Savior
One Verse Advent • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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MISSIONS MOMENT
MISSIONS MOMENT
Sandra Kowlessar sharing about her trip to the Philippines.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Christmas Eve - no services
FIGHTER VERSE
FIGHTER VERSE
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
SERMON
SERMON
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
My Christmas series is called One Verse Advent. We’re unpacking one power Bible verse...
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The first Sunday of Advent we covered the first phrase: For unto you is born this day.
Last Sunday, we studied the next phrase: the city of David.
Today is Savior. Next Sunday: Christ, and we’ll wrap it up with Lord on Dec 28.
Before we look at Jesus our Savior, let’s pray.
EXPOSITION
EXPOSITION
[The Stolen Car] In 1981, a local radio station here in the Twin Cities reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were staging an intense search for the vehicle and the driver, even to the point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that, unknown to the thief, were laced with poison. The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait. Now the police and the owner of the VW Bug were more interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than to recover the car.
So often when we run from God, we feel it is to escape his punishment. But what we are actually doing is eluding his rescue.
In our Luke 2:11 verse, we’ve come to the focal point of the birth announcement: just who is this baby born in Bethlehem. And the remaining words of this verse show us: He is Christ. He is Lord. But first, he is Savior.
The word Savior assumes something crucial: we need saving. Modern culture often resists that idea, preferring self-help over surrender. But Scripture is clear.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Sin is not just bad behavior; it is separation from God, spiritual death, and bondage of the heart.
Isaiah proclaims...
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
And from Paul’s letter to the Romans...
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus said...
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Every person on earth needs a Savior. Not just the outwardly sinful, not just the visibly broken, but every human heart. Sin creates a gap we cannot cross and a burden we cannot lift. Religion can’t save us. Morality can’t save us. Success can’t save us. Only a Savior can.
On the night Jesus was born, heaven did not announce a philosopher, a teacher, or a moral reformer. The angel announced a Savior. Luke 2:11 is not merely a Christmas verse—it is the rescue announcement of heaven. God stepped into history because humanity needed saving.
God did not wait for humanity to fix itself.
Romans 5:8 declares...
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Salvation begins with God’s initiative, not ours. And salvation is not just a NT concept found in Jesus. Listen to theses verses...
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
From David’s Psalm of repentance...
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
You recall our recent study of Exodus. The favor that was enjoyed by Israel and his children, soon vanished under a new Pharaoh. Rather than continued protection and prosperity, the Israelites became a threat due to their growing population, so they were enslaved.
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
What were they crying out for? Someone to come and give a TED talk, inspiring them to press on as slaves? They cried out for rescue from slavery.
In the next chapter, we read...
Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
nand I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
There are two key phrases from these Exodus passages that are important for us to remember as we think of the concept of Savior.
The Israelites’ request: To be rescued from slavery
God’s response: I have come down to deliver them.
You see, the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt is a shadow of our slavery to sin. We need rescuing!
A man once fell into a deep pit. One passerby said, “I’ll show you how to climb out.” Another said, “I’ll pray for you.” But a rescuer climbed down into the pit, lifted the man onto his shoulders, and carried him out. Jesus did not shout instructions from heaven—He stepped into our pit.
This might make some of you cringe a little. If a man is drowning, literally drowning in a lake, what is his greatest need at that moment? Encouragement? Prayer? Swimming lessons? Those are all good things. But what he needs is a rescuer.
And sorry for the obvious - the drowning man needs the rescuer to come to him, not the other way around!
Will it do the swimmer any good if the rescuer/life guard is standing on the shore calling out to the man? “Come over to me and I’ll rescue you!”
No, he desperately needs a strong and capable swimmer to COME TO HIM.
And allow me one more blatantly obvious insight: it goes without saying that the rescuer should be someone that is not also drowning, right?
We are drowning in our sin. Oh, we think everything’s under control, but we’re fighting for breath, for life!
Don’t look to other humans to save you, because they are drowning in sin as well!
There’s only one who can rescue us, only one who’s not drowning in sin...and that’s God himself.
Aren’t you glad he doesn’t call out from heaven and say, “Hey, come up here, I’ll rescue you!”
What did he do? He came to us. I have come down to deliver them.
God came down from heaven and stepped into our cesspool of sin and rebellion to rescue us, to deliver us, to save us. He drags us out of the sin that is killing us and brings us up on the shores of safety.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Oh some might say, “Me? I’ve never been under the dominion of darkness!” It’s simple. There are only two realms: darkness, which falls under the prince of darkness, Satan, the god of this world.
And the other is the realm of light, which is God’s domain, because...
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
When God became flesh, he brought his light into the world.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
We see this fulfilled in Christ...
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And a few verses later...
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. There in Bethlehem that night shone a light brighter than the world has ever experienced. The light of the Savior.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
God, through his Son Jesus, is the rescuer we so desperately need. He saw our dilemma and came down to deliver us. Praise God!
To fully embrace that salvation offered to us, we need to confess that we need rescuing.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
There are three parts to this verse:
The primary point: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
The affirmation to trust and accept that statement
The personal application of it: I am the foremost
The primary point that Paul made in this verse is that the very reason why Jesus came into the world was to save sinners. That’s why Christmas is powerfully linked to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.
It’s the reason we put a crown of thorns on the top of our Christmas tree and hang a large nail in its branches.
Jesus didn’t come just to be cuddled; he came to be crucified.
Jesus didn’t come to simply live a life on earth. He was born to die, and to live again. His death and resurrection brought salvation to those who trust him.
OK, that’s the primary point - Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It’s a trustworthy statement. And it deserves our full acceptance. It’s not just Paul’s opinion; it’s eternal truth.
And the fact is: it doesn’t matter if someone believes the statement or not. Me believing it doesn’t make it true. It’s true, therefore I believe it.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - it’s a trustworthy statement. And because it’s trustworthy it deserves to be FULLY accepted.
And then the last phrase: Paul makes it personal: of whom I am foremost. Paul truly saw himself as the chief of all sinners.
And here’s the good news in that realization: because Paul was a sinner, he knew that Jesus came to save him!
This same truth is spoken in a different way by Jesus...
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Do you want to know the difference between the scribes and those sinners eating with Jesus?
It wasn’t that one group was more sinful than the other. The difference is that the sinners and tax collectors KNEW they were sinners, they knew that they were sick.
And because they knew they were sick, they knew they needed a doctor, they needed a deliverer.
Do you? Do you confess your sin and need for a Savior? If you truly understood the depth of your sin and depravity before a holy God, you likely would want to tell Paul: No Paul, you’re not the worst sinner. I am!
When Jesus said that those who are well don’t need a physician, he’s not saying there are some people in the world that don’t sin. All have sinned.
It’s just there are some who deny sin or downplay it and others who acknowledge sin and confess it.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
There’s been a growing movement in the field of psychology to remove the word sin from the counseling room. I suppose the “enlightened” think it’s too offensive.
Sins are not sins anymore, according to the experts, they are diseases. They are not moral failings, they are medical conditions.
As a result, in their minds, you are forced to live with your disease or medical condition the rest of your life.
Church, this is robbing us of a powerful truth: where there might not be a cure for a disease, there is a certain cure for sin - Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.
If we want to lay hold of the salvation offered to us, first, we confess our sin and our need for a Savior, then we confess that God’s plan of salvation is the only plan of salvation. In other words, we confess Jesus.
You may recall Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. When she came to realize just who she was talking to, she went into her village to spread the news.
And we come to this verse:
They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Peter, testifying before the Jewish council proclaimed this about Jesus...
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus himself said...
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Listen to this prophetic word from Zechariah...
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Your king is coming to you. He is coming to save you, to deliver you, to rescue you.
But he didn’t come the way everyone imagined, where he would ride into Jerusalem on a stallion to make war against Rome.
Yes, he brought salvation, but he rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey to make war against our greatest enemy: sin and death.
This is why the angel said the shepherds: I bring you good news of great joy!
If you think your life is fine, you may not be perfect, but you’re not THAT bad, then the angelic birth announcement is just news.
But if you know you are a sinner and in need of a savior, then the angel’s announcement is indeed good news of great joy!
From ho hum to hallelujah!
Are you a sinner? Own it, confess it and cry out to the Lord for his mercy, for his forgiveness. Put your faith in Jesus and his work at Calvary.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior!
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
CLOSING
CLOSING
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
REFLECTION
REFLECTION
CLOSING SONG
CLOSING SONG
Noel
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION
