Good News!
Sunday Morning Before Christmas • Sermon • Submitted
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Good News!
Luke 2:10-11
Preached Sunday Morning December 23, 2007
Bishop William Taylor of the Methodist Church was a heroic Christian who went to California in the gold rush of 1849 and settled in San Francisco. He discovered there was no church for him to preach in, and not many people wanted to hear him. So, on Sunday morning, he would roll a wooden barrel down to a street corner, climb up on it, and shout, “What’s the news?” Then, as nomads and natives gathered around, the preacher would announce, “Thank God, my brethren, I have good news for you this morning!” And he would proceed to preach.
I have good news! You may say, “Pastor you have lost your mind!”
Yes 2020 has been rough. Yes there has been a lot of disappointment, sadness, wickedness and down right bad stuff going on this year. Many of us have struggled with health, finances, emotions and some have even lost loved ones. The thing is truth is still true! The news given to the Shepherds that first Christmas night is still true. The Savior still saves! Believers still proclaim that truth, and the Lost can still be Found!
Good News! The world was promised a Savior
Good News! The world was promised a Savior
God promised that Satan would be defeated
God promised that Satan would be defeated
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
God promised that mankind would be delivered
God promised that mankind would be delivered
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong; Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: And he was numbered with the transgressors; And he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
God promised that little Bethlehem would be the Savior's birthplace
God promised that little Bethlehem would be the Savior's birthplace
But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Good News! The Savior Has Come!
Good News! The Savior Has Come!
A. The shepherds were witnesses of this extraordinary event
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
B. They saw God's glory
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
1. Light split the sky
2. They were terrified
3. They were comforted
C. They heard this good news
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
1. The Savior brings joy for all people
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
2. The Savior is born – the Christ Child
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
3. The Savior is God in the flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
4. The Savior is Christ the Lord
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
D. The heavens erupted with song
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.
1. Many heavenly beings
2. All in unison
Good News! The Savior Came For You!
Good News! The Savior Came For You!
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Beth-lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
A. The shepherds went to town to see if it was true
B. They found Mary, Joseph, and a baby in a manger
C. They spread the good news
D. They glorified God
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
You Need A Savior
You Need A Savior
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You Can’t Save Yourself
You Can’t Save Yourself
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The Price Has Been Paid
The Price Has Been Paid
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Salvation Is Offered to You as a Free Gift
Salvation Is Offered to You as a Free Gift
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Lloyd C. Douglas had a friend who was a violin teacher. Although not too successful, the old man was imbued with considerable wisdom. One day Douglas asked his friend, “Well, what’s the good news today?”
The music master went over to a tuning fork suspended from the ceiling by a cord and struck it with a mallet. “There is the good news for the day,” he said. “That, my friend, is ‘A.’ It was ‘A’ all day yesterday. It will be ‘A’ all day tomorrow, next week, and for a thousand years. The soprano upstairs warbles off key; the tenor next door flats his high ones; and the piano across the hall is out of tune. Noise all around me, noise; but that, my friend, is ‘A.’
1 G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 22.
Even in 2020, the Christmas Story is just as true as it has ever been. The Savior was promised, the Savior came, and now the Savior invites you to accept His Salvation. Truth is Still True… And that is GOOD NEWS.