The Reason for the Season
TEXT: Rom 3:21-23 Sermon # 85, 12-14-08
TITLE: The reason for the season.
M.O.T: Consecrative
C.I.T: The righteousness of God in Christ has been reveled.
M.O.S: To see the real reason for the season.
THESIS: To honestly Celebrate the birth of the Savior requires that you comprehend your souls greatest need.
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READ: Romans 3:21-23 TURN to Gen 3
INTRO
It was 67 years ago! As America experienced one of the worst nightmares in it’s history, as Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, that brought us into world war 2 against Germany and Japan, Japan who thought that this was the time to destroy the "American Dream." Invade American air space on December 7, 1941.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1941 Washington D.C. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for peace! There is no reply. Late this same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the President and Secretary of State. The Americans believe a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, Washington D.C. The last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic relations with the U.S. are to be broken off, reaches Washington in the morning and is decoded at approximately 9 a.m. About an hour later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the Japanese embassy to deliver the main message to the Americans at 1 p.m. The Americans realize this time corresponds with early morning time in Pearl Harbor which is several hours behind. The U.S. War Department then sends out an alert but uses a commercial telegraph because radio contact with Hawaii is temporarily broken. Delays prevent the alert from arriving at headquarters in Oahu until noontime (Hawaii Time) four hours after the attack has already begun.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, Islands of Hawaii, near Oahu , The Japanese attack force under the command of Admiral Nagumo, consisting of six carriers with 423 planes, is about to attack. At 6 a.m., the first attack wave of 183 Japanese planes takes off from the carriers located 230 miles north of Oahu and heads for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor at 7:02 AM, two Army operators at Oahu's northern shore radar station detect the Japanese air attack approaching and contact a junior officer who disregards their reports, thinking they are American B-17 planes which are expected in from the U.S. west coast.
Near Oahu at 7:15 AM, a second attack wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is not on a state on high alert. Senior commanders have concluded, based on available intelligence, there is no reason to believe an attack is imminent. Aircraft are therefore left parked wingtip to wingtip on airfields, anti-aircraft guns are unmanned with many ammunition boxes kept locked in accordance with peacetime regulations. There are also no torpedo nets protecting the fleet anchorage. And since it is Sunday morning, many officers and crewmen are leisurely ashore.
At 7:53 AM, the first Japanese assault wave, with 51 'Val' dive bombers, 40 'Kate' torpedo bombers, 50 high level bombers and 43 'Zero' fighters, commences the attack with flight commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, sounding the battle cry: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!).
The Americans are taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes.
Escaping damage from the attack are the prime targets, the three U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, Lexington, Enterprise and Saratoga, which were not in the port. Also escaping damage are the base fuel tanks.
The casualty list includes 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, with 1,178 wounded. Included are 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions.
In Washington, various delays prevent the Japanese diplomats from presenting their war message to Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, until 2:30 p.m. (Washington time) just as the first reports of the air raid at Pearl Harbor are being read by Hull.
News of the "sneak attack" is broadcast to the American public via radio bulletins, with many popular Sunday afternoon entertainment programs being interrupted. The news sends a shockwave across the nation.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, The United States and Britain declare war on Japan with President Roosevelt calling December 7 "a date which will live in infamy"
Over the years our country has had many enemies who would nothing more than to destroy the American dream. And America will continue to have it’s enemies. But the bible tells us of an enemy that all of humanity has, an enemy like no other, one that would like nothing more than to destroy our God given purpose.
As we enter into the Christmas season, many already know that Jesus is the real reason for the season, the celebration of our saviors birth. But the question I would like to answer for you this morning is why do we need a savior? What or who do we need saving from.
BODY
It all started many, many years ago when God in his wisdom and in the power that only He has, created the earth and the universe we know. And out of the earth the bible says God formed a man out of the dust from the ground and breathed into him the breath of life. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. With the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man saying “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”.
Than the LORD God Made for the man a helper fit for him. And brought her to the man. And so Adam and his wife Eve were the first crated human beings placed in the garden of God enjoying perfect fellowship with their creator.
And than the story takes a turn for the worse. The enemy of God the devil in the form of a serpent was in the garden as well, and being more crafty (shrewd) than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made he began his assault on the parents of humanity to destroy what the LORD God was desiring to accomplish. You see Satan knew that God created Adam and Eve for a very special purpose.
Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose.
You are included in that everything, God created the parents of humanity for his enjoyment and for fellowship. We were created to live with, enjoy and give Glory to God forever.
In the book of Ecclesiastes it says “God has put eternity into man’s heart” we were created for an eternal purpose. Ecc 3:11
APLL- Just like God created Adam and Eve for a very special purpose he created us for a very special purpose. Many people today are walking around with no-sense of purpose and that lack of purpose may be felt more during the holiday seasons. they see the joy in peoples lives that come from gathering together with family and doing other seasonal activities and they may have never had that same experience. They may even question their reason for being born at all. For those of you here this morning God has a purpose for your life. You need to know that.
God’s enemy the devil, was going to do everything he could to make sure Adam and Eve lost their sense of purpose and he began doing so by causing them to doubt Gods word, he did that because he knew if he could get them to doubt Gods word he could get them to disobey Gods word. And once you get into the habit of disobeying God’s word your sense of purpose does get confounded. Confused.
If you take a look at satans first recorded words in scripture they are in Gen 3: 1 “DID GOD REALLY SAY” ; and his second words are “YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE” satan brought some of his most powerful weapons doubt and deception.
APLL- Today satan still use’s these powerful weapons of his, there are many, many people who doubt God’s word, and choose instead to believe in a lie. God’s enemy is not ever going to give up trying to thwart God purposes. His main goal is to keep humanity as far from God as possible.
Unfortunately for all of humanity Satan was successful in his work. In his craftiness and deceitfulness he tempted Adam and Eve to disobey the one rule God had given to them. Not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Was God surprised by the craftiness of satan? No.
was God disappointed with the disobedience of Adam and Eve? Yes.
Of all the choices they were given in the garden of Eden what was their greatest? WAIT FOR A RESPONSE
Theirs like ours is the freedom of choice. The freedom of choice, And with that freedom of choice they both choose to disobey God.
I want you to Consider Adam and Eve’s situation in the garden before they made this awful choice. Everything’s perfect. The earth and the inhabitants of that earth had the perfect environment, they had the perfect bodies, the perfect provision, the perfect jobs to do, the perfect companionship everything is flawless. So what is going to come along and mess all that up? The devil, he used the freedom of Choice God gave them to his diabolical advantage!
Have you ever seen the show “Deal or NO Deal”
RAISE YOUR HAND SEE IF OTHERS DO
ILL- It’s a little like the show “Deal or No Deal” with this one twist. The TV show has about 26 suitcases and the contestant must choose the one they think is worth a million dollars and in the end they need to choose again whether to keep it or “deal it away” for a certain amount of cash.
In the garden of Eden all the suitcases had a million dollars, except one. And God even went so far as to name the loosing choice. “Eat from any tree in the garden except the one in the midst of the garden. If you eat of that tree you will surely die.”
What a deal! 25 winners and only one looser and a warning ahead of time which choice was the losing one.
APLL- Don’t we wish life’s choices were that clear with big green arrows showing us the way to go. And big fat blinking red X’s telling us were not to go. The problem is that some of us would still go toward those big fat red blinking X’s in our life.
How could Adam and Eve possibly messed that one up? It could only happen if they didn’t trust the words of God. And satan managed to inject doubt of God’s word into the perfect situation, and that doubt in their mind led to their down fall. and now we all live with the results. God said “they would surely die” and they did, they died a spiritual death eternally removed from God’s Glory and thrown out of the garden God planted and were no longer allowed to reach out their hand and eat from the tree of life which eventually lead to their physical death.
The bible tells us that Adams sin brought death to the whole world and because of his act of disobedience sin was passed down from generation to generation and it will continue to do so.
Paul tells us in the new testament in
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For as by a man came death, For as in Adam all die
We are all born in Adam, in Adam we all die, because of the sin we all have.
That one act of disobedience to God’s Holy word brought forth sin in to Adams life and sin brings with it the consequence of death. Just like God said it would. Did Adam have any reason to believe God was lying NO. but because he disobey he now faced Physical death and Eternal death separated from God his creator forever.
And because of Adam’s sin we are all subject to sin, we all have chosen in various ways to disobey God’s holy word and because of that Paul can confidently say in Romans 3:23 “that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God”
ILL- In the days when there were fewer cameras and fewer photographs, and when it was an big event in one’s life to have their photo taken, an evangelist with a party of friends was enjoying a pleasant Saturday afternoon on a lovely summer day. He carried with him a little leather case containing his Bible and, as he walked along, a company of young people out for an afternoon’s enjoyment approached him and said, “Please will you take our photograph,” thinking that the little leather case contained a camera.
Without a moment’s hesitation the evangelist said, “O, I have it already.” The spokesman of the party asked in surprise, “When did you take it? You must have got us earlier.” “Well, anyway I have it here, and here it is,” said the preacher as he pulled out his well-worn Bible, opened it at Romans 3, and began to read to them from verse 9 to verse 23, “This is God’s photograph of every one of us,” he said, as he concluded his reading with the words, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
God sees all of humanity as ones who have chosen to disobeyed Him. One who have lost their sense of purpose. Ones who need saving.
Romans 6:23 “that the wages of sin Is death.”
God reveled to the prophet Ezekiel 18:4 “the soul who sins shall die.”
A life of sin can only offer you death. We know by experience there is no escaping sickness in our bodies and death to our physical bodies. It is a God given physical consequence to our willful actions of sin.
But the whole beauty of the Christmas season is that God in his mercy and grace has provided a way of escaping the spiritual consequence of sin. We do not have to remain eternally separated from God any more. a savior who came to save sinners.
The united states has enemies who will use what ever tactics they can to destroy the American dream. So to spiritually we have an enemy who is doing whatever he can to make sure you don’t get saved. He wants to destroy your God given purpose.
But you need to understand God loves you, he loves you enough to not force you to do anything against your will. He has given you the freedom of choice, today you can decide. What you would like to do about the sin in your life you can discover your true God given purpose. You can have yours sins forgiven. You can have the assurance that when you die you will go to heaven.
CONCLUSION
The reason for the season is the celebration of the birth of the Savior but the Savior only came because of the sin in our souls.
THESIS - and in order to honestly Celebrate the birth of the Savior you need to realize your souls greatest need.
DOTTIES GOING TO COME AND PLAY HYMM OF INVITATION. (Just as I am)
And as she comes I want you to begin examining your heart, don’t let the enemies doubts and lies about Gods love for you keep you from making a decision this morning.
God loves you and wants you to have yours sins forgiven, that’s the whole reason behind Christmas. Gods son willing came down to die on the cross to take away the penalty for your sin. So you could have the assurance of heaven.
Are you willing this morning to turn from your sin,
Are you willing this morning to believe Jesus gave his life for you.
Are you willing this morning to come to God and ask his son Jesus to be your savior.
If you are I would like you to indicate to me be raising your hand. upon raising your hand you are showing God and my self your desire to have your sins forgiven and your desire for Jesus to be your Savior.