The Greatest Gift Mankind Has Ever Known

The Greatest Gift – Advent Week 4 – John 3:16 Pastor Matt Davis – Long Valley Bible Church All right, we're ready to begin our Advent service, Shawnee and I are going to lead it this week. And we forgot to print the script that I type up each week, but I do have it. Yeah, we'll... we'll be doing Luke, uh, on Christmas Eve. But today is the fourth week of our Advent service. The promise of an eternal King. Last Sunday we lit three candles in the advent wreath. The candle of peace, the candle of healing and forgiveness and the candle of victory over death, we like them again as we remember that the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem will come again to fulfill God's promises of peace. He forgives our sins and gives us eternal life. The fourth and final candle... The fourth and final candle of advent is the candle of the Eternal King, the people hope for a holy and righteous leader, a descendant of King David to rule over them and deliver them as God promised. In Isaiah nine verses six through seven we read " 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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Our candle today is pink, not red. The fulfillment of God's promises at hand, our darkness is turned into joy. We like this word candle to remember that the baby born in Bethlehem, is also the promised king of all eternity. The angel gabriel told Mary, "the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end." Let's pray. Thank you God for your faithfulness to promises that you made, long ago. We asked that as we wait for all your promises to come true. And for Christ to come again, that you would remain present with us, help us today, and everyday to worship you to hear your word, and to do your will, by obeying our heavenly king, we asked this in the name of the one who was born in Bethlehem, and who reigns forever and ever. Amen. We look forward to concluding this on Thursday, as we like the Christ candle. Amen. So, for those who hopped in after announcements when we got started. That was the recording of our Advent ceremony in the morning services at the physical church. We did it that way, just because my office here is too small to get the second camera in for that angle. So, we decided we would play back. What we did this AM, it would have been the same script anyway so I think that worked out pretty well. It... I think, yeah, that worked out. So, Today, we will conclude our Christmas series that started, four weeks ago. We have done a month of Christmas messages, it's kind of hard to believe that much time has already passed since Thanksgiving, but it has. The first week. We started the advent series and we learned from Joseph; we learn from a man who we don't know much about he's mentioned for but a few verses and, in those few verses he never speaks, but we learned to listen the way he listens. We learned to give our life and no to God and to obey. We learned what was to be a little bit of a father and we learned why God chose him, perhaps to be the stepfather, of our Lord and Savior. The next week we went through the Old Testament starting all the way at the beginning in Genesis three and we went through the final book of the Old Testament. And we saw time after time where the Old Testament prophesied, of the comming Messiah: of his birth, the life that he would live, where he would come from, where he would be born, his lineage. We went through those things that show that... were the Old Testament showed that Jesus Christ, that we follow and that we celebrate this Christmas, was the Promised Messiah of old. Then last week, we went and we did Isaiah 53, we learned of the death that he would die, the life that he would live. The reason and the meaning behind his coming. We learned that without Isaiah 53, without those things, that the first advent that we celebrate this Christmas would have been pointless and meaningless. Because Christ did not just step into creation for the sake of getting flesh and bone but he stepped in with a purpose. That leads us to tonight's message. We're going to use a verse that we all know very well. If have your Bibles with you turn with me to John chapter three verses 16 and 17. Now, the Christmas season is a season of giving. In five days from now, people worldwide they're going to be receiving gifts, they're going to be giving gifts. The next four days are going to be chaotic as people rush to finish their Christmas list, and shopping, and wrapping, and trying to stuff it under the tree at night when their kids are asleep so they can write from Santa. This is a time of giving and today I want to discuss the greatest gift that the world has ever received. John three verse 16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." The greatest gift in the world. It says that God gave His Son, so that we would have everlasting life. This Christmas as everything begins to get chaotic, as our family start to arrive, as the parties and celebrations begin, let's make sure that we receive the greatest gift. You know, worldwide on every continent in every country every state or province. Every city, town and village people will be celebrating. Why is it that Christmas and Easter are two of the very few holidays that are recognized globally? No matter where you are on the world those holidays are celebrated at the same time. It's because it says God so loved the world doesn't say because God so loved Israel or God so loved the United States, or God so love Canada, God so loved the world and so worldwide we celebrate. And you know, without Christ, there would be no Christmas. This morning when we were headed over to our physical church Shawnee reminded me of something that we were supposed to bring and didn't only, we were about 90 miles too far away from home to do anything about it. This important thing that we left at home was a lighter to light the candles for advent. And so, after we started getting set up I left her of the church I ran down to Family Dollar, it's like I've got to get a lighter, so that we can do service today. And while I was there the clerk, or the cashier, she was saying, "happy holidays." I have seen, increasingly, that it started with just removing Christ from Christmas and put in Xmas. And then, because people were offended of Christ. And then it turned from Xmas to people were still offended, to just happy holidays. Because Happy Holidays seems to be politically correct seems to be.. seems to not offend people for whatever reason. But... Regardless of how offended you might be over the name Christ. Whether you're a believer or not, whether it's offensive or not, the reason for the holiday that we celebrate five days from now is because of Christ. It's because he was born, that we celebrate. That's why it's Christmas. So today, I want to discuss the greatest gift, the world has ever seen. I have seven realities from verse 16 that we must understand to truly get the meaning. The first reality is God. It says, For God. This is talking about the God of the Old Testament Yahweh the creator of all that is or ever was. This is the very God, who spoke to Abraham; the very God, who came down in the Shekinah glory during the Exodus, where there was the cloud and thunderings and lightnings on the mountain that filled the holy temple, the very God, that the prophets of old saw leave the Ark of the Covenant and never descend back. For God so loved the world. This is important to remember because God is a being, God has emotion he experiences anger; he experiences sadness; he experiences joy. But everything that God does is holy and perfect. And he deals with strictly between right and wrong. So God has a perfect law, and a perfect law that when you break it requires a punishment and that punishment is known as the second death. So, in his dealings with us. He loved the world despite our wickedness; despite what we could not do for ourselves. And who did he love? It says he loves the world this is the second reality, but we have to look at what this means when he says he looked at the world. When he says he loved the world does he mean that he loved the physical Earth? The trees? The fish? The beast? What is the world that word world detail here? The second reality is that he loved the collective fallen humans, of the world, which is why it says that whosoever believeth. God so loved his prized creation, the human race that was created after his own image, the collective fallen and corrupt nature of our being. When it says he's so loved the world, we could better translate this as he so loved the people. It says that he gave. This is the third reality of this verse is that he gave. Now this isn't just that He gave His Son to us. It is that He gave His Son, unto death. He gave His Son to die. The reason we don't experience the second death that is known as hell, eternal separation of God, it's because Christ died in our place. We could also see that not only did he give it was a sending in verse 17 it says "For God sent not his son to condemn the world." God gave His Son to us and sent him as a sacrifice; sent him to die. We discussed this a little bit two weeks ago when we were talking in Exodus, sorry not Exodus Genesis, when Abraham was told to take Isaac and give him up as an offering. God sent His Son into the world to give him as a offering, a sacrifice, for the people that he loved so dearly. The fourth reality here. Is he gave his only begotten Son. How many sons did God have? One. He gave His one and only begotten Son; but this is not just a another creation for two chapters back John one one says that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And verse 14 says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," God gave himself in the form of his son. This is fully God and fully man this is what we call the god man. For required God Himself to pay the price because only God's blood was precious enough to cover, not just one man sins or two men sins, but the multitude of sins that covers the face of the earth. The fifth reality of verse 16, is that "whosoever believeth in him." Whosoever a believeth. So what does this tell us, who so ever believeth? This tells us, not everybody will receive the gift. This gift will not be effective to everybody. It will only be effective to those who believe. Now what does believe mean? Believe means to take on a conscious choice a conscious decision to accept that Christ is God, the only the one and only begotten Son of God, to accept what he did for us the reality of what he did. And to take his name upon us. Belief is not a feeling. Belief is a choice. It's a conscious choice to accept the reality. When I started this message I told you that this is the greatest gift, the world has ever known. But let me tell you something about a gift. A gift requires the person receiving it to receive it. If I go to Walmart and pick out a gift for one of you. And I take it home and I put it in a box and I wrap it up all nice and neat and put a bow on it, and then write to (insert your name here whoever is listening) and from Matt and put upon the table. You must receive that gift. If you walk away from it. I got the gift but you never received it. The same is true with the gift of God to us. We must receive the gift, we can't reject it, we must be willing to after it's handed to us to unwrap and accepted. The sad reality is not everybody will do that. The sixth reality, in verse 16, is that those people should not perish. What does this mean? Should not perish means: should not taste the second death. Whosoever believeth on the name of the only begotten shall have life, and shall have life everlasting. Whosoever believeth shall never enter through the gates of hell, but shall enter into the kingdom of God to do well in the presence and the glory of God, for ever. Perish here means to die. It means to die the second death. Whosoever will believeth on him will not die the second death. But there is another reality on this, that whosoever will not believe in him will die that second in verse 18 it says, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." The sad reality is Christ tells us that "wide, you know, broad are the paths and gates to destruction and many will be there that find it," but he said, "straight and narrow is the gate to the kingdom." He said "And few will be there that find it." The sad reality here is that most people will perish because most people will harden their hearts they will willingly choose to reject but the gift here is to those who believe, who accept the gift. They shall not perish, they shall not be condemned. I do find while we're while we're on this reality that the church, as a whole, the global church has kind of twisted this message a little bit. Verse 17 says, God sent not his world, not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. And the church as a whole, seems to be on a mission of condemning the world. We seem to be going out there condemning people. And who wants to join a movement, where the movement is telling them that they're condemned. If the Son of man did not enter into the world to condemn it, why are we taking it upon ourselves to condemn? Rather what we need to be doing a sharing the gift. What we need to do is be telling people "Hey God loves you. He died for you." He says "in me there is no condemnation if you will just receive me. It will be done, it's paid for. Never again will you be shamed. Never again will you have guilt. Never again will you have condemnation, but instead, you'll have forgiveness and mercy, and peace, and love." The seventh reality. In John 3:16, is that they would have everlasting life. What a gift. When we don't just get life, don't just get life to the fullest but we get everlasting life, was that never ends. Life in the presence and glory of God. We have life for two reasons we have life because Jesus gave his life but we have life, because Jesus is life. In John one says in him... I'm gonna go there, so don't goof this up. It says uhm... Why can I not find it? I know right where it is. Okay well John tells us that in him is the life of men. Christ says, I on the way. The life. Christ is life. And so in Christ, we receive life, and we receive it eternally. As we enter this Christmas let us remember the greatest gift, the world has ever known. This is the gift of the Son of God, the gift of eternal life. The gift of forgiveness, not of condemnation, but the gift of mercy, the gift of love. John 1:4? Thank you. " In him was life; and the life was the light of men." So how do we receive this gift? I'm talking about the gift It's here, it's for all to see. And for those who do not have the gift of the Son of God but are celebrating Christmas, what are they celebrating? Christmas is about celebrating the gift of God unto us, but if you don't have that gift, there is no reason to celebrate. So let's Christmas celebrate with reason celebrate with purpose for we have received the gift of God. How do we receive it? Matthew 10... Matthew 10 verse, 32 and 33. He says, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." How do we receive the gift we receive the gift by will fully choosen to believe in confessing him before men. We'll confess Him is who He says He is before the people of the earth. We will believe, who He says He is and we'll put our trust in our faith in him. But verse 33 gives a grim warning "whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." It's twofold. We can choose to accept or to reject the Savior, but whichever choice we make he will mirror on the other side he will either accept or reject us as well. This Christmas I plead with you. I beg with you, whoever you are, wherever you are. If you have been celebrating Christmas, year after year and you have never received Christ. If you have never received the reason for the season, don't celebrate Christmas this year without receiving the gift that Christmas is all about. Romans 10:9 says "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." This Christmas, choose to believe, don't feel it; feelings from the heart and emotions are deceitful but choose it. Choose to reach it, choose to accept it and believe it, and choose to confess him before men with that belief in your heart; and you will receive the greatest gift the world has ever known; the greatest gift you could receive. Greater than gold; greater than incense; greater than mansions or private jets or whatever you can imagine this year. Do not celebrate Christmas for the wrong reason but celebrate Christmas, because that's the season of giving but the season that we were given the greatest gift known to man. If you're listening to this and this Christmas you have decided that you want this gift, please allow me to help you receive it. It starts with the prayer, it starts with accepting Him into your heart with that belief and telling him you want it. And if that's what you want to do, please just repeat after me: Father God, Lord Jesus, Lord, I thank you in praise you and... And this Christmas Lord I want to celebrate with purpose I want to celebrate because you have changed me through your coming. So Lord I asked you into my heart today I believe; I make the choice to believe on what I have heard; I make the choice to accept what you offer and Lord I will confess you. I will believe in you and I just pray for you to enter my heart. Make me a new as your Word says make me a new creation in Christ. Lord I thank You for this gift I thank you for your coming in, you're willing sacrifice and death on the cross, And I will live the rest of my life for you to the best of my ability in Jesus beautiful and precious name I pray. Amen. If you have said that today for the first time I want to be the first to congratulate you on receiving the greatest gift ever, please let us know that you've received the gift and we would love to celebrate with you. For those who already had that gift. And if, who are tired of hearing me give that prayer, This Christmas let us be sure to share the gift that we have received. Christ says "freely you have been given; freely you have received, freely give." This season, let us give and share this gift because this is not a gift that was meant for us to take a latch on to and hide away and not share, but this is a gift that we should get up on our rooftops and mountaintops and proclaim it and share it with everyone; there is enough for all. Let's make this the best Christmas ever. Christmas 2020, the year that we start with the help of the Holy Spirit, a great revival. We're going to go to prayer and then remember, Before closing, and getting off tonight we will close with one more hymn, and just Christmas carol. Father God, Lord Jesus, Lord, we thank you and praise you. For Lord we cannot save ourselves, but your Word tells us that you so loved the world that you step down into it that you are sent unto us to be a gift, to be a sacrifice in our place, that our debt would be paid. And so Lord today we praise you and we thank you for this beautiful gift. And we receive it, and we welcome it. And Lord we just pray that that you help us to share it and help us to give it out to as many people as well hear, as many people as will receive. Lord, we pray for those who are celebrating without you. This year, Lord, we pray for you to open their heart, that they may receive open their eyes that they may see an open their ears that they may hear or that they may not taste the second death but they will be saved from it. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. It's in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Amen.