My Eyes Have Seen

Good Evening,

Thank you so much for joining us.

I pray that you found the drama entertaining as well as thought provoking.

If you will stick with me for just a few minutes I want to talk about what we have just seen.

One of the themes in the drama was a desire for deliverance.

You heard Amos the shepherd and Jeremiah of Jerusalem both express their desire for someone to come and deliver them from the oppression of Rome.

Both men were bitter, frustrated, and discouraged.

We also saw Esther present a sense of fear as Jeremiah angrily voiced his opinion about Rome.

Though thousands of years have come and gone, we find these same conflicts in our society today.

There is a sense that we live in a world of injustice.

There is bitterness, frustration, discouragement, anger, and fear.

However, in our drama, we also saw men of faith.

The first was Josiah.

Josiah believed that God was going to keep His promises.

He believed that God would send the Messiah to deliver them both physically and spiritually.

Then we saw Simeon. A man who had been given a promise from God and believed it.

In our drama the idea of a Messiah was mentioned repeatedly.

Through prophets in ancient times, God promised to send a deliverer. To send someone to save His people.

As time went on the promise was further and further clarified.

This Messiah would be born of a virgin, and announced by angels. His birthplace was foretold, as well as who this man would really be. He would be Immanuel, God with us.

Just as promised, the Messiah was born. In a stable, and laid to rest in a manger. Angels proclaimed His birth, shepherds visited Him, and history was forever changed.

In his conversation with Esther, Simeon mentioned how the Messiah would bring about a revival in our hearts.

Later, as he talked with Jeremiah it was revealed that the Savior had been born. The Messiah had come to bring peace and salvation.

Jesus was born, the light of the world.

Statements like this make us ask some questions.

Why did a Messiah need to be born?

What is He saving us from?

Why do we need deliverance?

On the back of your program we have a message tonight.

Here is what it says.

READ

Most people are aware of the "Christmas story." Each year we decorate our homes, sing special seasonal songs, send out cards to one another proclaiming the Good News, and we give and receive presents with a joyful spirit. Yet in all our festivities, many fail each year to understand the true message behind our celebrations.

The story is much more than our simple commemoration of a baby being born in a stable to a poor, young family from Nazareth. And it involves more than a few ancient prophecies foretelling His virgin birth in a certain place, at a certain time. There was a monumental announcement by a host of heavenly angels that the Child had finally come and a joyous visitation by some humble shepherds who quickly spread the news.

But there's more to it than just knowing the story. You have to believe it applies to you ... personally. No one can obtain salvation on their own. We must believe that Jesus Christ, God the Son, died for our sins, and that He is the only One providing a path for us to Heaven and eternal life.

* Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

* Isaiah 53:8b " ... For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken."

* John 1:29 "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

PAUSE

There it is. Right there we have the reason a Messiah was, and still is, necessary.

Sin.

What is sin?

Sin means to miss the mark.

Picture an archer trying to hit a target and missing it.

There is a target we all need to hit in order to have a relationship with God and a life in heaven.

That target is God’s standard of perfection.

You may have heard the phrase, “nobody is perfect”?

All it takes is one sin to make us guilty. One lie, one theft, one lustful thought.

Because nobody is perfect, everyone misses God’s standard of perfect.

Everyone except Jesus.

Let’s keep reading.

* John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

PAUSE

Why was that little baby born all those years ago?

Because God loved the world.

He loved each and every one of us, though we have been stained by sin.

The love of God motivated Him to send His one and only Son to pay the penalty for our sin.

It is through faith in Him alone that we can have eternal life.

READ

* John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

He is the only way.

* Rom. 3 :23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

* Rom. 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life."

PAUSE

Here it is. Here is the penalty for sin. The penalty for sin is death.

That is the penalty paid by Jesus on the Cross.

That verse doesn’t stop with telling us the penalty.

It also tells us the good news.

The free gift of God is eternal life.

How do we access this gift?

READ

* Rom. 5: 8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

* Rom. 10:9 "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

PAUSE

Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus.

You could say something as simple as this, “God I know that I am a sinner. I believe that Jesus died on the Cross to pay the penalty for my sin. I now choose to trust in Him.”

Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

The promise we have is of eternal life with Jesus.

That doesn’t work if He is still dead.

The Bible tells us that He rose from the dead, that He is alive today, and that He is coming back for us one day.

We invite you to place you trust in Jesus.

He is Immanuel, God with us.

He is the Messiah, the who came to save His people from their sin.

He is the only way of salvation.

PRAY

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