Sermon Title: Jesus Appeared: To Take Away Our Sins

The Old Testament scripture reading this morning is from Isaiah 11, verses 1 -10. There shall come forth a shoe from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from the roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the

Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eye sees, nor decide disputes by what his ears hear.

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat.

And the calf and the lion and the fatted calf together, and a child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the adder's den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord, as the waters cover the sea. In the day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the people?

Of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. The New Testament reading this morning is in the book of Luke, chapter 1, verses 39 through 56.

And if you'd like to read along, that is page 856 in your pew

Bibles. In those days,

Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted

Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Spirit. And she exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sounds of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the

Lord. And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my

Savior. For he has looked on the humblest day of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.

For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.

And Mary remained with her for about three months and returned to her home. Please remain standing. Take your

Bibles this morning and turn to the epistle of 1 John, 1

John chapter 3. You follow as I read verses 4 through 10.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practice lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seat abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Let's pray. Father, now once more we come to you, because we are utterly incapable of understanding your word apart from the work of the

Spirit of God. And Father, we are not just looking for understanding, either we are looking for change.

You expect us to hear your word and by the same spirit that opens the text to us, that same spirit works in us that change.

However, Lord, we know we must cooperate with him. We must be his instrument of change. And so I pray that as we hear this, you would give us a change in our thinking, change in our actions, change in our attitudes.

That we might more clearly reflect the calling that you have given us to live for Christ.

And so now, Father, we ask you to open the word to us, and then to open our hearts to us, that we might see and hear and change.

Help us to that end now, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

What if someone would come up to you and say, give me a summary of Christmas in one or two words, what would you say?

Well, there's all kinds of things we could go to. We could say presents, we could say trees, we could say fun, family, joy and peace,

Christmas carols. There's all kinds of ways we could sum up Christmas in one or two words.

I would answer this way, Jesus appeared. Jesus appeared, that certainly is true.

Christmas is all about Jesus entering the human experience.

It's all about Jesus appearing on the stage of human history.

Jesus appeared, that sums up the whole concept of Christmas. If Jesus had not appeared, there would be no

Christmas. There would be no Christmas if Jesus had not appeared. Now, we saw last week that Jesus did not just appear on the stage and then disappear.

We saw as we looked at 1 John 1, the first four verses, that this person was examined, that he was here and he was seen and touched and heard and examined and seen in many, many different ways.

And we saw that through the proclamation of Jesus as the life, God produces an intimate fellowship, an intimate kind of relationship between us and the

Father and the Son. We also saw that Jesus appeared to produce this intimate fellowship between us.

And that with that fellowship, both the vertical and the horizontal, that there is great joy produced.

And so we saw that Jesus appeared to produce great fellowship and joy.

But there's more that happened because of this appearance. That is to say, Christmas is more than just joy and fellowship.

Jesus appeared to do more than that. In the verses we just read, we see that Jesus came into the world, and a world that's seen from two different perspectives.

In verses 4 through 7, we see Jesus appeared in a world inhabited by lawless people.

And then in verses 8 through 10, Jesus appeared in a world held under the sway of the devil.

This morning, we wanna look at verses 4 through 7. So let's read them again, shall we?

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous.

Now, what does John want you to know now that Jesus has appeared? Let's look at four ways, four things.

Know for whom Jesus appeared, know why Jesus appeared, know how

Jesus' appearance affects you, and know that Jesus' appearance gives you a new understanding.

The first one, know for whom Jesus appeared, verse 4.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

Jesus appeared in a world inhabited by lawless people, that is, people who are sinners.

What should we say concerning one who sins? He says you have to conclude that he is a lawless person.

He's not talking here about whether you obey the state laws of Ohio or of the

United States. He's talking about those who are lawless with regard to God's commandments.

You must conclude that because of the very nature of sin. Why do we say that Jesus appeared in a world inhabited by lawless people?

Because of the very nature of sin. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Why? Because sin is lawlessness. That is a very descriptive phrase, sin is lawlessness.

The term sin and lawlessness are interchangeable. This is the essence of sin.

Lawlessness is not the result of sin, is not just the result of sin.

It's the very description of sin. Now, what does lawlessness or sin mean?

Sin is usually defined as missing the mark. In fact, the term that's translated sin here is typically the word that means missing the mark.

That is what it usually means. Sin means not meeting the standard that God has established.

Thought of this way, it communicates failure. It communicates that something is lacking, all right?

Sin, missing the mark, there's the target. I aim for it and I miss it, all right?

There's God's standard. I can aim for it, but I'm going to miss it.

That's the nature of sin, missing the mark. Now, when I played football, or at least my senior year, every player, every guy in the team was required to run one and a half miles on the track at the beginning of the season.

And we couldn't suit up until we met a certain requirement. PASMA, it's six laps around this track and you have to finish it in eight minutes or less.

Now, you runners, you think that's really eight minutes for a mile and a half. What's the big deal about that?

Well, when you're an offensive tackle, it's a big deal, okay? Now, if I'd collapsed on the fifth lap, if I'd collapsed on the fifth lap,

I would have failed, I would have missed the mark, okay? But here,

God reveals another facet of the truth of sin. That is, you can miss the mark by rebellion, by breaking the law.

You can miss the mark by lawlessness. Here, sin is described by a word that means active rebellion, breaking a law.

So it means more than just the failure to meet a standard. It is failure to meet the standard through rebellion.

So let's suppose on that day I had to run for the coaches. I stopped on the fourth lap and said, why are you making me do this?

I'm an offensive tackle for Pete's sake. We don't need to have to run that long, okay?

Would I have missed the mark? Yeah, I sure would have missed the mark. But I failed to meet the standard by reason of rebellion, by refusal to try to attempt the standard, you see?

So he uses the word about missing the standard. Missing the mark is what sin means.

But then he adds a little twist and says, sin is lawlessness. That is, you miss the mark because of your rebellion.

It's not merely that you failed, that you had the inability to accomplish it. It's that you rebelled against it.

You missed the mark through rebellion. So the lawless person is a rebellious person. His life is one that disregards

God. His life is one that says, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that.

That's not the way to happiness. That's not the way to fulfillment. That's a dumb rule, whatever.

You missed the mark because you're a rebel. You don't want that mark.

And so you rebel. So Jesus appeared in this environment amongst the people who are sinful through their rebellion, rebelling against the commandments of God.

He was not welcome, and he entered an environment that was hostile. So why then did

Jesus appear? If he appeared for lawless people, why did he appear?

Notice verse five. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

So know why Jesus appeared. Now, we know that he appeared. We saw last week in chapters one through four.

I'm sorry, verses one through four of chapter one that Jesus was the incarnate son of God. He was God in human flesh.

He came as a baby. He played as a boy. He worked as a man. He was just like us.

He worked, he walked, he taught, and he performed miracles. He suffered a shameful death.

He came out of the grave. All of this is known to you. All of this is clearly recorded for you.

His appearance in our midst was all aimed toward the climactic events of his shameful death and glorious resurrection from the dead.

All of it aimed in that direction. You know that Jesus appeared, but why did he appear? Why did he take on human flesh?

Why did all that happen? Why the shameful death? Why the glorious resurrection? Why all the things that happened?

Why? And here John tells us. He came in order to take away sins.

Now, we often trivialize that appearing, especially at this time of year. In fact, every year is

Christmas, and every year, in one way or another, people are celebrating the birth of Jesus, whether they even believe in him or not.

The reason why we have Christmas is because Jesus appeared. But so much of what we do, and listen,

I'm not here to bang on your, you know, whack you over the head with your Christmas traditions and tell you how stupid they are and all that.

I'm not here to do that. But I am here to say that at this time of the year when we should be exalting what

Jesus did and why he appeared, we tend to trivialize it. We tend to make it about this poor couple who are consigned to a stable, who give birth in a stable.

Wow, consider that whole process. And then laying Jesus in a feeding trough that in some place where grain and hay was put in order for the animals to eat.

That's, and that's the sort of thing we do. And we tend to trivialize it to this poor, this poor, unbelievable, yet interesting and fun story.

But here it says that Jesus came. He was born in that stable. He came in those humble circumstances, not to tell us about what to do about homelessness, but he appeared in that way and then proceeded through the rest of his life in order to take away our sins.

To take away our sins. Now, part of the gospel that we know is that Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin.

We know that he came to pay the penalty. That is to say, the law of God stands there and condemns us and says, you have failed.

You deserve death. You deserve death because you are guilty. The sentence of guilt has been passed and you are guilty.

I'm not talking about the way you feel now. Your feelings have nothing to do with this right now.

The fact is, are you guilty before God or are you not guilty? Doesn't matter how you feel.

That's a judgment that's been made and every person born in the human race is guilty before God.

The sentence of guilt hangs over him. He is liable. What does guilt mean? Liable for punishment.

Jesus came and he died on the cross and he took the penalty that I deserve.

Therefore, the law declares me not guilty. I have nothing to pay because guilt has been removed.

The verdict of guilt has been removed. God does not look at me. When I trust in Jesus, he doesn't look at me as a guilty person.

I'm not guilty. Why? Because Jesus took the penalty for my guilt.

Therefore, I don't have to pay the penalty. I'm no longer guilty. You got it? But that's not what

John is talking about here. He's not talking about the fact that we are no longer counted as guilty and therefore no longer liable to punishment because of Jesus.

What he is talking about here in this context of rebellion and lawlessness is that Jesus took away,

Jesus appeared so that he would take away your sin. What he says here is that Jesus appeared for the purpose of taking away your rebelliousness.

So he's not talking about the penalty now. He's talking about the power of sin, the rebellious nature of it.

He appeared to remove that rebelliousness from you. On the cross, he sucked the compelling power out of sin.

That principle that drives you to rebel against God, that compulsion to do what you wanna do instead of what

God wants you to do, he appeared in order to take that compulsion away. Lawlessness now is no longer your life.

Not only is your guilt paid for, but he appeared so that lawlessness no longer characterizes your life.

Opposition to God is no longer the animating principle in your life, the thing that drives you.

It's no longer that. Rebellion is not now the driving nature of your life.

Consider this girl. She's a great athlete. She's in high school. She's a wonderful runner.

She loves to run. In fact, she seems compelled to run. She is so good at running, and one of the reasons she's so good at running is because she just can't even think about going to bed at night until she's run her 10 miles for the day.

She's gonna run that every day, and she just feels compelled to do that. She cannot sleep until she's done that.

Do you know people like that? Yeah, I'm not one of them, but I do know people like that.

They're compelled to do these things. They're compelled. I've got to do this. I just can't even sleep.

I've got to get my five or my 10 miles in, and it seems to drive her.

Well, suppose some young man enters the scene, and he's not that interested in running.

He has other interests, and soon she's no longer driven by that compulsion. She would rather just sit around with this young man.

She doesn't care about running that much anymore because, well, this guy's a lot more interesting. Somehow, she finds herself compelled to do something different than running.

Something has happened to take away that compulsion. That's what

John is describing for us. Jesus appeared. He went to the cross, and he broke the compelling grip of lawlessness on people.

Now, some of you who are listening to me this morning have experienced the misery of your sin, and your answer is,

I'll do better. And you say, I'm miserable in this life.

I've got to do better. I know that the things I do just produce misery.

I don't know why it is, but I keep doing the things that make me miserable. I've got to do better.

Can I say something to you? Unless you're united by faith to Jesus, you can wish that all you want.

It's never going to happen. The only person that can break that compulsion towards rebellion against God, the only person who can do that is

Jesus. You can't. Only Jesus has the power by his death, mind you, and his resurrection.

He's the only one that has the power that can remove that compulsion towards lawlessness.

Only Jesus is the person who can break that. You can't. And so I want to say to you who hear me this morning, who have that idea of,

I'll do better. I've got to do better. I've got to get more information. I've got to have more willpower.

Let me tell you, you can get everything you want. You do not have the power to break the compelling nature of rebellion.

It will still dominate you. Unless you come to Jesus in faith, believing in him, you will always be a slave to the compulsive power of rebellion.

Impossible without Jesus. And by the way, the

Apostle John says, let me tell you something else about Jesus that's important.

The last part of verse five. And in him there is no sin.

So he appeared to take away our sins and in him there is no sin.

That's something else we need to understand. While the essence of sin is lawlessness, the essence of Jesus is sinlessness.

The essence of lawlessness, or the essence of sin is lawlessness, the essence of Jesus is sinlessness.

Jesus appeared as the sinless son of God. So John sets before you two propositions.

Sin in its nature is lawlessness or rebellion. Jesus in his nature is perfect.

And he came to take away sin as the drive of your life. Well, with those propositions in mind, you have to draw some kind of conclusions.

You have to know how Jesus' appearance affects you. That's verse six. How does it affect you?

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. And no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Those who are connected by faith in Jesus will not continue to sin. That is, if you're related to Jesus by faith, you are related to his work.

What's his work? The removal of rebellion. And you are related to his person, which is sinless.

You're related to both the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. And you say, okay, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Right now, some of you, I can imagine some of you right now, your hearts have started to beat a little bit faster.

And you're getting a little anxious. And you're saying, are you saying that anybody who's come to Jesus in faith is now perfect and does not sin?

And if I'm sinning, I don't belong to Jesus. Well, let's think about that. I don't think that's what he's saying.

Why? Because of what he's already said in this epistle. You wanna turn there with me to chapter one?

Look at chapter one in very strong language. Look at verse five.

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. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. In the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say, verse eight, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous.

Notice, if I say I don't have any sin, I'm deceiving myself. So what do we do?

Instead of saying I have no sin, I openly confess that I have sinned. And who's he talking to?

He's talking to believers here. And so Jesus forgives you because of what he's done.

Let's keep going. Verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

So if we say I don't sin, I've not sinned, we're making out God to be a liar.

What's the answer to that? The very next verse, chapter two, verse one and two. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

Already now he's saying what? You're capable of sin. I'm writing this so that you don't continue in that.

And then he goes on to say, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the

Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

What is he saying here? He's saying, look, when you do sin, you have an advocate.

You have someone who makes the case for you. He's already made the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God.

He's already the one. You've got an advocate there when you do sin. And I want you to notice something that John includes himself in that.

Do you notice that? The apostle John himself says, we have an advocate. Doesn't he?

So John couldn't be saying here that he's not talking about sinless perfection.

I believe what he's saying is although a believer will sin, rebelliousness is not the governing principle of his life.

You're not compelled by rebellion, all right? That isn't the controlling principle.

That isn't the compulsion of your life. As a believer, you know what I'm talking about. When you sin, you grieve over that.

You don't make excuses for it. You do what he says. You own up to it, don't you?

You hate it. So then how does Jesus' appearance then affect you?

You don't walk in sin. Jesus appeared and so by faith, he says, we live in him.

We remain in him. We abide in him. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning as a way of life.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Now that Jesus has appeared and now that he's given himself to you so that you abide in him by faith, you cannot live in rebellion against God.

It's impossible to live in a rebellious state against God. If your life is driven by lawlessness, by sin, then you've neither seen nor known

Jesus. Suppose one of you said to me, hey, do you know

Becca Pasma? And I replied, sure do. And you say, well, then describe her for me. And I said, she's five foot one, has blonde hair, brown eyes, is a rather melancholy person, has a hard time making friends.

You would say to me, you fool, you don't know that girl at all.

That is not the person that I know. Well, if sin continues to rule your life, then you know neither the person nor the work of Jesus.

Why not? Because Jesus appeared as the sinless son of God who by his death on the cross took away that compelling power of rebelliousness and sin.

Now, I hesitate to do this, but I think

I must. I think I must in order to make the point. So one of the ways that we're told how to study scripture is to compare scripture with scripture.

Scripture won't contradict itself. So you compare scripture to scripture in order to gain a greater understanding.

And so I would suggest to you that you turn to Romans chapter six for a moment.

Romans six. In Romans six, the apostle

Paul has made the point that you've died to sin, that sin is no longer your master.

And he says to us in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions.

He's made the point that sin has been reigning, but through the death of Jesus, the reign, the rule of sin has been broken.

That is, sin is no longer your king. Let not sin therefore reign. Don't let the king get back on the throne.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace.

He's drawing a picture. Don't let king sin climb back on the throne. And as a matter of fact, the members of your body, you can offer them to righteousness or to this competing king.

But on the other hand, let me tell you, this sin is no longer gonna have dominion over you because grace is more powerful.

You see, all right, here's a little saying that helps me. Listen carefully. Although your relationship to sin has changed, sin has not changed.

Write it down so you can consider this. Your relationship to sin has changed, but sin has not changed.

Let me explain that. Your relationship to sin has changed. Sin, as a

Christian, sin is no longer your master. Sin is no longer your king.

Sin is no longer the tyrant who sits on the throne of your heart, controlling you.

Your relationship to sin has changed. I'm not under the rule, the reign, the authority, the power of sin.

My relationship to sin has changed, but sin has not changed. Sin, by its nature, wants to rule.

You follow? Sin says, I'm not satisfied with a little,

I want all. And so when he says, don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies, what is he saying?

He's saying your relationship to sin has changed. Don't let it, right? You have the power to say no to it and yes to God.

However, listen now, sin has not changed. It's still trying to get on the throne.

It still wants to rule. The good news is that it never will rule again.

So what's the point? The point is this, 1 John. If sin has been dethroned as the king of your life, then you're not gonna walk in lawlessness and rebellion any longer.

But know this, that sin still wants to rule and it's still coming after.

It's still trying to climb up on the throne and that's where your struggle comes from. That's where the struggle is.

Not that sin is ruling, it's trying to rule. Or let me put it this way.

Some of you have heard this several times. I've said this about a million times in different lectures here and there.

So let me put it this way. King sin has been driven from the throne of your heart, the heart, the ruling center of your life, the capital city.

Sin has been driven from the throne of the capital city out into the countryside and the forces of righteousness and Jesus now sits on the throne and the forces of righteousness now garrison the capital city.

But sin is still out there fighting a guerrilla warfare and it can win significant victories, but it can't get back on the throne.

Your struggle against sin is because sin is trying to get back on the throne. It'll never succeed, but you are still fighting.

And so John, the Apostle John is making the point in a little different language in that.

So because sin is not the dynamic, the compelling dynamic of your life, you're not gonna walk in rebelliousness any longer.

Certainly, you're gonna fight it. Certainly, you're gonna fall to it at times, but it doesn't rule you.

It is not your king. See, that's what John is saying. Jesus appeared to take away sin and you have either been joined to him in such a way that it affects you or you have not.

So, how's Jesus' appearance affect you? He has destroyed the compelling nature of sin in your life.

It doesn't rule anymore. Now, there's one last thing that he says in order for us to get that point and that is verse seven.

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous.

All right? Grasp this rule. He who does what is right is righteous just as Jesus is righteous.

Now, someone might say, but doesn't that destroy the grace of God? No, the Apostle John is not asserting that you must earn your salvation.

That's not what he's saying. This is not the cause. This is not the cause of your salvation to be as righteous as Jesus.

This is the result of your salvation. This is the result. Jesus appeared in order to take away sin.

He didn't appear so you would take away sin, but if Jesus has appeared to take away sin, then what?

Then you'll be like him. Sin doesn't, or God's salvation doesn't just make our record with God right where the guilt is gone, the penalty's gone, but that salvation changes you so that you're righteous.

He says that it is impossible for one who's united to Jesus, who lives in him, who abides in him, to continue in his rebellion and practicing sin.

If that were the case, then Jesus failed in his mission. He appeared to take away sin. And if he appeared to take away sin, then for you to go on sinning is just, why did he show up then?

No, he appeared to take away sin so that you would be like him and righteous. But beware, there would be others who would tell you differently.

Several years ago, several years ago, I remember meeting a young man who was a homosexual, and he was a member of what's considered an evangelical church, that is a

Bible -believing church. And you know what? He said all the right things.

He said that Jesus was a propitiation for sinners. He even quoted to me

Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, right? That it's all of grace, it's a gift from God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

He quoted that to me, that we're all saved by grace through faith and not by our own efforts. He clearly could tell me about salvation by faith alone in the person of Christ.

He said all the right things. But he also said this, that the church where he attended would not condemn homosexuality.

It was acceptable, and so he was okay with that. The clear message in that church was that you could be saved and remain unchanged.

And that is what John is saying is impossible. John says that's impossible, because you will be righteous like Jesus is.

You will be like him. You cannot, you cannot be a recipient of the salvation that Jesus brings.

Why did he appear? To take away our sins. It's not enough just to say the right things.

When you're saved, God changes you. It's impossible to be saved and remain unchanged.

That's why he says you won't remain in rebellion. Jesus appeared so that we would get this message.

He appeared to save us from our sins. Jesus appeared to take away our sins.

And so we would be changed. What is

Christmas about then? Simple, Jesus appeared. Christmas is about Jesus making his appearance among us.

Arriving on the stage of human history and human experience. But to what end?

What was the purpose of that appearance? Why did he show up? Here's why.

When you think of Christmas, this is what you need to be thinking. He appeared so that,

Jesus appeared. Jesus showed up so that our marriages would be different.

Jesus showed up so that our work would be different.

So that you would be a different kind of employee. Jesus showed up so that you would be a different kind of parent.

Jesus showed up so that you would start thinking differently.

Jesus showed up so that you would do things on your vacation. You'd have a different kind of vacation than everybody else.

Jesus showed up so that his disciples would be different.

Jesus appeared in order to take away our sins.

That's what Christmas is about. That's what we need to have ringing in our heads.

The incarnation, the appearance of God as a human being, the

God -man, is that we would be different. Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for the fact that it explains everything to us.

It explains the problem, it explains the solution. So we're asking that again, you would open our hearts before you and cause us to think differently so that we will be different in every arena of human experience.

Father, the work of Jesus is all -encompassing.

Help us to get it so that when we celebrate

Christmas, we can look into your face and thank you for the fact that Jesus appeared to take away our sins, that we might experience joy, that rebellion in its bitter fruit would be replaced by holiness and its peaceful, wonderful, sweet fruit.