1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,800 Do we have a special guest speaker, Pastor Mike? 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,680 Not special, just old and part of the furniture, actually. 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:21,000 But well, I feel like a friend I had back when Janice and I were 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,240 in our 20s. We attended the same church, and 5 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:30,920 this guy was an undertaker and he worked in a Funeral Home. 6 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,760 And one day the pastor asked him to come and share his testimony, 7 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,400 and he was really excited about that. 8 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,880 So he stood before everybody and he was just so excited. 9 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,880 And he says, you know, it's not often that I get to speak before 10 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:49,680 live audiences. So thank you, Pastor Drew, for 11 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,200 letting me get up here and share the gospel today. 12 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,120 Well, in just a few days we're going to start a new year, 2026, 13 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:03,560 and this past month we've sung many Christmas carols, some that 14 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,200 speak of peace on earth, goodwill towards men. 15 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:13,040 Yet if we're brutally honest, we see both in short supply and our 16 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,960 world. Thomas Jefferson once said peace 17 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:23,280 is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:29,760 around reloading. Jesus didn't come so that we 19 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:35,160 might live in sin and do it in a peaceful world. 20 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:41,400 Jesus came to deliver us from our sin and give us personal 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:47,480 peace to live in a world that is cursed because of sin. 22 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:53,400 Our hope comes not from what we do or don't do, but from what 23 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:58,280 Christ has done and continues to do in our lives. 24 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,120 We are all familiar with the Christmas narratives in Matthew 25 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:08,360 and Luke, but the apostle John gives us a uniquely different 26 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,680 Christmas story. And in so doing, he gives us our 27 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:17,600 hope in Christ before and after Christmas. 28 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:23,000 Let's pray as we begin. Father, we are so grateful that 29 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:33,760 indeed You sent your Son Jesus Christ to die and to remove the 30 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,400 curse of sin and death from this world. 31 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,920 Lord, we are so grateful that you saw fit to do this because 32 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:47,920 we certainly didn't deserve it, and yet You saw fit to pay the 33 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:51,880 price through Your Son. Guide us now as we look into 34 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,680 Your Word. Open our minds and hearts to 35 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,920 what you have to say to each of us, for we ask these things in 36 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:04,360 Jesus name, Amen. John 1. 37 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,600 Excuse me, In the beginning was the Word. 38 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,120 John's Christmas story starts like the first verse in Genesis. 39 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:22,080 In the beginning God. Well, that was not a coincidence 40 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:27,040 on John's part. The Greek word logos is used in 41 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,200 place of the word God, but meaning the same. 42 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,240 Therefore, in English the capitalized word means the same 43 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,160 thing as God. Say wait a minute Pastor Mike, I 44 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,280 I thought this was a Christmas story. 45 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,240 Well, it is, but the Christmas story always pictured the cradle 46 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:51,200 in the shadow of the cross. John would later write in 47 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:56,920 Revelation the Lamb who was slain before the creation of the 48 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,280 world. From the very beginning was the 49 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,320 Word, and from the very beginning the Christmas story 50 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:10,040 involved the cross. Matthew and Luke give us a micro 51 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,560 version of the Christmas story, neither giving us all the 52 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,760 details. John on the other hand, gives us 53 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:22,480 the macro version. The big picture of Christmas and 54 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,440 the Word was with God. This unique phrase takes place 55 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,200 before God had created anything and yet there was something else 56 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,520 pre existent with God. Once again John calls his 57 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,640 something the Word. Now we're beginning to see a 58 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:47,320 picture just slightly out of focus, and the Word was God. 59 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,160 Now the picture John is painting is coming into very sharp focus. 60 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,800 This something, the Word was at the very beginning of anything 61 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,480 and everything. The Word was with God and was 62 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:06,240 God, making God at least two distinct persons, although one 63 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,080 God. The beginning of the doctrine of 64 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,520 the Trinity is now emerging in John's opening of his Gospel. 65 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:18,520 Now John's focus shifts to the creation of the universe itself. 66 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,080 He was with God in the beginning. 67 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,440 Through him all things were made. 68 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:28,160 Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 69 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:34,000 In God the Father's design. He speaks the universe into 70 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:39,920 existence and details that existence in six literal 71 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:44,040 creative days. However, His creative power is 72 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,640 executed through this being called the Word. 73 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:54,040 Without the Word, nothing gets made in summing up this concept. 74 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,200 This Word through whom God created everything is one with 75 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:04,640 God and is God, and this is something we can hardly begin to 76 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,640 comprehend. But Scripture is not asking us 77 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:14,680 to understand how it's true, but only to believe that it is true. 78 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:22,240 In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 79 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,680 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has 80 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:31,040 not overcome it. Now, John uses several motifs as 81 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,400 he writes, and he says, what's a motif, you might ask? 82 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,920 Well, wives know all about this, OK? 83 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:44,200 It's where her husband takes over one room in the house, and 84 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,760 he decorates it with his favorite team posters, pennants 85 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,760 and memorabilia. I didn't say it was pretty, but 86 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,240 it is a motif. OK Matthew used the book of 87 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:03,920 Exodus as a motif to explain Jesus to Jews, showing how Moses 88 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:09,840 was a type of Christ. Now John uses the Genesis motif 89 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,600 to explain the word to Gentiles. Listen to verses 2 through 4 of 90 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,440 Genesis. Now the earth was formless and 91 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,640 empty. Darkness was over the surface of 92 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,480 the deep, and God said, let there be light, and there was 93 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,440 light. God saw that the light was good, 94 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,720 and he separated the light from the darkness. 95 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,880 As darkness can never overcome the light, since God separated 96 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:43,160 them, neither can the darkness of sin overcome the Word who 97 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:49,360 gives light to all men. Luke wrote sort of a prelude to 98 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,360 the Christmas story in Luke chapter one. 99 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,920 But the Angel said to him, Do not be afraid Zachariah, your 100 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:01,280 prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear 101 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:05,440 you a son, and you are to call him John. 102 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,760 Now the apostle John writes A prelude to the purpose of why 103 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:15,080 Christ came that we celebrate at Christmas. 104 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,560 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 105 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:25,240 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that 106 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,960 through him all might believe he himself was not the light. 107 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,880 He came only as a witness to the light. 108 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,880 The Apostle John makes it very clear that John the Baptist was 109 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:43,240 not the light, but merely testified concerning this light 110 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:50,240 to all mankind. In Matthew, a light testifies to 111 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:56,400 the one being born in Bethlehem, the star that wise men followed. 112 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,800 But that light, they would call it a wandering star. 113 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,680 Today we might call it a planet had to be set precisely in 114 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:10,360 motion at the moment of creation so that its timing, its arrival 115 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,480 in Bethlehem, would signify the birth of someone who would give 116 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,040 light to the world and indeed, save the world. 117 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,280 One of the interesting things. And Banu, I'm wandering off the 118 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,160 reservation here. OK, one of the interesting 119 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:31,560 things about that light, why was it given? 120 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:38,080 The Bible's very clear Day 4 What's created the sun, moon and 121 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:40,520 stars. And they're there for a reason. 122 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,440 This is for signs, seasons, days and years. 123 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:49,040 OK, well, how do we get a day? The earth revolves once we see 124 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,480 the sunrise fall, but it's actually the earth revolving. 125 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:57,280 OK, but that gives us a day. And then it says seasons. 126 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:00,280 How do we get seasons? Believe it or not, it's via the 127 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,240 moon. OK, The phases of the moon truly 128 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:08,240 determine the seasons. Sign, season, days, years. 129 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,120 Oh, how do we get years? Oh, well, that's just the Earth 130 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,000 revolving around the sun. Well, what about the very first 131 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,760 part of that verse for signs? And what's amazing is we're not 132 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,200 talking about astrology. Astrology believes that the 133 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,520 stars affect us. That's hogwash. 134 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:35,760 OK, astronomy is the glories of God set in space tuned to such 135 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,080 precision. There are actually formulas 136 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,160 we've discovered and we can clock back time to hundreds and 137 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:44,760 even thousands of years of what the stars look like. 138 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,240 And that's what a guy did. I would highly encourage you if 139 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,280 you've never seen it. The star of Bethlehem, first one 140 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:54,480 up here gets to borrowed from us. 141 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:59,040 OK, the star of Bethlehem. And here a man went back and he 142 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,680 looked through the stars using computer software and he 143 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:06,880 explains what God was telling us in the skies at that star. 144 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,160 It will blow your mind in what He shares. 145 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:13,640 And so I would encourage you. And that's the end of the 146 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,480 commercial. Now back to your regularly 147 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:20,280 scheduled sermon. Verse 9, the true light that 148 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,760 gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 149 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,800 He was in the world and through the world. 150 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:29,680 Excuse me? And though the world was made 151 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:33,440 through him, the world did not recognize him. 152 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:39,880 There used to be ATV show called Undercover Boss and it ran for 153 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,080 some 11 years and Janice and I think we saw it a couple of 154 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:45,080 times and it was an interesting show. 155 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,360 Well, in the show, the CEO of some major company disguises 156 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,800 themselves and then works with a common worker on the on the 157 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,800 factory line or flipping hamburgers or or whatever. 158 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,560 The revelation at the end of the show is twofold. 159 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,840 First, the boss sees what his workers really have to go 160 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:09,200 through and put up with, and secondly, the workers discover 161 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:15,600 what their boss is really like. Well, unlike the show, Jesus is 162 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:20,800 the real boss of everything, since he is the Creator. 163 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:26,800 Jesus also knows what people go through, having been born a 164 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,480 human being. But to erase all doubt, Jesus 165 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:35,120 came into the world just like any human being born of a woman, 166 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,440 born under the law. The difference is that although 167 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:42,800 Jesus is revealed to the people in a variety of ways and 168 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:47,640 numerous times, they still did not recognize him. 169 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:53,520 John goes on to say he came to that which was his own, but his 170 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:58,720 own did not receive him. The Jews and even his own family 171 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,360 failed to recognize him as God Incarnate. 172 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,600 Incarnate just being a fancy word to describe God becoming a 173 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,600 man. Listen to how Mark describes 174 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,560 what Jesus own family thought of Jesus. 175 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:18,440 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered so that 176 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:20,880 he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 177 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,080 When his family heard about this, they went out to take 178 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,520 charge of him, for they said He's out of his mind. 179 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:31,240 That's what his own family thought about Jesus. 180 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:38,120 Then with all the negative and all the impossibilities and all 181 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,840 the heartache and all the disappointment and all the 182 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:47,560 despair, John says this. Yet to all who did receive him, 183 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:53,760 to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to 184 00:13:53,760 --> 00:14:00,120 become children of God. Children not born not of natural 185 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:05,240 descent, nor of human decision or of a husband's will, but born 186 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:10,800 of God. John is essentially saying this 187 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:16,960 is a new kind of birth. It is a rebirth, not physically 188 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,760 that a husband and wife experience with a new little 189 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:26,960 one, but a rebirth of yourself by God himself. 190 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:33,200 God gives us the right to this rebirth if we would just believe 191 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,560 in his name. And that sounds simple enough. 192 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,680 We hear people say all the time, Jesus, Oh yeah, I believe in 193 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,240 him. But that is not what believing 194 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:48,280 in His name means. Believing in His name means 195 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,120 believing everything his name stands for. 196 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,400 It means believing that Jesus is God. 197 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:59,280 It means believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited 198 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:03,600 promised one who came at Christmas time to eventually die 199 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,760 for our sins. It means believing that Jesus 200 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,080 died to save me from my sin and from God's wrath. 201 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:15,160 It means that Jesus rose from the dead to prove He had the 202 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:19,640 power to forgive my sins. It means that Jesus becomes the 203 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,960 Lord of my life. He is the one that calls the 204 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:28,960 shots in my life, not me. Now, many people can handle most 205 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:30,760 of those beliefs, except the last one. 206 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:36,800 Oh, sure, they want forgiveness of sins and they want eternal 207 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,680 life, but they also want to reserve the right to live the 208 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:45,040 way they please and make all the decisions in their life to the 209 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:49,040 excluding of God's directions and God's commands. 210 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,280 The problem is, God doesn't give us that option. 211 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:58,040 The old saying that if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at 212 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:03,640 all still rings true. That is what it means to believe 213 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,000 in His name. It is a whole life commitment, 214 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:11,720 not just an intellectual ascent that Jesus was an historical 215 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,440 figure. Finally, John removes all the 216 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:23,200 mystery surrounding the Word. The Word became flesh and made 217 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:27,560 His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the 218 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:33,240 glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full 219 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:38,560 of grace and truth. You know our problem with grace 220 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,240 and truth? We're usually one or the other. 221 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:47,440 If we're all truth, we usually don't have an audience. 222 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:53,280 If we're all grace, we got an audience. 223 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,480 We just don't have a message. But Jesus came full of both 224 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:02,240 grace and truth. John identifies the Word, the 225 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:06,359 one that was with God is God and was with God from the beginning. 226 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:11,440 He identifies him as Jesus, God's son, who became a man at 227 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,520 Christmas. Through this gift from God, his 228 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,960 Son becoming a man and dwelling with us and his subsequent death 229 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:25,520 and resurrection, we have hope for a new year, or for any year 230 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:30,240 for that matter. Brennan Manning tells the story 231 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,880 of Fiorello LaGuardia. We got his name up. 232 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,200 There he is. He was the mayor of New York 233 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:43,680 City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of 234 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,640 World War 21. Bitterly cold night in January 235 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:52,160 of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the 236 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,560 poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge 237 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:58,960 for the evening and took over the bench himself. 238 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:02,880 Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before 239 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,600 him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. 240 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,440 She told La Guardia that her daughter's husband had deserted 241 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:15,400 her, her daughter was sick and her two grandchildren were 242 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,200 starving. But the shopkeeper from whom the 243 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,080 bread was stolen refused to drop the charges. 244 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,760 It's a real bad neighborhood, your honor, the man told the 245 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,720 mayor. She's got to be punished to 246 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,520 teach other people around here a lesson. 247 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:35,360 LaGuardia side. He turned to the woman and said, 248 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:41,480 I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions, $10 249 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:47,880 or 10 days in jail and $10 in 1935 was a whale of a lot of 250 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,600 money. But even as he pronounced 251 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,120 sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. 252 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,160 He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero that 253 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:04,240 he wore, saying, here is the $10 fine, which I now remit. 254 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:09,160 And furthermore, I'm going to find everyone in this courtroom 255 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:14,360 $0.50 for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so 256 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:19,640 that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines 257 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:24,400 and give them to the defendant. So the following day, the New 258 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:30,280 York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a 259 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,800 bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed 260 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,240 her starving grandchildren. $0.50 of that amount being 261 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:42,040 contributed by the very red faced grocery store owner, while 262 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,440 some 70 petty criminals and 24 New York City policeman chipped 263 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:52,520 in the rest. And just like that old lady, 264 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:58,880 each of us have been caught red handed and nothing to say for 265 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,800 ourselves. Unlike that old lady, we have no 266 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:07,200 excuse for our sin. God demands justice for the sin 267 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,320 we've committed. Our sin is not just an oopsie, 268 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,720 it is cosmic treason against the Creator of the universe. 269 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,360 A just God knew that this penalty had to be paid. 270 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,480 But the Lord loved us so much that he gave His most precious 271 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:31,560 treasure, his beloved Son, at Christmas so that Jesus could 272 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:37,600 pay the penalty for our sin. But Jesus just didn't redeem us 273 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:42,880 from the curse of sin and death. He also showered us with 274 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,640 blessings, giving us life more abundantly, life in the Spirit, 275 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:54,840 and the ability to trust God as opposed to appeasing some Ugly 276 00:20:54,840 --> 00:21:02,960 God by doing awful stuff. The ability to trust in God. 277 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:09,080 That, my friends, is true. Hope for any new year. 278 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:16,280 Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you 279 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:24,240 saw fit to send your son. We're thankful, Lord, that John 280 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,760 wrote about that. John, the much beloved, much 281 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,560 beloved disciple that was by Jesus side constantly. 282 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:38,840 John knew of that great sacrifice that Jesus was going 283 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,720 to make. Lord, because of his sacrifice, 284 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:49,480 we indeed can have eternal life. And Lord, I'm excited that that 285 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:54,040 eternal life is not some by and by in the clouds of harps and 286 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,800 violins and Halos. You said that you're going to 287 00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,600 come and live with us on this earth. 288 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,920 You're going to recreate this earth and the heavens. 289 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,840 We get to watch, and then we get to live with you for all 290 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,560 eternity on this earth, the one we're so familiar with. 291 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:19,800 And yet you said I will be their God, they will be my people, and 292 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,360 I will dwell in the midst of them. 293 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,320 We are so grateful for that future promise you give us. 294 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:32,960 Help each of us to know Jesus and how He has forgiven us of 295 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,440 our sins. He's taken away God's wrath from 296 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:38,760 us and has given us eternal life. 297 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:44,520 Help us to know Him, to trust in Him, and be excited about this 298 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,520 year and every year of our lives because we're yours. 299 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,640 We thank you and we praise your name in Jesus.