THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

John 10:10

Every year, the whole world celebrates Christmas. Both the religious and irreligious celebrate Christmas.
Christmas has come to mean – party, reunion, gift giving, exchange presents, eating, drinking, merrying, marrying. After 11 months of living a boring, busy life, people during the holiday season try a shot at happiness. That is, if they are lucky!
Everyone wants to be happy. And that is the motive behind everything we do.
Are you truly happy?
But man can never and will never be truly happy without God. Sin breaks our close relationship with God. It causes us to rebel against God and try to live our lives outside of God’s will.
When our relationship with God is not right, it causes PROBLEMS in every area of our lives. Wherever you go, you cannot escape that. Year in and year out, you celebrate Christmas but it’s not going to make any difference.
When people have problems, they often try many different ways of coping before turning to God, even when they know that their deepest need is God.

WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
“THE THIEF’S PURPOSE IS TO STEAL AND KILL AND DESTROY. MY PURPOSE IS TO GIVE LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS” John 10:10.
In a nutshell, that is the meaning of Christmas. Jesus came to give us an abundant life –overflowing, rich, plentiful, meaningful life.
Is it possible? Yes! We can have an abundant life because Jesus Christ came to give us exactly that! That is what Christmas is all about. Without Jesus Christ, there would be no Christmas to celebrate.
Christmas means......

I. HOPE OF FORGIVENESS
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:21.
JESUS – “the Lord Saves”

Salvation in the Old System:
“....There were two rooms in this tent. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and loaves of holy bread on the table. This was called the Holy Place. Then there was a curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place.
When these things were all in place, the priests went in and out of the first room regularly as they performed their religious duties. But only the high priest goes into the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, and always with blood, which he offers to God to cover his own sins and the sins the people have committed in ignorance......the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them....” Hebrews 9:2-10.
“Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” Hebrews 9:22.
“The sacrifices under the old system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship....But just the opposite happened. Those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” Hebrews 10:2-4.

Salvation through Jesus Christ:
“Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever....Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins” Hebrews 9:12-15.
“Under the old covenant, the priest stands before the altar day after day, offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God’s right hand....Now when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices” Hebrews 10:11-12, 18.

II. HOPE OF DELIVERANCE
“When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll to the place where it says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” Luke 4:16-19.
After reading the Scripture, Jesus said, “today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” v.21.
He was saying, “I have come to fulfill the Scripture.”
The Apostle John says, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have enough room for the books that would be written” John 21:25.
Jesus came to declare deliverance to people who are oppressed by Satan. People are in bondage to sin, sickness, poverty, fear, and death. Jesus came to set people free!
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free...” Galatians 5:1.
Your freedom has been paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ!
III. HOPE OF PEACE WITH GOD
Jesus came to declare God’s amnesty program. He came to let the world know that the God whom they had offended is willing to be reconciled to them, and accept them upon new terms; that there is yet a way of making their services acceptable to Him.
“We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else” Ephesians 2:3.
“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners....So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God” Romans 5:8,11.

IV. HOPE OF GLORY
“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” Romans 5:2.
“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later” Romans 8:18.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9.
“In my Father’s house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” John 14:1-3.

The meaning of Christmas is hope. In Christ, there is hope. There is no hope in our good works, achievements, riches, religion. Christ is our only hope. In and through Christ, there is hope of forgiveness, hope of deliverance, hope of peace, and hope that one day when the history of the world will come to an end, we will be with the Lord forever!