Please open your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 21. I did not change again, Mel. I send him scriptures to read, and then I come back and say, no, read these. But we will be using 1 John 3, 5. This morning I want us to, I want us to have some good news, some really good news. And I left this passage because, and called and gave him something else because I thought, oh man, they're not going to think this is good news. And then this morning, when I opened up my computer, I read this quote by a gentleman of the past, William Gurnall, who said this, the Christian is to proclaim and initiate an irreconcilable war against his choice sins. Those nearest his heart must be trampled under his feet." You say, I don't get it. We're talking about war and you're talking about good news. There's no way to have good news. You don't need good news. unless you've had bad news. We've watched, she's not able to be with us here today, but we have several who over the years have struggled with cancer and some are now with the Lord and the good news there is, of course, that no matter whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. But we can also appreciate that Corky is very excited because the doctor has said, you're cancer free. Now I rejoiced in that and we all rejoiced in that, but it did not mean to us what it meant to her because we didn't have cancer. I didn't need any good news about cancer. I didn't have cancer. And Jesus is not good news if you don't have a sin problem. The angel made no bones about it. The whole Bible makes no bones about it. And in announcing to Joseph that his bride-to-be is going to birth a son, you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. That's the best news that's ever been announced. So we are going to look at good news. It is a war zone, but it's good news. Father, minister to our hearts through the Word of God and by the Spirit of God open our minds and hearts to receive the Word of God, and we bless you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. And again, I want to give this quote. The Christian is to proclaim and initiate an irreconcilable war against his choice sins. Those nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet. Paul, in writing to the Philippians, did not want them to forget the deep revelation about their own sin problem, what they were like, who they were like, their characteristics before they were saved. They were dead in sin, living according to the course of this world, living after the flesh, under the thumb of the devil, and children of wrath, even as others. The Holy Spirit confronts the lost with an awakening to their sin problem. When the Holy Spirit has come, He will show them their sin. This is the essence of John 16, verse 7 through 11. He will convict them of their sin. No one is saved who has skipped or missed dealing with their sin. Odell sent a prayer request and I had to get some clarification before we could send it out so I've not sent it to you yet. I was sharing this with the men yesterday and the essence of it was he just was reporting what had happened. So here's this guy there, a Hmong guy there in Thailand and some other guys and they decide that he needs to be saved and so they lead him through a prayer and they pronounce him saved. And then a few weeks later they said would you come back and help us get this guy interested in attending church and reading the Bible. And then first of all to their credit I mean they did have a little session where they went into his room where he had all of his trinkets that he used in the worship of his Buddhism and they destroyed all that. So I said, Odell, does that mean that he was repenting? He said, no, not necessarily. Many times over there he said that they've gone to the shaman and didn't get what they want and so they turned to Christianity because they will no longer have to pay the shaman for all these trinkets. But then, if that doesn't work, they'll go back. That's wanting something for themselves, and so Odell is hoping to have an opportunity to give the gospel to this fellow, to help him to understand his sin, and then you won't have to be begging him to be a part of a local church, or to be in the Word of God. We love him because he first loved us. Jesus came to save his people from their sin. He appeared to take away our sins. He came into the world to save sinners. We have to face that. And so we have to face up to how bad sin is. And a godly man of years ago has put it in the strongest words that I've ever read. so far as just trying to paint a picture for us. Thomas Guthrie wrote, who is the painted temptress that steals our virtue? Who is the murderess that destroys our life? Who is this sorceress that first deceives and then damns our souls? Who with icy breath blights the fair blossoms of youth? Who breaks the hearts of parents? Who brings old men gray hairs with sorrow to the grave? Who changes gentle children into snakes and tender mothers into monsters and their fathers into worse than herods and murderers of their own innocence? Who casts the apple of discord on household hearts? Who lights the torch of war and bears it blazing over trembling lands? Who by division in the church rends Christ's seamless road? Who is this Delilah that sings the Nazarite to sleep and delivers up the strength of God into the hands of the uncircumcised? who with smiles on her face, honeyed flattery on her tongue, stands in the door to offer the sacred rites of hospitality, and when suspicion sleeps, treacherously pierces our temples with a nail. What fair seductress is this who is seated on a rock by a deadly pool, who smiles to deceive, sings to lure, kisses to betray, and flings her arm around the neck to leap with us into perdition? Who turns a soft and gentlest heart to stone? Who hurls reason from her lofty throne and impels sinners mad as a gathering swine down the precipice into the lake of fire? Who? Sin. Sin. These things being so, we have to ask ourselves, why do we love sin? Why do we joke about sin? Why do we joke about others who are being slain by sin? God does not laugh and make jokes about sin. Let's be honest. There is pleasure in sin. The Bible tells us that. You know the rest of that verse? For a season. It's a short season. And God's word does not hide the reality that Jesus came to earth to save his people from their sin. That's what he came for. It made the angels happy. They were not diverted in their praise. Nothing else got their attention. They didn't get bored with that message. Glory in the highest. A Savior is born. You say, wait a minute. Don't you understand it's now January? I know. But you see, the truth of a Savior from sin is 24-7, every day of the year. And you know, in the light of these realities, just, oh by the way, in December is probably one of the hardest months to focus on the horror of sin and the beauty of the Savior. Strange, isn't it? No one was going around experiencing a deepening war with their sin. by which they expressed hatred of sin and rejection of sin and fleeing from sin and a fresh glorying in the cross. You could have walked up and down the aisles of all the shopping malls and all the grocery stores and that was not on the hearts and lips of people. And you could have walked out of the church services after the grandest choirs had just sang and people were thrilled and they did not walk out. freshly astonished at the horror of sin and the glory of the Savior. The amazing wonder and beauty and power of Jesus Christ is not only to forgive us of our sins, but to free us from the slavery of sin. I've used portions of this illustration many times, but it was Bill Sloan who used to faithfully be in our midst before going home to the Lord. He called me one day and said, and some of you would be amazed that he would ask me to do this. You know how technically advanced I am. But he said, would you record the A&E account of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis? Well, there was a slight window of time in which I knew how to operate that piece of equipment in our house, and it just, he hit the jackpot. I said, yes, Bill, I can do that. I didn't know what the seeking of the USS Indianapolis was all about, and so I decided while recording it, I would sit down and watch. If you've ever seen that film or some other version of it or heard one of the survivors of that tell their story, Suppose the only clip I saw was this old man weeping and simultaneously, tears going down his cheek, and simultaneously he says, that seaplane was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my life. And that's all I've seen. I didn't see anything before and I had to get up and leave and didn't see anything after. I'm thinking, I've seen a seaplane. I was not that impressed. I surely wouldn't be weeping about it. That seaplane was beautiful to him because for him it was salvation from the ocean. He'd seen already 900 of his comrades went to a watery grave when the ship sunk. And over the next three or four days, about 400 of the remaining 900 who were initially alive had sunk into the ocean or had been eaten by the sharks, going crazy as they inadvertently took on salt water. It was a horrifying, horrible four days of existence. All hope was gone, and suddenly there's a seaplane. And he starts rescuing, and he radios, and more people come to bring about the delivery of about 400 men who were just a hair's breadth. All hope was gone. It was a horrible experience. You see, he was not reading about it in a book. He was not telling of something he heard. He was recounting 50 years later the moment in time of his hopelessness, his helplessness, the horror of the plight he was in. And there was a seaplane. No one rejoices in the birth of Christ while at the same time hiding, toning down, refusing to own the filthy ugliness and horror of sin. Jesus came to save his people from their sin. What is sin? There are a number of good definitions. The simplest one is 1 John 3, 4. Sin is the transgression of the law. It's a breaking of the law of God. God has written down His holy and just and righteous law. And when God saves a person, God gives that saved sinner a new heart with God's law written on his heart. The newborn Christian now has power and desire to obey the Lord, to love the Lord. Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. I've sometimes asked people, how do you spell law? Or give me a synonym for law in the context of Christianity. And it's been very rare that anyone would say a synonym is love. But it is. If you love me, keep my commandments. The Old and New Testament has written down a number of laws and commandments, but they are summed up by Jesus in Matthew 22, 37 through 40. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and spirit. And then secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. The Ten Commandments put the first four about loving God, no other gods, no idols, no images, no vain use of God's name, and give God time. Any intimate relationship requires time. I'm married all the time, but every marriage requires some intimate, special, alone, not shared with anybody else, time. And in the context of biblical Christianity, while it is so very importantly true that there is that personal, intimate walk with the Lord and we spend time in His Word and prayer, we also do it in concert with the body because when he saves us Jesus who is the head places us in a local assembly of believers and we are members one of another we give the Lord time by giving each other time as we get we do two things at once there we're gathering we're assembling ourselves we don't go to church we are the church we are assembled together to worship the Lord in corporate worship and to worship him and to experience the edifying the building up of the Saints this is not an option in biblical Christianity core and central of what it means even in the Old Testament in Isaiah 5080, he pointed out that the whole purpose of the Sabbath principle in Scripture was to delight oneself in the Lord. We're exhorted in Hebrews 10 not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. For many people today, if they were as faithful in assembling for the worship of God and the edifying of the saints, if they had that same level of faithfulness to their job, they wouldn't have a job. Couldn't keep a job. Certainly couldn't keep a marriage. Well, you know, I don't want to be tied down. I like to go here, and I go here, and I go here, and I go there, and I just don't want to be committed. It'd be very easy to just float around and, I like this and I don't like this, or you won't believe what they did or what they didn't do, I didn't like this, and have no commitment. All love has to do with looking to Jesus and to his word and saying, Not my will but yours be done. What are you trying to tell me? What is your word revealing to me? All sin is a violation of love. Nor the gods. If I have other gods, if I have idols, it's a violation of love. Whatever the sin is, it's a violation of loving God. If I don't give God time, one of the things that will happen is I will begin to love the world more and more. In fact, one of the things that we're warned about in the last days, in the last days, the love of many will grow cold. Very easy to happen. There's so many things vying for our attention. Eve only had one tree to tempt her. I'm not minimizing her spiritual battle there, but everywhere we turn, there's an invitation. Come here. Look at this. Go there. You can't even do your legitimate work that you're trying to do on the computer. On the side, there's all this stuff that's saying, come here. and pastors and youth people and everyday folks in the church go over there and they get addicted and there's a thousand things out there trying to lure us away in that kind of world all the more needful and necessary to be found faithful in not only personal worship with God but in corporate worship with saints and not where we just merely meet together but we actually minister one to another. Every sin is also an expression of rebellion. I'll do what I want to do, I don't care what your Bible says. Every sin is a profound ingratitude. All that we have has been given to us by God. And we're going to show gratitude by embracing sin that defiles us, thus expression of rebellion. We need to remind ourselves that sin is humanly incurable. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Rhetorical question. The answer is no. Sin defiles. It's rebellion. It's ingratitude. It's incurable. God hates it. But in spite of the initial pleasure of sin, sin is hard work. Ever considered that? Psalm 714, behold, he travails in pain with iniquity. Proverbs 13, 15, the way of the transgressors is hard. You remember when the Sodomites of Sodom came to the house of Lot because of the two beautiful angelic creatures there and when they saw those magnificent creatures they wanted to come in and to molest them in their vile perverted ways. The Bible says that divine judgment from God came and struck these perverse Sodomites with blindness. So what happened next? Oh, God's really got our attention. We better get out of here. No, they didn't fall on the ground. They didn't crawl around. They didn't run away crying for mercy. They tried to beat the door down and get in the house any way they could. What a picture of the slavery of lust. They were driven by their lust. Their lust demanded to be fed. Lust demands to be fed, whether it's sexual lust or the lust to have my own way. It has been called that the essence of sin is the grinding, binding, blinding, Slavery. Picture the strong man, Samson. He's been blinded. They've got him bound. And they got it tied to this thing where he's having to walk in circles to grind the grain. Blinding, binding, grinding. slavery of sin many are driven for stuff and blinded to their soul this is not just ancient history Jesus warned about it and he said the last days will be like the days of Noah and Lot Will people be buying and selling and eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and do not know until it's too late. You see, many of the things that we are bound in and grinding in and blinded by, they don't look bad to us. Isn't there a country song that said something about years ago, how can something so beautiful be bad or something like that? Whether it's a country song or not, I mean, that's life, isn't it? How can this be bad? It feels so good. It happened in Noah's day. It's common today. The only free person is the one who has had his sin covered with the blood of Jesus and is free and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to do what is right. The lost sinner is not free. The lost sinner in the pulpit is not free. The lost sinner in the pew, teaching, deacon, active member, never miss a Sunday, or those who flither around, whatever. There are lots of lost people who are not connected with the church this morning. And there are obviously lots of people who are not going to have anything to do with those hypocrites, just as bound as they can be. The sinner walks in his daily conduct in accordance with the prince of the power of the air. Again, Ephesians 2. He walks in his daily context of his life according to his own lust. Satan is in control, but if the Son makes you free, you're free. Not just from the consequences, but from the grinding, blinding, binding power. I'm not saying, no, you don't have sinlessness in this life, but you do sin less because you're now and you now have a new passion, you have a new love. But of all the horrible results of sin, there is nothing worse than this. You are under the wrath of holy God. If you're here today outside of Christ, you're under the wrath of Holy God. You may be a nice person, but if you're outside of Christ, you're under the wrath of God. Spurgeon said, man is hanging over the mouth of hell by a solitary plank, and the plank is rotten. That's the ultimate horror of sin. The beauty of the birth of Jesus Christ is that he came to save his people from their sin, to take them off that rotten plank. No one can experience or understand the beauty of Christ's birth without seeing, owning the filthiness, the unattractiveness of sin, their sin. You start seeing it as a pickpin. Here are these survivors 50 years later. They never forgot the horror as they lived in the beauty and the wonder of deliverance from it. They never forgot gratitude for that which was used to deliver them from that watery grave. And you know what? Those survivors, I don't know if they're still doing it, I suppose they are, many of them have now passed on, but they got together. It's not a church, but they had a common experience of being delivered from a most atrocious, a most fearful, a most horrific situation. horrible, horrifying. And they would gather on a regular basis and there's a wall with the names of all those comrades who lost their lives and they'd recount those who have since died and they'd look into each other's faces and they had a special care for each other all because they were freed from the same horrific death. Some by a seaplane, others by ship. One of the guys that I saw who was rescued by the ship, when he was telling, tears just like the other guy. And he said, and they were not standing together, they were not sitting together, they were interviewed separately. And when he got to that point, he as well, tears started coming down his cheek. And he said, that was the most beautiful ship I have ever seen in my life. My friends, and to my own heart, as we go into this year, God only knows what all we're going to be facing. We need to put our eyes on Jesus. We need to look into his holy face. We need to go back January, February, March, April, all the rest of them, and go back to Matthew and Luke 1 and 2 and be astounded. Wow. Jesus came to set me free from my sin. I need to ask myself this morning, am I a disciple of Jesus Christ? Or am I still a lover of the pigpen? That world out there is a pigpen. It's our mission field. We don't look down our noses at it. But it's not where you find life. I think it was Moody or someone in his time. It wasn't Moody, but it was someone in his era. I was talking to this fellow and he was a shoe cobbler. But someone said, what is your line of business, sir? He said, well, my line of business is to serve Jesus Christ. I cobble shoes to pay expenses. You go out there into that world, if you're not careful, That job, that career will consume you, and Jesus will get leftovers. Let us never forget, you're blessed, and you should be the best employee, the best employer. You should do your very best, but you should never forget, that's just to pay expenses, and that's just to facilitate someone going to the mission field. Your business is to live and give the gospel. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. You may be here as a Christian this morning and the Holy Spirit has used these scriptures to awaken you to some sin that you've been making an excuse for and you've been focusing on the pleasure of it. And you now see that it's so horrible. It is so wicked. It is so horrific. It is the very thing that sent Christ to the cross. And maybe right now the Lord would lead you in experience like he led King David. He was not above it. You're not. I'm not. It can be that or something else. At the moment it was pleasurable, but oh, the horrible fruit from it. Doesn't matter what it is, but oh, the glory of the gospel. Come repenting. Come to the cross and be forgiven and be restored. That is profound good news. Jesus came to save his people from their sin, from their sinning, and he keeps on saving us. You're saved, you're being saved, and you shall be saved. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Bradley, I'm not sure what you've picked out, but I'd like to ask that we sing 323 as we close. Let's pray and we'll trust the Lord together. Let's obey the Lord as we're saying 323. Father, we stand before you today and we rejoice at this good news in a world where sin seems to be winning. Sin is lost. Satan is lost. And may this be the day of first-time defeat and ongoing defeat of sin, self, and Satan as we rejoice in Jesus, as we come to him, as we bow to him, as we yield to him, as we cry out, Lord God, be merciful to me, a sinner. As we deny ourselves, take up our identification with Christ, our cross, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We thank you for the privilege Father, help us not to curse the darkness in which we live, but to ask, Lord, how can I be a light? The darkness will always be darkness. But, oh Father, may we be vigilant that there be no darkness in the light of the Gospels clouding the message through our lives. May our lives demonstrate Your holiness, Your purity, Your love, Your mercy, and Your grace. In this we pray and give thanks in Jesus' name, Amen.