With all of the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, with the massive commercialization of Christmas time, we do well to stop and reflect on the significance of Christmas. What is so special and significant about the birth of Jesus Christ? But before we do, let's clear away the rubbish in our thinking. By clarifying, for the record, what Christmas is not scripturally all about. To begin with, we must understand that the significance of Christmas is not contained in the date, December 25th. We do not know that Christ was born on December 25th. So if you put a circle of the F there in question one, you have done well. The date actually came from a pagan observance of the birthday of the unconquered sun, and during this time the pagans held two weeks of feasts, parades, special musics, gift-giving, lighted candles, and green trees. The holiday was Christianized, and in 336 AD, Emperor Constantine declared Christ's birthday an official Roman holiday. However, we don't really know exactly when Christ was born, For the date really has nothing to do with Scripture, as does the word Christmas itself. In fact, the word Christmas is a short form of the phrase Christ Mass, a Catholic Mass which grew out of a specific feast day established in 1038 A.D. called Christus Massae. It has nothing to do with Scripture, just like the Mass is not found in the Word of God as well. Now, I'm not suggesting it's wrong, though, to observe Christmas. As long as we recognize there is nothing special or sacred, I should say, sacred about the day, there are no holy days for Christians to observe. And furthermore, as a believer, should we not celebrate the birth of Christ every day? So what would be wrong with celebrating it tomorrow? Yet the Bible says in these areas, let everyone be persuaded in their own mind and let's respect the conscious decisions of others. And so the significance of Christmas is really not about the date or the name or cards or the tree and for sure not Santa Claus. What's the real significance of Christmas? It's about Jesus Christ. And from Matthew chapters one and two, let me highlight seven significant features of Christ's birth tonight. But first of all, the significance of Jesus lineage. Matthew chapter one and verse one says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The son of David, the son of Abraham, Now, Matthew begins writing by mentioning Jesus Christ and his lineage, that he is the son or he's the descendant of David and he's the son or he's the descendant of Abraham. Now, this is very important for lineage. This lineage is included to prove that Jesus Christ had the legal claim to be the king of Israel. And by the way, no one could prove that today, for with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Roman armies, the temple and its records were destroyed. And yet the New Testament was written before then, and as a result, this record we have in our possession to this very day. You see, this gives us confidence that Jesus is Israel's rightful Messiah. And what is the significance of being the son of Abraham and the son of David? Well, we know that God in the Old Testament made some promises to Abraham and that the Messiah would come right through Abraham. Furthermore, we know that he would be a descendant of David, for it was promised in 2 Samuel chapter 7 that through David would come a king whose throne would last forever, yea, the Messiah. So every Jew who would want to discern the true identity of anyone who claimed to be the Messiah would want to know their lineage, their birthline. Are they from the seed of Abraham and are they a descendant of David? And so we see in verse one the significance of Christ's lineage. And as we think of how over the years the Jews were waiting for their Messiah to come, I invite you to take your hymn books and turn to number one hundred and sixty three. Number one hundred and sixty three, all come, all come, Emmanuel, we'll sing the first and last or first and third stanzas and you can just remain seated. And in this genealogy, we're going to see that God is a God of grace. We begin in verse 2. Abraham begot or gave birth to Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and its brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram, a little computer early guy, verse 4. And Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nation, and Nation begot Salmon, and Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab. And Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king, and David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. That's Bathsheba. And Solomon begot Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Esau, and Esau begot Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah, and Uzziah begot Jotham, and Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah, and Hezekiah begot Manasseh, and Manasseh begot Ammon, and Ammon begot Josiah, and Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers. about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel begot Abihud, and Abihud begot Elohim, and Elohim begot Azor, and Azor begot Zadok, and Zadok begot Acham, and Acham begot Elihud, and Elihud begot Eleazar, and Eleazar begot Mathan, and Mathan begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. And from David to the captivity of Babylon are 14 generations. And from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ or the Messiah are 14 generations. Now, what we have recorded here is something that most people skip over. I mean, they got the God and the God and the God and the God. And it's like, what's that all about? And just jump until you find something that makes more sense. But you see, this is all part of the family tree, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It's breaking down into three time periods of 14 generations each, probably divided this way for memorization reasons. And what is unique about this isn't merely that there's a genealogy. that clearly again proves that Jesus is the son of Abraham, the son of David. But normally in genealogies, women names are not mentioned. In those days, it was just men, their names that were mentioned. And yet we see four women's names mentioned or referred to in this passage, and all of them remind us of the grace of God. Now this is not to suggest the men's names don't. But again, it is interesting that Matthew, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, records the names of four women, unlike genealogies in those days. The first name that draws our attention is Tamar in verse 3. It reflects God's grace to an undeserving woman. If you know anything about Tamar, she played the harlot, was involved in incest with Jacob, and yet She's in the very birth line of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, there's Rahab. She shows us God's grace to a believing sinner. She also was a harlot. She was involved in prostitution. And yet she was forgiven of her sins when she put her faith in the true and living God. And she, unlike Tamar, was not of kosher Jewish blood. She was a Gentile. The third woman that draws our attention in this genealogy is Ruth. You know, this reflects God's grace to a cursed Gentile. For she was from Moab, and Moab was a group of people that were cursed by God. And a Gentile of that, not part of the covenants of God to Israel, and yet she found mercy and grace. Not only in life by virtue of being married to Boaz, but through her offspring, the very Messiah would come. The fourth person that's mentioned, not by name but by reference, is Bathsheba. She was the wife of Uriah. And here we see God's grace to an adulterous Jew. And in each case, adultery, we know, is a violation of the law. It was punishable by death, actually, in the Old Testament. And yet, in every case, God was gracious to these women, reminding us of how gracious he is with us. You see, as we think of grace, we think of God's unmerited favor. We think about God wants to bless us, but we don't deserve it. And these ladies didn't deserve to be in this birth line. And we don't need we don't deserve to be saved either. You see, grace is an unmerited gift from God. It speaks of God's riches at Christ's expense. And the whole race is included in that word, grace. You see, God wants to save everyone and He wants to forgive everyone, though no one deserves it or earns it. And when one comes to faith in Jesus Christ, God takes their sins and casts them in the depth of the deepest sea. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Dear friends, the genealogy of Jesus Christ is a tribute to the wonderful and amazing grace of God. Do you stand tonight in wonder and awe of God's grace to you? Turn with me next, if you would, to number 184 in your songbooks. We move next from the significance of Christ's lineage and the significance of Christ's genealogy to the significance of Jesus' conception. We read in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 18 these words. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together sexually, She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Let me just pause there. Think about it for a moment. Here is a woman, Mary, a godly woman, a saved woman, a woman who knew the Lord and knew the Scriptures, is told that she's going to be the mother of the Savior, but she's never known a man sexually. And she's going to have to, after the angel comes and tells her this, She's going to have to bear the brunt of rumor, of gossip and such. Oh, Mary's pregnant. Now, being betrothed doesn't mean they were actually married yet as far as consummating the marriage. There was a marriage agreement that was made, a contract that was made. And usually sometime about a year later or so, the marriage would then be consummated and such. had a legally binding agreement with her husband that they weren't officially married in the full sense of the word. And the rumor would follow, Joseph, Joseph must have been unfaithful. And you know, once the angel told Mary, the angel laughed. Mary had to live with that. And yet, she took it by faith. She trusted the Lord. She endured the trial. But what of our Joseph? Well, we read in verse 19 these words. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just or a righteous man, and not wanting to make her a public example, humiliate her publicly, was minded to put her away or divorce her, break the marriage covenant secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, not only of the Holy Spirit, I'll tell you the gender, pre-MRIs. It's a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. That's what I want you to name him. For he will save his people from their sins. Now interesting enough, as we look at even the conception of the Lord Jesus here, in verse 16 as we are reading all the genealogies, it says, And Jacob begot Joseph the son of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. Notice, we move from the God who was born, from the active voice to the passive voice. Why? Because there was no man involved. See, the Holy Spirit provided the male dimension to Mary's egg, in order for a supernatural conception to happen. And though we often times talk about the virgin birth, the birth was very normal. It was the conception that was not normal. And you see, this was very God, the eternal God, Jesus Christ, becoming fully man through a human conception, brought of the Holy Spirit, and yet there would be one very unique dimension about this man Unlike every other man, he would be without sin. And Jesus Christ would repeatedly claim that he was nothing less than God. You see, Jesus Christ is fully God who became fully man. And you see, if Jesus Christ is not God, we have a serious problem with the plan of salvation. For a sinner cannot save you. Only God can save you. And a sinner's death on the cross cannot provide atonement for your sin. Only a sinless substitute could do that. And so as you think of Jesus Christ, you really only have three options. Either he is a liar and his claim to being God is false and he knew it. Or he is a lunatic and his claim to be God was conceived by his own delusions and he belongs in a funny farm. or He is indeed the Lord, He is God, He is just what He claimed to be, and therefore qualified to be the Savior of mankind, and your Savior in particular. So what is your choice? By the way, don't tell me He is a good example and a good teacher, but not God, because good examples and good teachers don't lie to you, and He claimed to be God, which means if He isn't God, He isn't a good example or a good teacher. Either He is a liar, He is a lunatic, or He is the Lord. What is your choice? Now, as you think of His deity becoming humanity in order to save us, turn next to number 191 in your songbooks. Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. You see, that's the fourth thing we notice in this passage about the significance of the birth of Christ, is the significance of His name. We saw in verse 21 that, She will bring forth a Son, and ye shall call His name Jesus. For He will save His people from their sins. Now that name Jesus was determined not by Mary and not by Joseph. That name was determined by God. And it was communicated to them by the angel, for that name Jesus literally means Jehovah saves. God saves. You see, in verse 25 we read at the end of this passage, And Joseph did not know her, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus, just like the angel. You see, Jesus means Jehovah saves. And this gives us confidence about Christ's ultimate purpose. Why did He come? He came to save sinners. We're told in Luke chapter 19 verse 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. We're told in John 3.17, for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. We're told in 1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world, why? To save sinners of whom I am chief. You see, Christ came to save sinners. He came to save you. He came to save me. Because we all have a problem and it's called sin. And the fact of the matter is that God gave the Ten Commandments to show how holy He is and how sinful we are. So when you measure yourself up against what God expects, you would see you are guilty. You have lied. Guilty. You have stolen. Guilty. You have lusted for others. things. Guilty. You haven't put God first in your life. Guilty. You've disobeyed your parents. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. And God is holy. And He can't compromise His holiness where we have this burden and this problem of sin. Sin that demands a penalty. And the penalty for sin is death. And if God gave us what we deserved again, He'd have to condemn us forever. to hell, to the lake of fire, where His blessings and His joy is not. And yet we know that Christ came to save. His name tells us that. He came to save His people from their sins. And thus, in order to do that, He went to the cross. And there He died, not for His sins, He had none. He died for you and me. And as I've said so many times, He cried out, In is finished. That literally means that all of our sins and the penalty they deserved have been paid in full. And thus, salvation is not a matter of getting baptized or attending church or trying to live a good life or even obeying the Ten Commandments, which we can never fully do. Or loving your neighbor. Or participating in the sacraments. Or getting religion. No, that's not what's needed to be saved. It's a matter of changing our mind about those things that could not save us. And putting our faith in Jesus Christ. That He's God who became a man. That He died for our sins. And that He rose from the dead. You see, the significance of His birth is He came to save you. The Bible tells us, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The significance of Christ's birth revolves around why He came to earth. He came to save. Has Jesus Christ personally saved you from a hell you deserve? to a heaven that you don't? You see, God has done everything necessary. He's the One who loved you. He's the One who gave His Son to die for you. He's the One who promised you wouldn't perish. He's the One who guarantees you'll have everlasting life. If you meet the one condition necessary, would you put your faith, your trust, would you believe in Jesus Christ and Him alone and what He's done for you in order to be saved? You see, there wasn't just any baby in that manger nearly 2,000 years ago. That baby was God who became a man to be your Savior, to die on the cross for your sins. As we think of that, we turn to number 176. away in a manger, the next significant feature involved in Christ's birth is the significance of fulfilled prophecy. And fulfilled prophecy gives us confidence that our Bibles are the very Word of God, the book of books, the only book that God ever gave. You say, well, what fulfilled prophecies transpired in Christ's birth? Well, over a hundred of them. in his birth and life in his first coming. Not only his genealogy was clearly predicted in the Old Testament, but we pick up the account in Matthew chapter 1 verse 22. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, by the way, the right answer would be Isaiah, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated God with us. The fact that Jesus Christ would be virgin born was predicted in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. But not only was his manner of birth through a virgin predicted, but also the very place of his birth. We pick it up in chapter 2, verse 1. Now after Jesus was born, where? In Bethlehem of Judea. In the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who was born, king of the Jews? For we have seen a star in the east, and we have come to worship him. Now when Herod, who was extremely, a man with tremendous anxiety over his kingship, Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ and Messiah was to be born. So he asked his wise men, now where is the Messiah to be born? Did they know the answer? Absolutely. So they said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, Now this is the prophet Micah, chapter 5, verse 2. Are you Bethlehem in the land of Judah? Are not the least among the rulers of Judah? For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Now did they know? Absolutely. They knew where he would be born. It was predicted. And by the way, where was he born? In Bethlehem. In fact, there was over 100 predictions fulfilled in Christ's first coming. The odds of that occurring are clearly astronomical. And you see, there are many reasons why you can believe the Word of God. But one of the best reasons is fulfilled prophecy. God has made very specific predictions in the past hundreds of years before they happened, and they came to pass exactly like God said. You see, dear friends, that book you hold in your hand tonight is like no other book. We have the Word of Prophecy made more sure. You see, the Word of God makes predictions, and what God promises, He always makes good on. And that's why regardless of the critics of the Bible in our day, remember what God says, forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. See, Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away. but my word will never pass away. And feelings may be the whisperings of Satan and that's why you must build your faith on the word of God. So do you believe the word of God or do you call in essence God a liar through your unbelief in what he has written? As we think of these fulfilled prophecies, turn next with me to 169. 169. It was predicted where would He be born? In Bethlehem. Let's sing, O little town of Bethlehem. We still receive Him. Jesus Christ enters in. You see, the way we receive the Lord Jesus Christ is not by praying a prayer or asking Him into our heart or walking an aisle or making a commitment to some Salvation doesn't come by us giving the Lord anything. It's us receiving Jesus Christ by putting our faith in Him. But as we think of the significance of His birth, there's a sixth significant aspect to the birth of Christ. It's the significance of Christ's other purposes in coming. And this gives us confidence really that He is coming again. You see in chapter 2 and verse 1, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Now the Old Testament repeatedly predicted the fact that the Messiah would be the king and that he would set up a kingdom on earth. And Isaiah 11, for example, tells us that in that kingdom The line will lay with the lamb. The curse will be removed. Peace will be the order of the day. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, will rule with the rod of iron. And so there were many predictions to that end. But if the prophecies related to Christ's first coming came to pass just as He said, won't the predictions related to Christ's second coming also come to pass? And you see, these predictions were not canceled towards Israel. They were just postponed as they rejected their Messiah and His first coming. And in the meantime, Christ now is building His church, this great ecclesia of Jews and Gentiles who become one through faith in Jesus Christ, and they become one in the body of Christ. But what about those Old Testament prophecies? they still have to be fulfilled. And that's why the prophecies made regarding His coming as a King and His throne and His setting up of the Kingdom, they have yet to be fulfilled. It's just a matter of time before Jesus Christ comes again. And you see, dear friends, when He comes again, He's going to come in two stages. He's first of all going to come for His church. And He's going to rapture Christians to meet the Lord in the air. And then later, he's going to come back to the earth and plant his feet on the Mount of Olives, defeating the armies of the world at the Battle of Armageddon. And then he will set up his 1,000-year millennial kingdom, which is simply the first stage of his eternal kingdom, in which he then will set up on earth a new heaven and a new earth. You see, dear friends, the next event that Christians should anticipate in the fulfillment of prophecy is that great catching up to meet the Lord in the air, the rapture of the church. Follow them some seven years later with Jesus Christ coming back to rule and reign on the planet and defeat the armies of the world that are set in opposition against Him. The Bible is very clear. And God does not lie. You say, well, if that's true, how did Israel miss it? Well, unfortunately, it's not because there wasn't light to be shown, but as it were, they had their back to the light. Their eyes were blinded. Their perception of the Messiah was skewed. While they saw Him as a conquering King, they failed to recognize the passages in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 12 and verse 10 and others that He, would die and be a suffering Savior, a humble Savior, who God would then one day exalt. Their eyes have a veil over them, yet because they refuse to see that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy, especially of Isaiah 53, how He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, for all we life's sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. By the way, predicted 700 years before Christ even came. You see, He's going to come again, dear friends. And when He comes again, there's going to be joy to the world for the Lord has come. In fact, you know, we sing Joy to the World, number 173, as a song for His first coming. But really, later stanzas of the song will be fulfilled in His second coming. The problem is an Amillennialist wrote this song and got some of his eschatology screwed up. So let's stand as we sing Joy to the World. We've seen six significant features about the birth of Jesus Christ. This leads us to our last one, the significance of Christ's visitors. In fact, we will see through this that God honors positive volition towards His truth. In other words, if you're willing to respond to the truth that God has given to you, He will give you more truth and tell you, come to know the Savior. And then if you keep responding, He will show you more and more truth. For Jesus said, if you abide in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Now think of these wise men for a minute. They'd obviously had some truth that they knew of. And they heard about the star in the east and they followed. And they responded to the truth that they had. And as a result, God gave them more truth. So we pick up the accounts in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 7. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child. And when you have found him, bring him word to me that I may come and worship him also, you liar." When they heard the king, they departed. And behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them till it came and stood over where the young Christ was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they had come into the house, not the manger, He had already moved to the house by now. They saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You see, the wise men responded to the truth that they had. And God gave them more truth. It reminds me of a story I heard just yesterday. of a middle-aged woman who, on the heels of a divorce, said to God, God, I don't know what you want, but I want to know the truth. This was in January of this year. Well, about a month ago, she came to know Jesus Christ as her Savior. You see, God wants us to be saved more than we want to be saved. God wants to show us the truth more then we want to know the truth. And you see, if you respond to the truth that you have, and say, I want to know the truth, God will show you more, until you come to understand the truth of Jesus Christ. Just like these wise men. You see, God honors positive volition. And these wise men came, they found Jesus Christ, and they worshipped Him, and they presented Him gifts. Now notice, they worshipped Jesus, they did not worship Mary. Mary is not to be worshipped. It's Jesus Christ that is to be worshipped. And worship is a response from the heart in which we respect and praise is given to God based on who He is and what He has done. Was worship appropriate for Jesus Christ? You see, according to the first commandment, to worship anything but God was absolute blasphemy. And yet they worshiped Him because Jesus Christ is God who became a man. He is the King of the Jews they were looking for. And He is the Savior of the world. And He is worthy of our trust. He is worthy of our worship. Now you may be here tonight and you may be like Joseph and Mary. You may know the Lord. You may be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have been saved by the grace of God. And yet you're going through trials, and you're going through difficulties, and you're not understanding what God is doing. Can you imagine, again, Mary and Joseph thinking, what is going on here? And God is saying, I never asked you to be all-knowing. I asked you to trust me. Would you trust me? Just trust me. Down the road you'll understand. You know, in our trials, we don't always know the why of those trials in a very specific way. We just know that all things are working together for good. We know that God wants to mature us through those trials. He wants to just bless us with His presence. He wants us to faith rest in His promises. And He's in control. He wants us to trust Him and find God's Word to be true and His grace to be sufficient. And if you're like Mary and Joseph tonight, be encouraged with that. On the other hand, you might be like the wise men. You might be seeking this truth. You want to know. But perhaps up to this point, the lights haven't come on yet. It hasn't clicked in your mind. That salvation is not a reward for what you do. It's a gift for what Christ has done for you. And all God is asking for you is to receive this gift. And you know, tonight or tomorrow, many of you are going to receive gifts. Some of you are going to open them tonight, some of you maybe tomorrow. But you know, when a gift is offered, it's paid for by another, and you have a choice, either accept it or reject it. And God is saying, I have a gift here. It's called My Son. And with my Son comes eternal life. And with my Son comes the forgiveness of your sins. And with my Son comes salvation, full and free and forever. Will you accept Him as your Savior? Will you trust your eternal destiny to Him and what He's done for you when He died for your sins and rose again? Will you put your trust in Him alone? And the moment you do, like the wise men, you will find Jesus Christ. And you will have a reason to worship Him and even a reason to thank Him for what He's done for you and who He is. For you see, Jesus Christ said regarding Himself, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by Me. Have you ever come by faith to Jesus Christ? If you haven't, I'd encourage you right now, put your trust in Him. Right now, settle this issue. I know no better time to receive the gift of salvation than right now. I mean, it's the best gift you could ever get. And to think that you deserve the opposite. You deserve hell and God's going to give you heaven as a gift. But you have to come God's way. And His way is always just by grace through faith. in Jesus Christ and nothing more. But it could be that you're here tonight and you're a lot like Herod. You're not really all that interested. By the way, Bethlehem was just a few miles from Jerusalem. Did he go down and check it out? He didn't even go, did he? He pretended to have some interest. He went through the motions. And that's like a lot of people today. They're going to go to church tonight. Or they're going to go to church tomorrow. And they're going to just go through the religious motions. Because they don't really have a relationship with God through Christ. All they have is religion. And they're going to say words. Some of them may even be sincere about it. But they're still missing the mark. They still have never made that decision. Perhaps because their mind has been blinded through religion. They've never made that eternal faith decision to put their trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone. Have you made that decision? You can do it tonight. Someone has wisely penned, and I quote, if our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness. So, God sent us a Savior, Jesus Christ. What must I do to be saved? The answer is clear. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and you will be saved. And all God's people say, Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank You again for the wonderful plan of salvation. And for the truth of Your Word, it can be trusted. You have said it to be so, and it has come to pass. And we know if Your promises were true about Christ's first coming, We know your promises will be true about His second coming. But in the meantime, we know that your promises will be true to us. And that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish in hell, but would have right now eternal life. And Father, I pray for anyone here tonight who's never been saved. They've never received that gift. Right now, in their heart, I pray they would accept Jesus Christ. They would believe the Gospel. They would believe that He died for them and rose again. They would stake their eternal destiny on what He's done and not on anything they could ever do. and that they would know for the first time in their life the joy and the burden lifted of their sins, totally forgiven, that heaven now is their home and they're going to heaven because of Jesus Christ. That they might, like the wise men, worship Him. And like the wise man, out of gratitude for what He's done, saying, as His Lord, what can I now do Thank you so much for what you've done and what you've provided in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you now. We pray that as family and friends gather together tonight, tomorrow, may it be a blessed time of fellowship. May there be joy. May there be thoughtfulness as to the real purpose of Christmas. May there be good fellowship around the Word of God. And with believers meeting with unbelieving family, may there be opportunity to present the message of the Gospel to them as well. We pray and ask it now in Jesus' name.