For our consideration from God's Word this morning, would you turn with me in your Bibles to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. We'll read together starting in verse 11 through chapter 3 and verse 8. Titus 2, 11 through 3, 8. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. Let's pray once more and ask God to bless our time in his word this morning. Our Father, again, we look to you as children looking to their good and gracious Heavenly Father, and we ask you to feed us from the good food of your Word this morning. We come hungry, oh God, we come needy. And Father, we will not be fed unless you come by your Spirit and open up your Word to us, so please. Please work in us by your spirit. May the word come as a demonstration of your spirit and of power to every heart and every life represented here this morning. We pray it in Jesus' precious name, amen. 2,000 years ago, a baby was born to a young Jewish couple named Joseph and Mary in the small town of Bethlehem. and they named him Jesus. The night that Jesus was born, the Bible tells us that an angel appeared to a group of shepherds outside of Bethlehem, and a blinding glory shone around that angel and around them. And the angel said to those shepherds, do not be afraid. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. And then a multitude of the heavenly host joined that angel and praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. 2,000 years later, a little more than 2,000 years later, we have entered into another Christmas or Advent season. The word advent means the coming, the arrival, the appearance of a notable person. It's a time when people from all over the world celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world. Now, why was Jesus' birth attended by this angelic announcement of good news, of great joy, which is for all people? And why, 2,000 years later, should we here in this place this morning care about the coming of Jesus into the world? What difference does it make? What's the significance of Jesus' coming for our lives today? Well, the appearing or the coming of Jesus into the world is at the heart of our passage in Titus 2.11 through chapter three and verse eight. And I wanna look at three observations about the coming of Christ from this section. Let's notice first of all, from our passage, how Paul describes what I'm calling the nature of his coming. The nature of his coming. And here I just, I want you to think about maybe visits that you receive and the different kind of visits that you sometimes receive. And some of them you probably put in a very happy category. There are visitors that you look forward to seeing, you're anticipating. the nature of their coming and some of the things that will attend that. Maybe there are some other visitors. I don't know, maybe the IRS calls and they need to visit you. And what would be the nature of that coming and its impact on you? That's what I want us to think about, the nature of his coming as Paul describes it here. Look again at chapter two and verse 11, the opening words where Paul uses this expression, for the grace of God. has appeared. And then look down in chapter three in verse four, a parallel expression. There Paul says, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared. What's the nature of his coming? In a sense, it's true that God has always dealt with his creation in grace. I think even in man's unfallen state, we can make an argument that God the creator had to condescend, right? He had to be gracious toward his creatures in order to draw near to them and to draw them near to him in relationship and to reveal himself to creatures, God had to be kind. And really, from before the coming of Christ into the world, it would be right for us to say that the grace of God, the goodness of God, the kindness of God have been present in the world, especially since the fall. Every new day that dawns over this rebellious planet is a witness to the grace of God. God giving undeserved kindness to sinful men and women. by giving them good gifts and giving them space to repent. But Paul here is not talking about the display of God's grace and goodness in general. These statements in 2.11 and 3.4 refer to an historical event. They refer to a time in human history when in a special way, in a unique way, God's grace, His goodness, His loving kindness made an appearance in the world. Chapter two in verse 13 refers to the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. In chapter two and verse 14, he goes on to say that our great God and savior Jesus Christ gave himself for us. And then in chapter three and verses four and five, he says that when God our savior appeared, he saved us. You see how Paul is tying this reference to the grace of God appearing to the historical event of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. That's clearly what he has in mind in 2.11 and 3.4. Now this way of talking about Christ's coming into the world is consistent with what Paul said over in 2 Timothy 1.9 and 10. There, Paul says this, God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ. You see, The parallel there, Paul saying the grace of God has now been manifested in a unique way, in a special way, in connection with the appearance of Jesus Christ, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. So this is what I want us to see here regarding the nature of his coming as Paul describes it in these wonderful and unique expressions. When Jesus appeared in this world, my friends, the grace of God appeared. This word appeared means to make manifest, to display, but there's also this nuance of shining forth by his birth. and his life and his death and his resurrection and his ascension back into glory. Jesus came into the world to shine the light of the grace and goodness and kindness of God over this entire world. You can picture in a sense the shroud of darkness covering the earth. And yes, there's evidence of the work of God in the world and the kindness of God and the grace of God in sustaining this planet and in working in individual lives here and there. But then this day comes when the son of God is born and there's this ray of light. And I know as reformed Christians and especially as reformed and Baptist Christians, we're not really into art depictions of these scenes all that much. And maybe rightly so, they really don't do justice to the truth of what they're trying to represent. But maybe at least we can picture from that stable in Bethlehem, this light rising up and reaching into the heavens and spreading out throughout this dark and needy and sin-cursed world. When the world was lying in darkness and sin in his first coming, the grace of God was manifested. The grace of God was displayed. The grace of God broke forth in bright and glorious light. John one in verse 14 tells us that regarding Jesus, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the father. So he came to reveal God to us. We see in the face of Jesus, the very display of the glory of God, but what in particular does he reveal? What in a special way, in a unique way is manifested, shines forth from Jesus in His coming. It's the grace of God. He came full of grace and of truth. When Jesus came, the grace of God came. The grace of God appeared. But how so? How is it that God's grace and His goodness and His loving kindness appears in a unique way in the coming of Jesus into the world? That brings us to our second observation about His coming. Notice secondly, how Paul describes the purpose of His coming in our text. Look back again at chapter two and verse 11. Paul says, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing what? Salvation. for all people. Back again in chapter three, four and five, when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us. He saved us not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his mercy. When Jesus came, the grace of God came because when Jesus came, salvation came. And how did Jesus accomplish salvation for us? How did he save us and bring salvation for all people? Chapter two and verse 14 says, he gave himself for us. It's a clear reference to the dying of the son of God on the cross. the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, to take away the sins of the world. He gave himself for us. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He took the wrath of God in the place of hell-deserving sinners. He gave himself for us. And what kind of salvation did the death of Jesus on the cross purchase or secure for us? And here in this entire section, Paul describes a very full and complete and glorious salvation from sin unto God and eternal life through Jesus Christ. This is no small view, small description of salvation here, is it? The work that Jesus intended to accomplish by his death is a full and complete and glorious salvation. Look at chapter three and verse seven. Here we find the words that having been justified by his grace, by the death of Jesus Christ, our bad record because of the guilt of our sins has forever been dealt with. through the merits of His righteousness and His sacrificial death on the cross. By His death, again, Jesus paid the penalty that our sins deserved and He satisfied the requirements, all the righteous requirements of God's law on our behalf. So that through Him and by faith in Him, sinners like us can be declared not guilty. But not only that, we can be declared righteous. in God's sight. We've been justified by his grace. Look back at chapter two in verse 14. What else has Jesus done for us by his death? What kind of salvation did his death secure for us? There in verse 14 of chapter two, we read that he gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawlessness and to purify for himself his own special people. zealous for good works. Not only did the death of Christ on the cross take care of our bad record, he's also dealt with our bad heart. Our bad heart, because of the bondage of our sin, has forever been dealt with by Christ on the cross. This word, redeem, is a wonderful word. It speaks of the fullness and the completeness and the greatness of the salvation that Jesus has accomplished for us. Jesus died to pay the purchase price, to buy us back from the cruel master of sin, and to bring us under the life-giving yoke of his Lordship. You see, in redemption, Jesus doesn't just set us free from slavery to sin. I love the picture. I love the picture of being in shackles to sin, and because of our bad heart, because of our enslavement to sin, we really can't do anything else. Sin is our master, and we serve him with our lives, and we can't break free. And Jesus, by his death, breaks those bonds. He sets the sinner free. but not free to go our own way, not free to become our own master, you see. He then sets us free and brings us under his lordship. He gives us a new and gracious and kind master. And he brings us into the joy of walking in obedience to him made willing in the day of his power. Jesus died to change us. from ungodly lawbreakers into God-oriented, happy, and willing law keepers. And there's a corporate emphasis here, isn't there, in 2.14 to the redemption that Jesus has accomplished for us. He died to set apart his people. that's the language of purification here, set apart from sinful works and common uses to holy purposes, to the worship of God and the service of God and his will and his cause. He set us apart from a sinful world and he makes us a part of his own special covenant people who are characterized in the way that they live by Christ honoring good works. What a glorious redemption. What a great and complete and wonderful salvation Jesus has accomplished for us. But there's more. We've been justified by his grace. He has redeemed us. Go back to chapter two in verse 13. He says of believers in Jesus that we are those waiting. for our blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And in connection with this glorious hope, he says down in chapter three in verse seven, that in Jesus, we are heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We had a bad record, we had a bad heart, we also had a really bad destiny. Outside of Christ, what was our future? Where were we headed? We were on the broad road that leads to destruction. But our bad destiny of eternal torment in hell, rightly deserved, has been exchanged for the happy hope of an eternal inheritance with Christ in glory. See, that's why I'm saying it's a full, orbed, complete, and glorious, eternal work that Jesus came into the world to accomplish for us. When Christ came, The grace of God came and was put on display, why? Because when Christ came, salvation came, a full, complete, glorious salvation from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, from the destiny of sin, in order that those who believe in Him might live unto God a life that is pleasing to Him in the hope of everlasting life with Christ in glory. Now, in our experience as believers, how did we come into possession of this salvation? Look at chapter three and verse five. He says, it's not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Such a full passage. in its description of this great salvation and all three persons of the Godhead are present here in their work in saving sinners. And here Paul reminds us in 3.5, it's not for any good in us. It's not because we were so wise that we chose Christ. It was not for any inherent spiritual ability in us. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We were enemies of God and Christ in our stubborn rebellion against Him, but friends in time and in space. Even when we were dead, Even when we were enslaved to our sins and rebelling against God, Jesus came by the Holy Spirit and he caused us to be born again. And he gave us new hearts and he gave us the gift of repentance and faith by which we have been united to Jesus Christ and our sins have been washed away and our lives have been made new. You see, it's all of God. and it's all of grace. Now, who is this salvation for? See, there's more to the picture. Who is this salvation for? Go back to chapter two in verse 11. There we're told that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for whom? For all people. It's all of grace, wonderful grace, the kindness of God, the mercy of God, the large heartedness of God whose purpose of grace goes out to the ends of the earth. I love the prophecy of the Messiah recorded for us in Isaiah 49 in verse six. Dear God, the Father speaking of his righteous servant, the Messiah says, it's too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, to the nations that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. You see, my friends, this gracious salvation which Christ came into the world to accomplish is available to people from every nation, every race, every ethnicity, every family, every socioeconomic group, every education level, and every other every that we could think of. that differentiates human beings in this world, the gospel goes out freely and sincerely to everyone. This grace has appeared bringing salvation to all people. It's wonderful, Christ died to save, to justify, to redeem, and to purify for himself his own special people, which will be made up of all kinds of different people from every part of human society and every geographic region in the world. When Christ came, grace came. Because when Christ came, salvation came and that for the world. Now thirdly, and finally, let's observe the practical implication of his coming. The practical implication of his coming. In chapter two, 11 through 14, in chapter three, four through seven, We find two of the fullest descriptions in all the Bible of Jesus coming into the world. Each four verse section in these two chapters consists of one sentence. They're both one long sentence. Two, 11 through 14. Three, four through seven. Some commentators believe that these rich and beautiful statements about Christ were perhaps used as hymns of worship. in the early church or perhaps creeds that were recited on the occasion of disciples' baptisms. Whatever the case, we know from the context that these statements about Jesus were not intended to be merely lofty theological statements of doctrine. They were not written as part of a theology course on the doctrine of Christ. You see, they're surrounded by all these very practical issues and exhortations and encouragements. Paul wrote these statements about Jesus out of practical concern for the churches on the island of Crete, where Titus ministered. Paul wanted these believers in the churches in Crete to know and understand that nothing was more urgent or more practical in its significance than the coming of Jesus into the world. Do you understand that? Do you recognize that this morning? You say, well, yeah, of course I'm a Christian. I believe in Jesus. I've been a member of this church for 35 years. But do you understand? that there's nothing more urgent or of more practical significance than this truth of the coming of Jesus into the world for our lives today, right where we are. In chapter one and verse five of Titus, Paul says that he left Titus in Crete so that he might straighten out what was left unfinished in the establishment of these young churches. And then in chapter one, 12 and 13, Paul quotes a Cretan poet who said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And then Paul makes a rather shocking statement and he says, this testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them, the people in the churches sharply. I was trying to imagine the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church getting a letter from the Apostle Paul and it says something like, Mabonites are always lazy, evil beasts, gluttons, liars, and you know that's true. What would he say if he were writing to the churches in Mabon? It seems the believers in Crete were still too much the product of the culture around them. They were still too much people of Crete and not enough people of grace and the gospel. Some were professing to know God. with their words, but denying him by their work. So Paul instructs Titus to teach the manner of life that is consistent with the sound doctrine of the gospel, chapter two and verse one. And so he's saying that in every phase of life, older men, older women, younger men, younger women, ministers, church members, bondservants, whatever it might be, whatever phase of life you're in, whatever sphere of life you're in, by the good works that mark your lives. Believers adorn and commend the gospel of our Savior. Live in a way that commends the gospel, that is consistent with this great salvation that he's described in these two great run-on sentences in chapter two and chapter three. You see, that's his burden here. And then he comes to 2.11 and says, four, Command them these things, rebuke them sharply. Four, I think the mention of God our Savior at the end of verse 10 sends Paul, as seems to so often happen in his epistles, into the further contemplation and consideration of Jesus and the gospel of Jesus Christ. For, command these things, rebuke them sharply, instruct them about these things. And let me tell you why. Let me tell you about Jesus and how practically significant His coming into the world is for the way we're living as His people. the plants, the glorious truth of the gospel, the coming of Jesus into the world, right into the middle of the daily living of our lives. It's not something we just think about every December 25th. It's not something that we just have nice, sentimental, warm feelings about. It's not just something we think about here at Grace every second Sunday of the month in the evening when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. It's not just something that we should reflect on every now and then. It's certainly not something that is right at the beginning of the Christian way, and then we move on to more important practical, no. Every step of the way, the significance of the coming of Christ is planted right into the middle of the nitty gritty of our daily lives. And there's nothing more urgent or more significant. Look at how Paul practically applies the gospel to our conduct as Christians. I wanna point out three ways that he shows us the significance of the gospel in relation to our living. Go back to chapter two, 10 through 12. Here, Paul shows us that the grace that saves us teaches us. The grace that saves us teaches us. That word means it instructs, it trains, it disciplines us to live in a manner consistent with the purpose for which Christ came and died. He says in verse 10, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior, verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared. And then on to verse 12, it's training us, the grace of God that saves us is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. Now it's important for us here to see the parallel between what he's just said in 2.12 and what he says down in 2.14. Look down at verse 14. He says, Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works. Do you see In 12 and in 14, there is this two-part purpose for which Christ came. It has a negative side and it has a positive side to it. Both are expressing the purpose of salvation, the purpose of grace in the lives of Christ's people. This is why he died. This is why he died, Christian. This is his intention for us, his people. And having begun this good work in us, he will continue in it in this age, and he will bring it to perfect completion in the age to come. And so the argument goes something like this. Live in a manner consistent with that gracious purpose in the gospel. Grace, God's purpose of grace in Christ teaches us, it trains us, it instructs us as believers, what? That sin is no longer our master. Remember that description of redemption, right? And so the argument is something like this, the chains are gone. We love to sing that song, don't we? Amazing grace, my chains are gone. And then sometimes we go and put them back on. Doesn't make sense, right? Live as those who have been set free because you have been. Sin is no longer our master. It teaches us that we have been freed by the precious blood of Christ. Sin no longer has dominion over us for we're not under law, we're under what? We're under grace. So grace teaches us that Jesus came, he appeared to take away sins, to separate us from our sins, 1 John 3.5. Grace teaches us that Jesus appeared to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3.8. And so therefore, Christian, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, 1 John 3.9. And do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, Romans 6, 12, but rather present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And present your members, your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness, Romans 6, 13. And in the words of our passage, grace trains us. to live in a manner consistent with grace, the purpose of grace, that is to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age. Why? Because that's why Jesus died. That's what his death aims to accomplish in us, his people. It was said of David Brainerd that he wrote of his ministry among the American Indians. I never got away from Jesus and him crucified in my preaching. I found that once these people were gripped by the great evangelical meaning of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, I did not have to give them any instructions about changing their behavior. Now I doubt that that means he never gave them any instructions because the Bible's full of instructions, but you get the point, right? That's the practical significance of the gospel in an ongoing way in the lives of Christ. People having been justified, having been redeemed by his precious blood, having been given a hope that one day we will be completely set free from sin and its presence. Don't live that way anymore. Resent your lives as a sacrifice to God, pleasing to Him. You see, we can't separate the meaning of Christ's sacrifice for us from the full-orbed purpose for which He died, that complete salvation that He died to accomplish. And I think Brainerd was on to something, and I think Paul was on to something, if I can put it that way. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, of course he was on to something. The more we contemplate Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the more strength we have in the fight against sin and the fight for holiness. The gospel, brethren, is the power of God unto salvation. And I think we most often quote that verse and preach that verse in the context of evangelism and missions, but it's not only the power of God in the initial part of bringing someone to Christ, it's in an ongoing way. Salvation in a full orb, complete sense. It's the gospel that is the power that will get us to heaven, that will bring us to glory. The law may show us God's will, but it has no power to make us holy. It's grace and the gospel that has the power to weaken sin and to strengthen our resolve to obey Jesus. And I'm confident this morning that among those who are believers, some of us, need the hope of the gospel, the hope of the coming of Jesus into the world to accomplish this great salvation, to encourage us in an ongoing way. in our fight against sin and our resistance of the world and it's squeezing us into its mold and putting on the fruit of the Spirit and all the graces that the Bible encourages in us and transforming us into the image of Christ. It's wearying, isn't it? Because of our flesh and because of the world and because of the devil, it gets hard at times, but let the gospel encourage you to press on. This is why Jesus died for you and having begun that good work in you, he will complete it. So he's only asking you to engage in something that will succeed. So press on. Perhaps some of us need this morning the conviction of the gospel. You see, this is where Jesus' death on the cross sometimes needs to come back into our clear vision and show us the sinfulness of our sins, the heinousness of our sins, the offense of our sins and to convict us afresh that this sin is what caused Jesus to go to the cross and as one who believes in him and has had all my sins forgiven, I'm not gonna be a willful participant in this. Oh, give me grace for Jesus because you died for me to hate this stuff and to turn from it and to seek the grace to put you on. I know wherever we are that all of us need the reminder of the gospel as the great principle of our sanctification. We're not only justified by grace, we're sanctified by grace and by the gospel. So that's the first line of reasoning regarding the practical implication of his coming. Live in a manner consistent with his purpose of grace. Turning from sin, turning to God. That's why Jesus died. To do that in you, his people. Secondly, we must also notice that Paul urges us to live in a manner consistent with our own experience of grace. He urges us to live in a manner consistent with our own experience of grace. not just consistent with his purpose of grace, but with our experience of it. Go back to Titus 3 in verse 1. Here's some practical instructions for how Christians should live. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one. to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Why? Why is it reasonable to expect these kinds of dispositions and attitudes and behaviors from those professing Christ? For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, hating one another. But when the goodness and the loving kindness of God, our Savior appeared, he pulled us out of that mess. He saved us. I wish I had more time here because I believe this point is so relevant for the times in which we are living. This is my understanding of discipleship. This is my understanding of what it means as a Christian to try to take the word of God and to have it shine its light on our minds and on our hearts and on our attitudes and on our behaviors and on our words and on everything that we're doing. We take passages like this, Titus 3, one and two, And we say, am I acting like this? Am I behaving like this? Am I thinking and speaking and communicating like this? Does this describe me? And then we take verses three and four and we say, this is why. These things should be true of me because of what the gospel has done for me. It would be totally inconsistent for me to be obnoxious and hateful and spiteful toward others and mean in my words and on and on. That's what I used to be. And people who are like that in the world, I should pity them, just as God had pity on me. And that should move me to have perfect courtesy toward not just the people to whom it's easy to have perfect courtesy. All people. Speak evil of no one except those for whom you feel greatly justified. And the world needs to know what you have to say about them. I'm just trying to grapple with the inspired words of the text. Speak evil of no one. You see the line of reasoning. Our manner toward others, verses one and two, based upon what we once were, verse three, and God's grace to us, verses 4 and 5. Put it all together. Treat everyone the way God in Christ has treated you. Live in a manner consistent with your own experience of grace, your own reception of the grace of God in the gospel. Thirdly, and finally, notice that Paul urges us to live in a manner consistent with the hope. of His coming again. Titus 2.12, grace is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age as those who are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Brethren, we simply cannot separate our Savior's first coming from His coming again in glory. I think there's a sense in which we need to try in our minds and in our hearts to think, almost to think of his two comings as the one coming of Christ for the salvation of his people. Because remember, it's a full orb, complete salvation that he's working to accomplish. And so we need both the first and the second coming to bring that to completion. So don't separate them. Our salvation has been accomplished by Christ and applied by the Holy Spirit now in this age, He's coming again to complete it in glory. And wherever the New Testament speaks of His coming again, it calls us to live as those who are looking for it, as those who are eagerly waiting for it, as those who are hastening it in some way, by the way that we live, to live as if our master is coming back today. That's the radical transforming power of his coming and of his coming again. That's the practical implication of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. So here we are, some 2,000 years later, Is the coming of Christ still relevant? Does it have any practical significance for our lives as 21st century people living in America? When Christ came, my friend, grace came. When Christ came, the grace of God came. Here is the great shining forth of the heart of God toward sinners. This is where we see it most clearly displayed. It's in the coming of Christ into the world, giving himself for us that he might save us. This is the light and the hope of the world. When Christ came, salvation came. the only remedy for the guilt and the bondage of our sin, the only fountain opened for cleansing and forgiveness of sin, the only way to be right with God and to have eternal life. There is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man, Jesus Christ, and there is no salvation in any other. For there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. When Jesus came, grace came. When Jesus came, salvation came. And when Jesus came, a radical transformation of our lives came. And so believer in Jesus, here is our hope for change. Here's our power for change. Here is the principle for change in our lives. Let's determine by the grace of God to live with fresh resolve as those who have truly experienced the saving and the sanctifying grace of God in salvation. That's the significance of His coming. Christmas, I think, really is the most wonderful time of the year for many of us. It's a happy time. It's a special time with family and friends. It's a sentimental time. But it's so much more than chestnuts roasting over an open fire. So much more, I mean that's just the epitome of understatement. Christ's coming into the world is the light of the world. It's the hope of the world, the salvation of the world, the renewal of the world, and the restoration of the world in glory. And wonder of wonders, it's all those things for the individual who repents of his sins and believes in Jesus Christ. May God grant each one of us joy and peace today and throughout this Christmas season in believing in him. Amen. Let's pray. Father, this is a message of good news and of great joy to all peoples. that Jesus is the Savior of the world. We thank you for Him. We thank you for sending Him in love. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming in love and in humility and obedience to the Father. Thank you for accomplishing our salvation in your death on the cross. Thank you for working salvation in our hearts and lives in time and space by your Spirit. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your kindness and your mercy to people like us. Please, Lord God, give us hope and give us grace to live in the wonderful light of this truth. That even in this season of reflection, remembrance of the coming of Jesus into this world, that we would not lose sight of its significance, but that we would go deeper in that. And again, Lord, we pray for any here today who are not safe in Jesus, please show them clearly who He is, of their need for Him, and draw them to the Lord Jesus today. We pray in His precious name, amen. you