The Light of Christmas | John 1:1-18

[00:00:00] As we come into this time of Christmas, or maybe some celebrate Hanukkah, I really want us to get our focus right. What is this all about? I want to talk today about the light of Christmas. The light of Christmas. John, chapter one and verse one says this. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Pause. Who is this talking about right now? Everybody say Jesus. [00:00:33] Jesus was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Jesus. And without Jesus, nothing was made that was made. You do know that even though at Christmas we celebrate the virgin birth and all of that, Jesus was not born into creation at that point in time. He's eternally existent. This was just the moment he took on human flesh and we beheld him. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but Jesus was a part of creation. Verse four. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness. The darkness does not comprehend it. Verse six. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness. Everyone say witness. [00:01:20] He came for a witness to bear witness of the light that through him might. That all through him might believe. He was not the light. John the Baptist was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man according to coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. The world did not know him. He came to his own. His own did not receive him, but as many as received him. To them he gave the right to become children of God. How many of you are children of God? Hallelujah. That's me too. I'm a child of God. To those who believe in Jesus name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but born of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld the glory of Jesus. The glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, this is he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me. For he was before me. Of his fullness. We have received grace. For grace. The law was given through Moses. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him the Father. Let's pray, and let's ask the Lord to speak to us. Through his word this morning. It's going to be a great time. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it is light, it's life, it's instruction, it's correction where we need it. And I'm asking, Lord, that you administer to us out of your word even this morning. I pray, Holy Spirit, for a great anointing to be released all across this room right now. Come on, church. Help me pray. Pray with your spirit. Pray with your understanding. Pray for a mighty anointing to come. Holy Spirit, we ask you to come and to begin to saturate this atmosphere. In the name of Jesus, we pray you give us eyes that see and ears that hear, a heart and a mind that perceives what the spirit of wisdom and revelation is speaking to us today. Holy Spirit, I pray that the same anointing that was upon Jesus, that empowered him to preach good news to those in need. I pray you would empower me to preach to every open and hungry heart today. And I bind the works of the enemy, he who would seek to distract, to distort, to confuse or uproot the word as it comes forward. Lord, give us liberty in receiving your word today. In your precious name I pray. In Jesus name I pray. And everybody say Amen. You may be seated. [00:04:13] I know I read to you almost an entire chapter, but it really is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible. It really begins to shine. [00:04:22] Revelation on the light of the world, Jesus. And just to bring a little bit of clarity for those who may not understand, you're dealing with two Johns essentially reflected in this text. You have John the Revelator, or John. He was one of the disciples called John the Beloved. He was the writer of this book, the Gospel of John. But he's writing about a guy that we call John the Baptist. I made a joke in the first service that really flopped. So I don't know. I'll try it again. [00:04:57] He was John the Baptist because the Holy Spirit had not been poured out yet. But now he's John the Pentecostal. [00:05:05] Thank you for the pity laugh. I don't know. [00:05:08] But no, the reason he was called John the Baptist is because he was a baptizer. That's what people knew him as. He was dunking people for the remission of their sins. But he was a forerunner. He was a trailblazer for the Ministry of Jesus. And the Bible calls him repeatedly. I had you say the word witness. Everybody say witness. [00:05:30] You understand the idea of a witness, right? [00:05:34] We know it in a couple contexts. If you were to go to court. Or maybe you're watching Judge Judy or something like that. Occasionally they'll call a witness to the stand, and what the witness is there to do is you've got somebody who's either being accused or defended, and the witness will come and they're trying to convince the judge, the jury, the witnesses that are there. I know this person, and I can tell you they're a great person or they're a horrible person. And that witness is to testify about the character of the person being represented. Right? So the judge may not know them, but based on the authority of the witness who does know that person, a verdict sometimes can be made. And it's like, maybe to give a slightly easier comparison is like, if I know somebody and you come up to me and I know you and I trust you and we have similar tastes. If you tell me you need to watch this movie, it's really great. I would probably take your recommendation because I know who you are. But if I just see an advertisement for something trying to make this seem great, well, I don't know what the movie is. I don't know if I can trust it. But if I have an authoritative witness, I'd probably take your word for it. You know what I'm talking about, right? So let me give you maybe a better example. [00:06:54] I never cared much for Christmas. [00:06:58] To me, this is just me. [00:07:01] I had painful memories that were connected with the holiday, Christmas. And many of you, I know, even last week, Thanksgiving. Some people were so excited for Thanksgiving. Some people loved it. But I even met people last week that it was a painful reminder that their kids aren't in their life or that their auntie had died or that their husband's not there any longer. And I understand there can be painful memories connected with these holidays. And that's what mine was like. The last memory I have of my biological father was him giving a Christmas gift and never coming home again. And so to me, it was like, this was the final memory that I had of my dad before he abandoned me. Years of abandonment, years of self therapy through drug abuse and all of that junk that I opened myself up to. But that was all connected to Christmas. [00:07:53] And then my wife comes into my life, and my wife. Have you guys ever watched the elf? And there's that one part of the movie where they announce Santa's coming to town. Santa's gonna be here next week. And the elf. Yo, my. [00:08:10] You guys know that the scene, that's how my wife is with everything. Christmas, Christmas trees, nativity, Christmas music. I mean, all things Christmas. My wife is just so excited about it. And you know what? Because I love my wife and because she's an effective witness, I can actually take her recommendation. No, Christmas is actually really great. [00:08:38] Christmas is the best. And because I trust the witness, something actually has shifted in my heart. Where no longer is Christmas associated with painful memories and abandonment. Christmas is actually associated with the joy of my kids opening gifts and Christmas gatherings and communion services and the joy of my wife and what she loves. And you understand, it's the power of a witness has changed my perspective on a holiday that I used to not like. You understand that's exactly what John was. [00:09:14] He was a witness of Jesus. And there are many people even in your life. Listen, you may not be able to quote scripture the way that I can. You may not have the passion or the zeal that Minister Jeremy has. But do you understand you have a relationship with people that I do not have? And because you are a trusted voice, a brother, a friend, a coworker, a student, somebody that they know, do you understand that your testimony, your witness, actually carries more weight than someone who may even be more knowledgeable about a subject? Do you understand? So what I want to challenge every single one of us. I don't care if you've been saved for a couple of weeks, if you're going to get born again today, if you've been walking with the Lord for many years, every one of us has the power to be a witness. In fact, I want you to write this down. I've got just three ideas for you that I want you to know. Number one, I want you to write this down. I am a witness. [00:10:18] I am a witness. Yeah, I want you to. If you can bring that up. Number one, I am a witness. I want you to say that out of your own mouth. I am a witness. [00:10:28] So this is powerful for us to recognize the very same way that John was a witness. In fact, this comes out of verse six, John, chapter one. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. And this man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. John was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of the light. [00:10:54] You see, John is a great example of how this can actually operate. Did you know that most of the disciples before they became followers of Jesus were actually disciples of John? I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but I always thought it was strange as I would read the Gospels. You see, like, Jesus walking by the shoreline, and there's Peter and Andrew in the boat with their dad, fishing. They've just come in, and Jesus says, follow me. And they drop their nets and follow him. Now, I don't know about you, but I always thought that was kind of a strange thing, because if I was sitting on a boat and a stranger whom I've never met comes walking by and says, hey, you follow me. I'm not following that guy. Anybody with me? Would anybody follow the stranger? No, you would not follow the stranger. But John gives us some insight. He actually talks about, and you can see this in John chapter One. He talks about in verse 40, how Andrew was a follower, a disciple of John. So already John is a trusted witness in the heart of Andrew, and he declares, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now John is bearing witness, and Andrew believes him because of his relationship to John, right? Then Andrew goes and he tells his brother Simon Peter, we have found the Messiah. We have found the Christ. So the next day, when Jesus comes along and says, hey, you boys follow me, because there's already been a witness in their life. Now I'm going to follow that man. Then they go and tell two of their friends, this is all in John Chapter one. Philip and Nathaniel, they go and they tell their buddies, we found the Christ. We found the Messiah. Jesus comes along later and says, philip, nathaniel, you guys follow me. And because their friends had been a witness in their life, they follow him. Are you tracking with me? So this is very important for us to recognize. Just because you can't maybe quote Scripture or articulate something, you have the power to be a witness because you're a brother, because you're a friend, because you're a disciple, because you're a son, you're a daughter, because you're a coworker. [00:13:17] I like to give this example. [00:13:19] A number of years ago, I went to India, and we were doing Crusade ministry at night, Pastors conference. I mean, huge gathering, 60,000. Power of God. It was awesome. But during the day, we'd hop in the truck and we'd pull into villages and we would do street evangelism. So we'd get out in this little community, and we'd begin to sing Sunday school songs. You didn't have a guitar or anything like that. And so we'd just start singing songs, and people would come out of their homes by the hundreds just to see what are all these crazy Americans doing. ANd so they'd come out to listen to us, and then we would take turns preaching the gospel and so it was awesome. We had this guy who was with us on the trip who was a Bible school student, sharp guy, top of the class, great preacher, great teacher. I mean, hermeneutics, homoletics, he had it all. And he stood up. It's about 100 people who were there in this particular gathering. And he stands up and he preaches the gospel. And he did a good job. I mean, it was illustrated. It was organized into points. I mean, he really had his stuff down. And when he came to the end of the message, gave a great altar call. Articulated very well, he says, who would like to respond to Jesus? And not one single person responded. In fact, people got so upset with us at that location that one of the elders in the village took out a machete and threatened us if we did not leave, then they were going to attack us. So, praise God, we left. [00:14:49] I wasn't called to be a martyr that day, but maybe one day. So we left. We got in the truck, we went to the next village, and we did the same exact thing, pulled into this small community, got out, sang our songs. People began to gather. And it was about the same amount of people. About 100 people, give or take, were there. And this time it was time for a lady on our trip to preach. She wasn't a Bible school student, but she was a slightly older woman. She was in her sixty s, in her late sixty S. And she gets up and she preaches the simplest gospel message I think I've ever heard. She didn't use any scripture, had no illustrations. I mean, there was nothing profound about the testimony that she shared. But at the end of her message, this was literally her altar call, verbatim. Well, that's who Jesus is to me, who wants to receive him. [00:15:41] And I'm telling you, nearly every one of those hundred people responded to that altar call. Nearly every single one of them stepped forward and we began praying for people. I mean, it was amazing, but it really had me scratching my head. I'm like, why did this guy who preached so well have zero response? And this lady who had no experience, just shared her story? Why did we see the entire village respond when she presented the gospel? And I'll be honest with you, I don't think it had much to do with how they presented it or the content of their message, but here's what I found out. Do you want to know what happened? [00:16:23] My wife wants to know. Okay, so I'll tell her. What happened was we had come about a week after a miracle had transpired in that village. There was a young child, about seven years old, a young boy who had gotten sick, they had tried, the parents had tried to go to medical doctors and witch doctors and all the different, they've got these shrines that are built up all across the city, everywhere, on every corner, different gods and different. And they tried to go, different offerings to different gods and nothing. The child had only gotten worse. But then they heard that there was a Christian mission group right down the street, and so they called, would one of your pastors come and lay hands and pray for my child? We heard that you believe in a god who heals, so that's exactly what they did. One of the pastors came, this was one of the translators on our trip, and he came and he prayed for this young child, prayed the prayer of faith. The young boy, no difference in that moment. So he left, decided, I'm going to come back in a couple of days, check on the family, and if I need to, I'll pray again. Shows up about two days later, knocks on the door, and as they open the door, he's met by family and friends who are all weeping and broken and found out that in the night that child had died and they had just found the body just hours before. And so now they were talking about what they were going to do. Now, this pastor was not, he wasn't discouraged, he wasn't dismayed. In fact, there was a moment where he was just full of faith and he says, where's the child? Are they still here? He goes into the bedroom where this young seven year old boy, dead on the bed, is there. He begins to pray the prayer of faith. In the name of Jesus, I command resurrection life to come in. I rebuke the spirit of death. I command life to enter into his body once again. And before the time was done, that young boy popped back open awake, came out of that bed and was completely resurrected from the dead. I don't know if that sounds crazy to you, but guys, I'm telling you, when our team showed up about a week later, I met. I looked at the boy and the mom of a child who had been raised from the dead. I met the kid, I met them. Now, as powerful as that. Now, this is where the story gets real cool. [00:18:51] Pastor blesses the home, blesses the family, and then he takes off. They don't see anybody until we show up about a week later. But what had happened is the mom, she's not even born again, she's not even a Christian. She's only heard Jesus and had this one encounter where God came down and touched her son. She began to go around to the entire village and tell everybody about what the Christian God, Jesus, what God Almighty had done for her son. She began to tell everybody about the power of Jesus. And so you can imagine now, when we come a week later and this lady gives the gospel presentation, that's Jesus, who wants to receive him. You can understand why everybody in that town, because they all knew the child who had died. They'd all witnessed the miracle, and they all heard that this is the Jesus who can raise the dead. They all responded, friend, you realize you're a witness. That lady was not even saved. That lady did not even know Scripture. But she was a witness. She was a witness, and you can be a witness. This is what I feel like God would desire of us as we come into this holiday season, the power to be a witness. You see how this works? Tell your neighbor you're a witness. [00:20:13] Well, tell your other neighbor you are a witness. [00:20:17] That's right. Now, you'll notice that in this particular passage, there's a lot that's talking about Jesus as the light. He's called in verse four, the light of men. He's talked in verse seven, about to bear witness of the light. In verse nine, he's called the True Light. And there's many other references. In fact, just in the Gospel of John, there's about 40 times in different contexts where Jesus is called the Light or the light of the world or the true light. And this is very common, you have to understand, for every Jew, for every Old Testament believer, this idea of God as light was a common thought. Psalm 27 in verse one says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The Lord is my light. [00:21:13] So prophetically, even, there were all these prophecies about how when the Messiah comes, and this is who everybody was waiting for. They were waiting for the Messiah to come, and he would be light. Malachi four in verse two says, but you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings. They were waiting for the Son of righteousness to arrive. And notice it's S-U-N bright light, glory. I like the other part of this verse, too. I'll just throw it in there for fun. He'll rise with you, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall fed calves. Amen. How many know fatness is a blessing of the Lord? Did you know that? [00:21:59] So I gained about four pounds of blessing while I was away on Thanksgiving, and my wife and I begin our triathlon training this week. Praise God. But look, we're going to grow fat like stall fed calves. [00:22:14] Look at your neighbor and say, moo. No, don't do that. I'm just kidding. No, don't do that. Don't do that. [00:22:26] We need a biblical worldview, friend. No, I'm kidding. Okay, we're gonna. So I better move on. But we're waiting for the Son of. Right? They were waiting for the Son of righteousness to rise with healing in his wings. In Zechariah 14, there's an awesome prophecy. I read the whole thing, but let me just read to you one part. Zechariah 14, and verse six says, it shall come to pass. In that day, there will be no light. Lights will diminish. It will be one day which is known to the Lord. Neither day nor light, but at evening time, it shall happen. It shall be light, and in that day, it shall be. Living waters shall flow from Jerusalem. Now, there's two pictures there, and that's a prophetic passage, but let me make it very simple. The children of Israel were waiting for a Messiah who would be light and living water. Light and living water. [00:23:22] What's awesome, one of the things I love about Jesus is he makes everything about himself, and rightfully so. [00:23:32] In John chapter Seven and John chapter Eight, they're dealing with a period of time, a celebration called the Feast of Tabernacles. And this was a time where they would commemorate the exodus from captivity in Egypt, where God, the plagues, crossing of the Red Sea, where they lived in tents. They were led by a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. And it was a whole memorial time, recognizing all that God did to set his people free. And so they would take this time, awesome celebrations, and they would begin this entire celebration with a ceremony called the Water drawing Rite. So what would happen is they would quote that passage in Zechariah, and they were declaring that one day the Messiah is going to come, and he's going to give us living water. And they would draw all this water. They would come with these massive buckets of water, and they would dump it out in the Temple. And so it would actually flow down the steps and right down the center, all the way into the outer court and out into the world. And they would come. They would gather around, and they would celebrate and sing songs and quote the passages and just give glory to God about what he had done in Egypt. But what they were ready for him to do in the future and right in the middle of this ceremony, can you imagine? The Jews have come from all around the world for this one celebration. There are tens of thousands who are gathered together, and they're watching, they're hearing the quoting of Scripture, they're singing the songs, they're declaring the prophecy. The water is being poured out. And Jesus stands up in the middle of it and says, this is all about me. [00:25:14] This is all about me. He said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. If anyone believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. That's John 737 and 38. Jesus essentially ruins their celebration. He ruins it. You understand? Everything you're doing, it's all about me. [00:25:42] Then at the end of this celebration, they're coming to the end of the feast of Tabernacles, and they have another ceremony called the Lighting ceremony, where they would light four large lamps in the outer court, and they would have little smaller lamps all over the candelabra and the menorah, and people would be holding their own torches, singing songs. They would actually have a full on Levitical orchestra. It was a big deal. And it was to remember the time where the light had led them through the wilderness. [00:26:16] And Jesus stands up in the midst of that celebration. Can you imagine? I mean, you just imagine we're having a great service, and someone interrupts it and says, this is all about me. This is what Jesus did. They have this massive celebration, and this is the moment. In John Chapter eight, Jesus stands up and says, I am the light of the world. [00:26:36] I am the light of the world. This light that you're remembering, that was me. This light that led the children of Israel, that was me. This ceremony that you're remembering, this light that you're waiting to come, it's me, Jesus. He made it all about him and church. I want to remind you that that's exactly what we should do in this season. [00:27:01] Make it all about Jesus. Make it all about him. When I preach out of the Old Testament, I love what Charles Spurgeon said. He said, I can start with any text in the Bible, and I make a beeline to the cross. It's all about Jesus. All these Old Testament stories, they're all pointing to Jesus. Everything we do today, it's pointing to Jesus. When you look at my marriage, it should point you to Jesus. When you see how my kids love the Lord, it should point you. That's because of Jesus. Everything in our church, it's to the glory of Jesus. That's what? Our life. So you get someone who comes over. Why are you putting up that Christmas tree in those lights? It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Why are you giving gifts? It's all about Jesus. So that's a great. [00:27:47] He created the trees. Sure. That's right. [00:27:51] It's all about Jesus. [00:27:54] Why are we singing songs? Why are we going to decorate? It's all about Jesus. Other people may make it about other stuff, and that's between them and God. But for me and for us, it's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus so we're going to set up trees and we're going to sing the songs and we're going to eat lots of food, because fatness is the blessing of the Lord. Hallelujah. All right, now let me give you the other idea here, point number two. [00:28:23] I am a witness of the light. [00:28:27] You're not just a witness, but you're a witness of the light. What are we bearing witness to? I'm a witness of the light. That's what the Bible says about John the Baptist in verse eight, it says that he was not the light, but he was sent to bear witness of the light. There's a true light which gives light to every man coming into to the world, the one who is true light. So I just mentioned how Jesus is the light of the world. But you'll notice the Bible also says in verse three that all things were made through Jesus, and without him was nothing made. That was made in him was life, and the life was the light of men. So what I want you to consider here is Jesus himself was a part of the creation process. [00:29:14] I personally believe that as the Father was releasing his will and declaring what he wanted, and the spirit of God was providing the power, I believe that it was actually Jesus that was the one forming man out of the dirt. I believe it was him who stooped over and breathed into the nostrils of Adam and gave mankind a life in him. Jesus was life, and it was the light of man. [00:29:47] I can go into messages that I've already preached, but essentially I shared even a few weeks ago how I don't believe that Adam and Eve were naked in the garden. The Bible says that they were crowned with glory and honor. I believe they were crowned and clothed in the very light, in the life and the glory of God himself. But something happened when they sinned. God had warned them, if you partake of this tree, then you will die. And many read that and they're confused that they didn't die. Immediately. But decay set in. Spiritual death entered in, they died in the Spirit. But the Bible says in Ephesians, chapter two, it says that. [00:30:28] What does it say? [00:30:30] Yes, we were dead in trespasses, and he has made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. So you understand, there was a time we were all dead. Without Christ, you say, but I'm alive. But you're in a constant state of decay. And if you die without Jesus, friend, you will not only die in this life, but you will die eternally. But because of God's grace, we have been brought into his life. And the very same way he breathed life and gave light to Adam and to Eve before they fell. He is able to give light and life to all who would believe. We can become sons and daughters of the most high God if we would believe. [00:31:17] This is real. [00:31:20] This is real, guys, as we drive, we prayed for others earlier this morning that as they see the Nativity scenes and they sing the Christmas carols and they go through the religious whatevers, my desire and my earnest cry is they would see beyond the ritual, which some of that is just fine, but they would see beyond it, and they would see the reality of the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. And that's my cry to every person within the sound of my voice. You may have been walking after the Lord for a very long time, and we kind of get in this. Well, I'm going to do this stuff again, and we're going to go to the show, and I'm going to sing the songs, and we're going to do this in church, and I'm going to receive the Union. [00:32:06] Can I just encourage you with a fresh, open heart, Lord, would you renew to me again the reality of all you have done? Jesus, I want to bear witness to the light. That means I need to know the light, and I need to encounter his life. And I don't want it to be something that just happened 20 years ago when I surrendered my life. I want it to happen today. I want to see him right now. [00:32:37] This is my appeal to you, friend. Enter into this Christmas season with a fresh hunger and saying, lord, just like my wife was talking about, Kristen. And I love it. You do. You just see the purity of her worship and her hunger for the Lord. [00:32:52] But you know what I love? I could name people in this place who've been walking with the Lord for a long time, and I still see that pure hunger in their lives. [00:33:04] I can still see that pure hunger. [00:33:07] I don't want anybody to out hunger me. That's just me. [00:33:12] I don't want anybody to be more hungry. I want to come. Lord, show me your glory again and again and again and make it fresh to me, as fresh as it is the day that I believe. Bring me back to my first love, that affection that I first felt when I realized who you were and what you have done for my life. Lord, bring me back to that place, and may I always remain in that place of surrender. [00:33:41] I had somebody come to me for prayer in the first service, and this was awesome. They said, you know, he said, I've been in this altar before, Pastor, and you've prayed for me when I've been in great need. Pray for my marriage, pray for my business, pray for my finances. But he's like, I stand here today, and God has blessed me so much. God has blessed me so much. But I loved how he said. He says, but I want to pray that my heart would always stay in that position where it was when I needed something. And so I began to pray, and I was just thanking Jesus for all that God had done in his life. But it was even a reminder to me. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna praise you and I'm gonna seek you when things are difficult, but even when everything's going right, when I'm so blessed, when I'm healthy, when my marriage is great and my children are loving you, I'm going to praise you, and I'm going to be hungry for you. As if I didn't have any of that. [00:34:34] Wow. Okay. [00:34:36] That was a little bonus for you. Let me give you the last one. You are witness of the light. [00:34:43] But point number three, I am a witness of light. [00:34:48] I'm a witness of light. You say, what's the difference? I'm a witness of the light. Well, if you're a witness of the light, that means I've seen the light. I know who Jesus, the light of the world is, and I tell people about Jesus, but the Bible takes it a step further, and this is what I've been in for weeks now. This whole beholding and becoming series is the idea that Jesus is the light of the world. But as we behold him, he gives us his light. And Jesus even said on the sermon on the Mount, you are the light of the world. It's a Greek word, Phosph. Everyone say Phosph. That's where we get the word Phosphorus. If you've ever seen Phosphorus be struck, it shines brightly. It's like looking at a welding torch. I mean, it's so bright you really cannot look at it. But that was the picture. Jesus said, I am false, I am a light. But then he turns and he says, you are false, you are light. I talked about that passage where Jesus said in Matthew, chapter six, he says, if your eye is single, your whole body is full of light. And that word single, it's the Greek word haplus. And it literally means to be brought into as a particle of union. It means to be made one with. It means to be unfolded together. And that means when your vision and direction for your life comes in alignment with his direction and vision for your life, you're literally being unfolded into, brought into union with the light of the world and you become one. [00:36:30] You become light. [00:36:32] I know that sounds New Agey, but friend, I'm just telling you. You are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. I want you to say it out of your own mouth. I'm the light of the world. [00:36:43] That's right. So you make sure you shine brightly everywhere you go. [00:36:50] You're being unfolded into his glorious image. Now, I have Some Christmas presents for you today. [00:36:56] Can I just tell you some of the things that happen when you come into Christ? He gives us gifts and a number of those were named in the book of John, chapter one. We just read them. Five Christmas gifts. In fact. Number one is adoption. You've been adopted. [00:37:14] Verse twelve says, all who believe and accept Christ. He gave the right to become children of God. That means you are heirs with an inheritance. Jesus, the Bible says, is the firstborn among many brethren. So he's not the only Son of God. He was just the first Son of God. You have been brought into the family. You are a child of God. You are an heir with an inheritance. You have access to the very same things that Jesus did. This is why I don't get freaked out when people come for prayer. I have stage whatever cancer, that's fine. I have access to the same resources and power, the same healing virtue that Jesus himself had if he could touch lepers and see them cleansed. Your cancer is not bigger than that for Jesus. [00:38:05] My marriage is in a wreck. I don't know what we're going to do. That's okay. We are heirs with an inheritance. The Prince of peace can step into your marriage, he can step into your broken family and he can restore that. The God of all love, compassion and righteousness can draw your prodigal son or daughter back home. [00:38:25] You're adopted. You're a son, you're a daughter, an heir with an inheritance. The second gift that Jesus gives us is glory. [00:38:37] Everybody say glory. [00:38:40] Again, I've preached about this a lot in the last weeks, but the idea is pretty simple. [00:38:47] The fact that guys like Moses actually said, Lord, can I see your glory? And God's response to him is, I can't show you my glory. You'll die. [00:38:59] And yet you and I, because of the accomplished work of Jesus and the abiding presence of the spirit of God in our lives, have been invited to look upon what would have killed Moses, what would have killed Elijah, what would have killed anybody. In the Old Testament, because of God's work in our life, we are invited into the Very presence of God to behold the glory of the Lord. [00:39:28] HEBREWs Chapter ten gives us a picture. It says, through the veil of Christ's flesh, we can now come boldly before the throne of grace, through the veil of his flesh. For those who may not know that, the picture is pretty simple. It's the idea that there was a temple and there was a holy place where God's glory dwelt. And one person, one time a year, could go beyond that veil and behold the glory of the Lord. And if he did it wrong, even just a little bit, he would die. [00:39:58] But the Bible says, in fact, we sang the song earlier today. The veil was torn in two. And because of Jesus accomplished work through his body, literally through the veil of his flesh, you and I can enter into that place that would have killed anybody else. [00:40:15] That's how forgiven you are, that's how clean you are, that's how right with God you are, that we can come in and we can behold him and he transforms us. Glory, glory, glory. [00:40:30] Number three. I like this one. Abundant blessing. ABundant blessing. Verse 16 says, from his Abundance we have received one blessing after another. I like that. He is the God of more than enough, you know, one blessing after another, one blessing after another. Has anybody received one blessing after another? Hallelujah. If you haven't, believe for it. In Christ, he is a God of abundance. And from his abundance we have received one blessing after another after another, after another after another. God's goodness running you down and overtaking you in every area of your life. I quote that out of Proverbs 31 every week over us. That's how good God wants to be to you. God, you've already blessed me and he's going to bless you more and he's going to give you more and he's going to trust you with more. [00:41:25] ABundant blessing number four, love and faithfulness. Verse 17 says, through the law. The law through mo. We received the law through Moses, but we have received unfailing love and faithfulness that came through Jesus Christ. [00:41:43] So the next time you have somebody say, I don't want to go to church. It's all rules and regulations, bro. You've been going to the wrong church. [00:41:53] I mean, just seriously, when I get saved, I've had people actually ask me, so I need to really memorize the Ten Commandments. No, you don't. I believe in the Ten Commandments. They're all good. [00:42:05] All of them are great. Okay, do the Ten Commandments. But the fact of the matter is, I'm not living my life just like. Okay, let me double check. What was number five again? I got to make sure today I don't have to do that. Why? Because I'm abiding in Christ. His spirit is inside of me, and I'm led by the law of the Spirit where there is life, liberty, and freedom. And so even the moment that I begin to waver, I feel the Holy Ghost say, hey, don't say that. [00:42:34] Watch the attitude. [00:42:36] Why? Because I'm being led by the Spirit, and it's love and it's faithfulness. It's not law, it's not regulation, it's not ritual, it's not rigid. [00:42:49] I know the Lord and he knows me, and I'm walking with him and I'm beholding him and he's transforming me. And I am as Christ in the earth, and I am beholding the light of the world. I'm becoming the light of the world. You see, this is a real different way of looking at things, isn't it? But I'm convinced if we. [00:43:12] I almost preached on this. Let me just give you one thought. [00:43:17] The Bible talks about, through Jesus, how we receive a robe of righteousness. [00:43:23] A robe of righteousness. [00:43:26] Now, that robe of righteousness is not designed to cover your sin and your shame. [00:43:32] The robe of righteousness is used to affirm that you are his. [00:43:39] And if you understand your identity, you'll understand righteousness. [00:43:45] If you understand who you are. I'm a child of God. [00:43:51] You'll start living like a child of God. [00:43:58] Have you received your robe? [00:44:00] That's a good gift. We could add that as number five or whatever, but I have another one for you. This is the last one. Worship team, you can come. And we're going to pray. We're going to close. [00:44:12] Number five, gifts that you've received for real. You could write in robe of righteousness. And so we'll make this number six you have received the father's love. [00:44:23] No one has seen or can see God. But one who is near to the Father's heart is revealing God to us. [00:44:34] We can come near the Father. [00:44:37] You can come boldly before the throne. [00:44:41] I began my message, talking about so much of the deep Father wound that I had and my reason for not liking Christmas. But I can say with assurance today I've spent so many hours praying the Lord's Prayer. And I'd get to the very first phrase in that, our Father in heaven. [00:45:05] And I didn't get that. I didn't understand that because I didn't have a good father. [00:45:10] But I would pray, Lord, through Jesus, you have revealed the Father's heart and you've given me access to come. You've given me the spirit of adoption, Romans eight, where I can cry, Abba. Daddy. Father. [00:45:29] And there's not wrath waiting for me in the Father's presence. There's love and faithfulness. We just read and I prayed the Lord. Guys, today I not only love being a father, but I love the idea that I'm safe in the Father's hands. And I want that for you. [00:45:53] I don't know what kind of home you grew up in or what your picture of Father is in this life, but I want you to know you have access to a father who loves you, who cares for you, who will supply your every need, that you're his child. You can be born of God, just as Jesus was. [00:46:12] Hallelujah. Why don't you stand all across the room?