WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.060 The scripture for today comes from John chapter 3. Starting at verse 1, we read, 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:14.300 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:21.539 to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:28.500 for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:36.359 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:46.719 Then at verse 13, we read, No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, 00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:54.799 the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:05.479 up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his 00:01:05.479 --> 00:01:14.519 only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:22.219 his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:24.099 This is the word of God. 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:28.859 Great. Thank you, Annabelle. And good morning, everybody. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:36.640 It is really great to be with you here this morning. And if you are new or you don't know me, 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:42.180 my name is Kevin. I'm one of the leaders here. It's so wonderful to celebrate Christmas with you. 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:49.500 And especially if you are new with us, make yourself right at home. Be considered our honored guest 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:53.739 this morning. We are really privileged that you have joined us. So thank you for joining us today. 00:01:53.939 --> 00:02:01.799 It's wonderful to have you with us. History is full of big moments, isn't it? Think of some of the 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:08.340 big moments, the invention of the wheel, invention of gunpowder, the invention of the printing press. 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:14.920 History is full of big personalities. Think of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great and 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:23.959 Tang Tai Zong. But today we celebrate one of history's greatest moments, the coming of God 00:02:23.959 --> 00:02:31.839 to earth. Christmas, when God came to be with us. And we all know that Christmas is about all sorts of 00:02:31.839 --> 00:02:38.839 wonderful things. It's about joy, and it's about peace, and it's about hope. And what else? 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:44.400 It's about love. It's about love. That's right. It's about love, right? One of the best things about 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:51.140 Christmas is getting to spend Christmas with loved ones, with those that are close to you, 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:57.680 family or friends. Getting to spend Christmas Day and having meals with those people that are closest to 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:06.280 you. Maybe you get to have some time off work, and you get to spend a bit more time with family. 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:13.439 Maybe you get to travel afar and see family. Or maybe family come to travel to you. Maybe you're 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:19.639 from out of town this morning, and you've come to Hong Kong to see parents or children or grandchildren. 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:25.479 So great to have you in the greatest city of the world. Welcome to Hong Kong. We are thrilled that 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:31.879 you've joined us in this great city. But Christmas is really about loved ones, being together. It's about 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:38.780 love. It's about loving one another and being loved in return. Of course, that also makes Christmas 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:43.680 difficult sometimes. Sometimes you can't be with loved ones. Maybe you are a doctor, and you have to 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:49.560 work through Christmas. You can't spend time with your family. Maybe you'd love to travel afar, but you 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:57.159 can't get off work. Or maybe you remember a loved one that has passed away, and you miss them more so 00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:03.960 than usual at this time. Maybe for some of us, if we're honest, sometimes family can be difficult, right? 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:10.400 And so family get-togethers can be difficult. And we're reminded of the fact that we live in an imperfect 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:16.600 world. A world that is made for love, but sometimes the world is not the way that it's meant to be. 00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:23.939 Well, the scripture that we looked at this morning is all about love. It's about God's great love for us. 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:27.360 So let's look at it together. I'm going to keep this morning a little bit shorter than usual, 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:33.579 but let's dive in. And if you have a Bible with you, we are looking at John's Gospel, chapter 3. 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:37.779 If you don't have a Bible, it should be in your bulletin, otherwise on the screen. But 00:04:37.779 --> 00:04:45.259 John's Gospel tells us, the story starts off with a man called Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a religious man. 00:04:46.019 --> 00:04:51.899 The Bible tells us he was a Pharisee, which means he's a very devoted man, a very devout man, 00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:59.060 a very well-studied man. He was a good Hong Konger. He was very educated. And he knew the scriptures. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:04.899 He knew his tradition very well. He's a very devoted and devoted man, but there's something 00:05:04.899 --> 00:05:11.620 missing. There's something unsettling about his life. He comes to Jesus at night under the cover 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:18.560 of darkness. He's coming. He's looking for something. He comes with a question. Now for 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:24.120 Nicodemus, this is new to him. He's usually the man that answers the questions. People normally come 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:29.839 to him with questions, but he's got a question on his heart. And so look what he does. He comes to 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:35.319 Jesus and he says this. He starts off saying, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who's come from God 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:42.939 because nobody can do the signs or the miracles that you do unless God is with him. Now, Nicodemus has 00:05:42.939 --> 00:05:50.060 noted. There's something distinctive about Jesus, something astonishing about him. And so he comes 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:55.339 with this question. Now he doesn't get to his question, but this is his question. Jesus, who are 00:05:55.339 --> 00:06:04.180 you exactly? Who are you? What is your mission? Are you a friend or are you a foe? Are you an ally or are you 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:11.579 an enemy? Jesus seems to do amazing things, but he also seems to stir the pot a little bit. 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:15.519 And Nicodemus is not sure. Can we trust you? Should we not trust you? Who are you? 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:18.019 What's your mission? What's your message? 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:26.339 Jesus typically doesn't always answer the question directly. He goes around the bush a little bit 00:06:26.339 --> 00:06:31.219 because he wants to get Nicodemus thinking and he wants to get us to think. So look at what Jesus says. 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:38.680 He says, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot even see the kingdom of God. He 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:45.720 cannot even see God. Okay. Jesus, what do you mean? Well, Jesus says to this spiritual seeker, 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:52.199 this truth seeker, he says, you want to know the truth. You're looking for the truth. You're looking 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:57.399 for God. You've studied the scriptures all your life. You're well averse with the sacred writings. 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:04.079 You're looking for God. But Nicodemus, there's a problem. You can't just hear truth. You can't just 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:10.139 study truth in the books. You've got to experience it. You can't just know about God in your head. 00:07:10.519 --> 00:07:16.060 You've got to encounter God. You've got to experience God. You can't just go and sit in a 00:07:16.060 --> 00:07:21.620 church meeting, sit in the synagogue, listen to some great teacher. If you want to see God, 00:07:21.719 --> 00:07:27.360 you've got to encounter him. You've got to experience him. No one can see God unless he's born again. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:33.600 A few weeks ago, this school where we meet, Ebenezer School for the Visually Impaired, 00:07:34.139 --> 00:07:40.259 every year Ebenezer has a big walk where we raise funds for the school. And so a bunch of us gathered 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:46.960 downstairs, maybe about 500 of us or so, maybe a thousand, and we walk all around Pocfulum Reservoir 00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:53.240 and we come back again. But part of the experience is that part of it is you blindfolded. It's one thing 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:58.259 to be told this is what it's like to be blind, but when you experience it, it's another story. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:02.680 And so you're walking around Pocfulum Reservoir and you've got to be blindfolded and you take 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:07.240 somebody by the hand and hopefully they don't lead you into a ditch or into a tree or anything like 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:14.060 that. The point is to experience it. It's not just, it's one thing to be told this is what it's like 00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:19.360 to not be able to see, but when you experience it, it's completely different. For those of you who are 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:25.360 mothers here, I'm told, no one, it doesn't matter how much they try and explain to you, 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:31.319 nobody will explain to a man what it's like to be in labor, right? You can be told all you want, 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:38.000 but to experience it is another thing. Jesus looks at this man in the eye and he says, 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:43.379 Nicodemus, in your head, you know almost everything there is to know about God. You know the sacred 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:48.800 writings, you know the scriptures, you know the Jewish texts, but you haven't begun to know him until 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:54.959 you encounter him, until you experience him. And Jesus' dramatic or phrase for this dramatic 00:08:54.959 --> 00:09:03.719 encounter is, you must be born again. You must be born again. He says, in your deepest, most fundamental 00:09:03.719 --> 00:09:12.479 part of yourself, in your deepest identity, your deepest self, you must come to experience who God is 00:09:12.479 --> 00:09:17.740 and come alive. It's one thing to know God in your head, it's one thing to know the writings, 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:22.680 but in your deepest self, there's a part of your being that needs to come alive. Until that happens, 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:29.519 you'll never know what God is like. You'll never discover the truth. You'll never know who God is 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:35.220 and why he made you. Unless one is born again, you cannot see God. It's all just head knowledge, 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:44.379 it's all just theory, until you encounter him. But there's a problem. In our English Bibles or our 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:50.100 Chinese Bibles, it's a little bit vague to see, it's difficult to see, but the phrase that Jesus 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:55.000 uses here, he actually uses a play on words. The Greek is the original language the Bible's written. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:01.539 There's a play on words here. Because in the Greek language, the phrase born again purposefully can mean 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:11.039 you're born again or born from above. Jesus says, spiritual seeker, truth seeker, unless you're born 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:18.219 from above, you'll never know God, never encounter him, never experience him. That's a problem. 00:10:18.779 --> 00:10:24.099 Because who is ever born from above? Who can ever go into the heavens and encounter God up there? 00:10:24.700 --> 00:10:28.480 Jesus is saying, if you want to know God, if you want to find truth, experience God, 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:34.240 you've got to see God face to face. You've got to go and encounter him and experience him in the 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:39.259 heavens. You've got to go find him. You can't just sit in a church meeting. You can't just go to the 00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:46.180 temple, to the monastery. You've got to see God face to face. Jesus tells us that true spiritual life, 00:10:46.700 --> 00:10:51.779 the joy and the peace and the hope that we long for, you can't just go to Ikea and buy them and wrap 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:56.139 them up and put them under the Christmas tree. No, you've got to encounter the living God. 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:01.740 But where are you going to find this God? He says, you must be born again. You must be born above. 00:11:02.779 --> 00:11:09.299 But how do you get above? How do you go up there? You know, maybe you want to experience what it's 00:11:09.299 --> 00:11:14.659 like to live in abject poverty. So you go to Africa, live in a mud hut for three months. Maybe you want 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:20.120 to experience what it's like to live in a war zone, right? So you go to Israel or Ukraine or Gaza, 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:25.580 go there. Maybe you want to experience what it's like to live in the freezing cold. So you book a 00:11:25.580 --> 00:11:30.679 trip to Antarctica, right? But how do you experience God? How do you get to heaven? 00:11:32.860 --> 00:11:36.720 Anybody made plans for their summer holiday and you've got a travel agent. They say, I've got a 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:41.360 special in Maldives. We've got a special in Australia. No, no specials on heaven this year. 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:49.060 How are you going to get to heaven to find God, to experience him? You must be born of above. 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:56.719 You must go and see God and let him change you inside. But how do you get there? It's a problem. 00:11:58.979 --> 00:12:02.759 Friends, Jesus shows us a real problem here because he says, you're a spiritual seeker, 00:12:02.839 --> 00:12:07.399 Nicodemus. You're a truth seeker. Well, I tell you, unless one is born from above, 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:13.099 you cannot even see God. You cannot count to God. You're dead. And look at verse 13. He says, 00:12:13.100 --> 00:12:19.040 the problem is no one has ever ascended into heaven. Well, that's not very helpful. So Jesus 00:12:19.040 --> 00:12:23.580 tells us what we need, but then he doesn't tell us how to get there. No one has ever ascended into 00:12:23.580 --> 00:12:31.080 heaven. But look at the rest of verse 13. Friends, don't you see the good news of Christmas? The good 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:36.980 news of Christmas is heaven has come down to us. Verse 13 says, no one has ever ascended into heaven 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:44.920 except the one who has descended from heaven. Friends, the good news of Christmas is that you 00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:50.639 and I need to be born again. We need to be born from above. We need our hearts to be changed. 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:57.860 We need to encounter God. But how are we going to get there? Well, God has come to us. Emmanuel, 00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:05.340 God with us. And so where we couldn't get to him, God has come to us. That's the point of Christmas, 00:13:05.460 --> 00:13:12.419 that God himself has come, that we can know him and experience him and truly be born again and 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:18.399 changed. This is what Christmas is about. Not just joy and peace and hope in a generic sense, 00:13:18.800 --> 00:13:25.120 the joy of knowing Christ, the peace of having your heart changed by the living God, the hope that is 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:31.759 given as you walk with the real living God, the eternal God. God has come to us. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:40.440 But this passage, in this passage, Jesus tells us two more things. He tells us his purpose and his 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:45.980 motive. He tells us what he came to do and he tells us why he came to do it. Look at what he says. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:53.860 Look at verse 14 with me. Jesus tells us his purpose. Verse 14, Jesus says, just as Moses lifted up 00:13:53.860 --> 00:13:59.960 the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:06.440 have eternal life. Jesus here is referring to a story in the Old Testament. And it's a story where 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:11.840 God's people were traveling through the wilderness. They were in the desert place for many, many years 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:17.480 on the way to their kind of homeland. There were pilgrims and sojourners. They're traveling through 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:24.080 the wilderness. But Israel kind of lost their way. They had rejected God. They wanted to do things 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:30.259 their own way. They thought, we know what's best for ourselves. God, don't worry. We will handle 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:36.860 things. And they got themselves into trouble. And they were constantly in trouble. And one of the 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:42.759 problems was by turning away from God, in one of the experiences in the wilderness, there's this 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:48.179 onslaught of snakes that come into the camp. And all sorts of people are getting bitten by these 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:54.100 snakes. And people are dying. There's a plague of snakes that enter the camp. And it's really terrible. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:00.019 People are dying. And so they come to Moses and they say, Moses, I guess we've been turning away from 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:04.840 God. We've been rejecting God. Maybe this is the consequence. This is a curse that we are under for 00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:11.500 rejecting God. And Moses says this, I know what I'll do. Well, God tells Moses, why don't you make a bronze 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:18.259 snake and lift it up high on a pole in the center of the camp? And if anybody's in trouble, if anybody's 00:15:18.259 --> 00:15:26.580 bitten or they're feeling sick, just look at the pole, look at the snake. If anyone looks there as a 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:32.940 kind of way of saying, God, I need you, as an act of faith, saying, God, I need you. I'm looking to your 00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:39.360 provision. Won't you have mercy on me? Won't you forgive me? They'll be healed. And so Moses makes this 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:44.480 bronze kind of snake. He puts it up high on a pole in the middle of the camp. And Israel goes about life. 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:50.519 And when somebody is sick, they're bitten, they look at the pole and they say, God, I need your mercy. God, forgive me. 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:59.519 And they heal. Well, look at what Jesus says here. He says, just as Moses lifted up the bronze snake in the 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:05.820 wilderness, so must the Son of Man, that's Jesus' name for himself, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:12.460 That whoever looks to him, whoever believes in him, will have eternal life. Who is the Son of Man? 00:16:12.540 --> 00:16:18.640 It's Jesus. Jesus tells Nicodemus here, the spiritual seeker, this truth seeker, he says, 00:16:19.420 --> 00:16:23.060 listen, I haven't come to do all the great signs and miracles that you're interested in. 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:32.080 I've really come to do one great sign, one great miracle. I, I will be lifted up on a wooden pole 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:40.040 that whoever looks to me and trusts in me will be healed from the curse, healed from their sin and 00:16:40.040 --> 00:16:45.680 their shame and their suffering and their brokenness. Just like those people look to the snake on the pole, 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:55.320 I will be lifted up on a wooden pole, on a cross. And anyone who is infected by sin and suffering and 00:16:55.320 --> 00:17:05.160 shame, if you look to me in faith, God will have mercy on you. Friends, why did Jesus came? Jesus didn't 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:11.980 just come as a teacher. He didn't just come to dish out peace and joy and hope like candy. He came to die 00:17:11.980 --> 00:17:21.539 on the cross. He came to give us peace with God. He came to show us what God is like. Jesus came, we sang 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:29.720 about it earlier, born to die, born to hang on the cross, born to take our sin and our shame and our 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:38.700 suffering upon himself as our substitute that we may live. Jesus has come to heal us from the great 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:46.000 spiritual curse, the disease of sin and rebellion that we may experience new life. And why did he do it? 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:52.579 Why? What was his motive? Well, again, he tells us, look at verse 16. He says, 00:17:53.180 --> 00:18:00.279 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:08.519 but have eternal life. Friends, why did Jesus come? Why did Jesus suffer on the cross? Because he loves us, 00:18:08.859 --> 00:18:15.839 because he loves you. For God so loved the world that he came and he sent his son. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:20.559 Now, this verse tells us that it was God the father that loved the world, but the Bible tells us it 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:25.480 wasn't just the father. It was the father and the son and the spirit. They were all united in this 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:32.419 mission to love and rescue and save humanity. It was God's love for us that caused Jesus to come and 00:18:32.419 --> 00:18:37.819 die on the cross. And Shiloh read it to us earlier. Later on, John writes in one of his letters, he says, 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:45.939 God is love. And this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his son to be an 00:18:45.939 --> 00:18:53.619 atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus came to die, to be lifted up on the cross that whoever looks at him 00:18:53.619 --> 00:19:01.119 and says, God have mercy, will experience life. It was his love that held him there. Not the nails. The nails 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:07.419 didn't hold Jesus. No, it was his love that held him to the cross. Now, friends, if you're familiar 00:19:07.419 --> 00:19:12.179 with Christianity or the church, maybe you've been to church many times, you're probably quite familiar 00:19:12.179 --> 00:19:17.639 with that verse. It is the most famous verse in the whole Bible. Martin Luther said, it's the whole 00:19:17.639 --> 00:19:23.399 Bible in one sentence. For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:31.060 him will not perish but die. But don't let your familiarity with it dilute the wonder of it. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:40.460 Who is this God? Well, Kristen spoke to us about it earlier. Friends, and I call to worship this 00:19:40.460 --> 00:19:46.420 morning, we pondered the expanse of the universe. The millions and millions and millions of light 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:56.380 years of expansiveness. The billions of stars and galaxies and star-forming galaxies. The 00:19:56.380 --> 00:20:03.340 expansiveness of the mind-blowing expansiveness of our universe. And if you think about it, within 00:20:03.340 --> 00:20:11.180 our solar system, our little planet is so infinitely small, it's almost non-existent. I mean, our planet 00:20:11.180 --> 00:20:18.279 is so tiny within our solar system. And our solar system is so tiny in the entire universe. I mean, 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:24.700 it's, friends, if you think about it, our planet, planet Earth, we're actually nothing, really. I mean, 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:31.920 in the grand scheme of things, what are we? We're nothing, really. I mean, we are like a grain of sand 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:38.360 buried five meters deep on some obscure beach that nobody really cares about, right? So we really are 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:44.159 nothing. And within our planet, there are eight billion of us, plus a previous, let's say, eight billion. 00:20:44.459 --> 00:20:51.059 I mean, who are you and I really? Our lives don't really matter that much, do we? Except to him they do. 00:20:52.199 --> 00:21:01.679 Friends, they matter enough for Jesus Christ, the one who spoke space and time and matter into existence. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:08.600 This divine being whom we call God that brought all of this expansiveness into existence, 00:21:09.560 --> 00:21:20.039 we matter to him. For God so loved you and me that he sent his only son to die on the cross 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:31.620 that we might know him. This uncreated being sent his son for us. Now, you may say, 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:37.980 well, of course God loves me. Why wouldn't he love me? I mean, come on. I'm pretty lovable, aren't I? 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:43.519 Okay, maybe. But my guess is for most of us, that's probably not our temptation. 00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:50.299 Most of us, the thoughts that go in our heart is, why would God ever love me? The things that I've done 00:21:50.299 --> 00:21:56.460 that I shouldn't have, the things I haven't done that I should have done, why would anybody, 00:21:56.460 --> 00:22:05.400 created or uncreated, why would anybody love me? Friends, the Bible tells us that because God is 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:12.259 love, his love is not dependent on how lovely or lovable you are. It's a love that simply flows 00:22:12.259 --> 00:22:19.900 out of who he is. God's love for us is not based upon what he sees inside of you, but it's based on 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:28.480 what's found inside of him. It's a steadfast love that never ends and never changes. God loves us 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:37.259 because of who he is. As we come to a close in, let me tell you a story. In 2018, the story always 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:45.300 moves me. In 2018, there was a police officer in the U.S. She had worked all night, a long shift all 00:22:45.299 --> 00:22:51.500 night. Her name was Amber Geiger. And so she returns home to her apartment the next morning, 00:22:51.619 --> 00:22:57.759 exhausted. And her apartment is a walk-up. There's no lift. And she walks up to her apartment. She's 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:03.240 exhausted. She's not really concentrating. She takes one flight of stairs too few. And so she 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:09.619 exits the flight of stairs in the wrong level. And she turns right to her apartment, what she thinks 00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:15.000 is her apartment, but she's on the wrong floor, and she's one floor too low. She turns and she sees 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:20.619 what she thinks is her apartment. The door is open and there's a stranger inside. So she 00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:25.220 thinks there's a intruder inside that's broken in. She assumes that he's armed and dangerous 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:32.140 and so she takes out her police revolver and she shoots the man dead. 26-year-old Botham Jean 00:23:32.140 --> 00:23:39.259 dies in his own apartment because of a mistake that Amber Geiger makes. Well, unsurprisingly, 00:23:39.259 --> 00:23:47.579 she is convicted of murder. But at her sentencing, the victim's brother, his name is Brant Jean, 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:56.240 gets to speak and share the impact that her actions have had on the family. But Brant Jean, 00:23:56.460 --> 00:24:01.339 along with his brother Botham, who died, are both followers of Jesus. They are worship leaders 00:24:01.339 --> 00:24:06.700 in their church. They're committed Christians. They've encountered the love of Christ. And so 00:24:06.700 --> 00:24:12.960 listen what Brant Jean says at the sentencing of Amber Geiger to her. I think it's on the screen. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:19.480 He says, this is, after he says this, he asks the judge if he can get down and give her a hug. He says, 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:25.360 I don't want to say for the 100th time what you've taken from us. I think you already know that. 00:24:26.299 --> 00:24:33.840 But what I want you to know is that I forgive you and I love you. I love you just like anybody else. 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:41.059 I do not hope that you rot and die like my brother did. I personally, I want the best for you. 00:24:41.959 --> 00:24:45.879 Then he says, I wasn't going to say this in front of my family, but I don't even think that you should 00:24:45.879 --> 00:24:51.959 go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that's what my brother Botham would want for you. 00:24:52.899 --> 00:25:00.419 Then he says to her again, I love you. Friends, this is a remarkable love that somebody could have for 00:25:00.420 --> 00:25:06.500 somebody that took a loved one from them. And throughout history, we hear stories of people 00:25:06.500 --> 00:25:13.860 that somehow miraculously were able to find the love for those that had hurt them, those that had 00:25:13.860 --> 00:25:19.500 harmed them. I think of Elizabeth Elliot going and loving the very tribesman that had slaughtered her 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:27.560 husband. Friends, the Bible says that the love that the Lord Jesus Christ has for us is far more 00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:34.000 profound than even this because it says, when we were God's enemies, when all we had given God was a 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:40.599 fist and pushed him away in the middle finger, when we were God's enemies and said, God, we don't want 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:47.839 you. God so loved us that he sent his son to die on the cross for us. The Bible says that maybe somebody 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:53.220 will die for a good person, an honorable person, but for the enemies, who would die for their enemies? 00:25:53.220 --> 00:26:02.960 God so loved us that when we were his enemies, Jesus Christ went to the cross for us. Dear friends, 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:08.319 it is true that no one has ever ascended into heaven, but there is one who has descended from 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:13.539 heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God. For just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the 00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:20.120 wilderness, so would Jesus Christ be lifted up on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:26.559 only son, that whoever would look to him, trust in him, believe in him, will not perish, but have 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:34.819 eternal life. This is why Jesus came. This is the story of Christmas. This is the hope of what we 00:26:34.819 --> 00:26:41.359 celebrate today. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, it turns out that Christmas is about love after all. 00:26:41.939 --> 00:26:46.579 Not just loving others like our family and our neighbors, the poor and the marginalized in our city. 00:26:46.579 --> 00:26:53.419 Not just being loved or spoiled by loved ones. No, Lord Jesus, Christmas is about your profound love 00:26:53.419 --> 00:26:59.019 for us. The steadfast, unfailing, redeeming love of God for a lost and broken world. 00:26:59.859 --> 00:27:05.679 Jesus, thank you for coming to us. When we could not come to you, when we could never find our way to 00:27:05.679 --> 00:27:12.319 you, you came to us. Heaven has come to us. Emmanuel, God with us. But not just coming to be with us, 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:19.179 coming to die and suffer for us. That we might know you. That we might be born in you. Born from above. 00:27:19.939 --> 00:27:26.960 God, we're so grateful. We love you. We celebrate you. We thank you for the wonder of Christmas. 00:27:27.619 --> 00:27:31.720 In your great name we pray. Amen. Amen.