WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.200 Okay, just for a few moments, I think for so many, carol services may have different 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:15.439 meanings. For some people, they're probably cliched. Now, if you looked up Oxford English 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.160 Dictionary, you would find the meaning of cliched as a hackneyed theme characterization 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:25.760 or situation. Maybe that's what you feel about carol services. I hope not, since you're 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:33.400 here anyway. Others might find it sentimental. And that is defined as something that's marked 00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:43.040 or governed by feelings, sensibility, or emotional idealism, or it may be, that the more cynical 00:00:43.040 --> 00:00:53.920 among us may regard it as spreading fake news, which is defined as false or misleading stories 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:00.280 that are presented as true. And again, I hope that's not the case for any of you. For many 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:06.359 people, it may be just a little distraction that a pretty cold and wet and miserable time 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:11.680 of year. It goes along with the kind of mild wine which you can smell coming up through 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:17.920 the hall and the turkey, which you're not getting this evening, but there will be munch pies. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:24.320 And it's that kind of once a year thing that never surfaces beyond December the 26th. It 00:01:24.320 --> 00:01:30.879 may be just for us a nod to the divine, but largely irrelevant in our day to day living. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:35.760 Certainly the message being largely irrelevant. And if that may be the case with some of you 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:43.719 here this evening, what I want to do first of all is make an apology. I want to say sorry 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:50.239 as representing myself and other followers of Jesus who are here, a part of this church, 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:55.000 whom we have invited you this evening to the service. If any of us have given the impression 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:03.560 by our lives that he is largely irrelevant, Jesus, then we say sorry for that. And sometimes 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:10.919 as Christians, we have to ourselves be challenged by that, that sometimes we live as practical 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:16.919 atheists and we forget the significance of Jesus. But I think for us generally, it's 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:22.119 not the case that he's irrelevant, but sometimes we are a little bit scared of how people might 00:02:22.119 --> 00:02:27.759 react to our life of faith and to our trust in Jesus as our Savior. And we also battle 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:34.639 with our own insecurities and doubts sometimes. So the challenge for us all this evening is 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:42.599 from the passage we read and the words of the angel that came to Mary, don't be afraid. 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:50.279 I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. And that is a powerful message 00:02:50.279 --> 00:02:57.719 that comes at this time of year. It's that angelic message that breaks into real history, 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:02.479 long time ago certainly, but real history. And it's the description of the coming of 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:07.599 Jesus Christ into the world, which we've been singing about and which is the theme of our 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:14.479 worship at this time of year. Good news of great joy is what describes the coming and 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:19.280 the birth of Jesus Christ into the world. Now there hasn't been a great deal of good 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:25.639 news of great joy recently in the world in which we live. And the outlook for some of 00:03:25.639 --> 00:03:33.119 us and for many people around us and indeed throughout the world isn't great either. 00:03:33.119 --> 00:03:40.359 Yet it's something we all crave, isn't it? We're all searching for that elusive experience, 00:03:40.359 --> 00:03:47.919 for that happiness, for that meaning, for the permanence and comfort and joy that we 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:56.639 look for in our day to day lives. Now, we ought to do a survey of a thousand people, 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:01.799 maybe about a thousand people who are currently trying to cram into the narrow gates of the 00:04:01.799 --> 00:04:06.399 Christmas market down the road, Waverly, and it seems like there's thousands of people 00:04:06.399 --> 00:04:11.959 ramming in to get to the Christmas market. Or maybe the 45 or, although I think it might 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:19.000 have been 65,000 England and French fans yesterday at the Alcour Stadium or the millions who 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:25.720 were watching it on television. If you ask them, what is good news and great joy? Well, 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:31.680 I know for half of the fans last night what it certainly wasn't. I wonder how many out 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:36.040 of all these thousands of people, millions of people would actually think, oh yeah, actually 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:43.000 Christianity, that's the very one. That's what will give me good news of great joy. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:48.800 And yet, you know, throughout the world today, there are millions of people whose lives have 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:54.480 been changed forever by meeting with, through faith, the living Savior, Jesus Christ, who 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:58.480 have invited Christ into their hearts and who know Him as their Lord and Savior. From 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:03.200 every different nation, from every different culture, age and background, sometimes from 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:08.680 atheistic backgrounds, scientific backgrounds, secular backgrounds, religious backgrounds, 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:19.759 today, for them, many, Jesus is the one who brings good news of great joy. Why is that? 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:26.919 Why is that the case? Well, God says in His Word that we are body and soul. They were 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:36.360 made to know and to love God and to find the genuine source of love in Him, for Him and 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:42.920 for other people. He made us, and He made us to love Him and worship Him. And we're 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:49.920 accountable to Him. And nothing in this world, He says, can fill that void. No matter how 00:05:49.920 --> 00:06:00.120 hard we try, no matter how happy and blessed and joyful we feel without God in our lives, 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:06.960 ultimately, He says it's temporary. It's a shadow of the real thing, and it has a brutal 00:06:06.960 --> 00:06:18.200 hangover. And the reality is, when I look into my own heart, I realize that I fall far short 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:25.560 of my own standards. I know I fall short of the standards of my congregation and other 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:33.199 people around me here. And then, of course, I know, ultimately, I fall short of God's 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:38.599 standard. And in His Word, He gives us His commandments which are His laws of love, His 00:06:38.599 --> 00:06:44.199 laws of love that just tell us to love Him perfectly and to love others perfectly. It's 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:52.519 on a different level to worship Him and love Him perfectly on others. It's something utterly 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:59.519 and completely beyond my grasp. There's no chance of me being able to reach His standards 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:05.480 and be in relationship with Him because of His holiness and because of His perfect love. 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:11.360 My heart and our hearts are just naturally not conditioned that way. We're rebels against 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:17.040 that. We've been singing about it. We're sinners. It's what the Bible calls it. It's 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:20.600 a very unfascinable word, and maybe we've got misconceptions about what it means. But 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:27.080 everything that we are, everything that we say in many ways in our lives says, well, 00:07:27.080 --> 00:07:35.199 I'm putting myself first in my hackles, go up, and God is a bit of a brute when He asks 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:40.080 me to love Him perfectly and says that I can't meet that standard in the run that is judgment. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:52.079 How dare He say these things about me until we see Him coming in a manger as a refugee 00:07:52.079 --> 00:08:01.439 without a home, anonymous for most of His life. And then go into the cross. The lawkeeper 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:09.240 who perfectly loved God and loved other people died on the cross as a lawbreaker, one who 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:15.439 was guilty before God because he was dying in our place. And he rose again on the third 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:21.639 day, having defeated, having paid the price and defeated death for all who trust in Him. 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:29.360 He came to rescue, to redeem a broken and lost and rebellious sinner like me back to 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:38.560 Himself. And for any who will come to Jesus, He brings hope and forgiveness. And He expresses 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:45.799 the depth of His love and commitment in that sacrificial laying down of His life, taking 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:53.959 our guilt on Himself so that we can have that new heart with a greater and better love, 00:08:53.959 --> 00:09:04.119 a love that can worship Him and put Him first, put others next, and concede ourselves as 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:13.279 we were created to be and love ourselves in that light. It's a tough, strong, sacrificial, 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:20.600 self-aware, gentle love. And it's His gift that He freely offers to any who come to Him 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:28.159 by faith. And that is a love that is eternal when our death is defeated and we go and live 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:36.719 with Him as we give Him first place in our hearts. Now, you may doubt that, absolutely. 00:09:36.719 --> 00:09:42.000 You may doubt the truth of Jesus, what the Bible says, what I've said. You may wonder, 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:47.799 well, that's just that definition of fake news, it seems right. Or you may be feel that 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:55.639 our faith or the Bible message is cliched or sentimental or just for someone else. And 00:09:55.639 --> 00:10:01.720 I simply want to leave you with two questions that may be a rise out of our time together 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:10.799 this evening and looking at this passage. The first is, what do you do with this man, 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:18.759 Jesus? You claim to be God? He was born of a virgin, died on a cross, but who walked 00:10:18.759 --> 00:10:26.919 out of the grave three days later, defeating the power of death and all that it represents. 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:34.200 What if He did? And He claims that He did it because He loves you. And He wants you to 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:43.200 know forgiveness and that body and soul love that you were created for, created to enjoy 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:50.320 in relationship with Him, worshiping Him as Lord. So that would be my first question for 00:10:50.320 --> 00:11:00.320 you to consider. My second one is, why is it such good news of great joy for me and for 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:05.720 other people who are followers of Jesus and who put their trust in Him, not just for this 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:12.080 life to make Him Lord but for eternity and who has turned our lives upside down. I know 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:16.960 sometimes it doesn't look like that, but our lives have been turned upside down or inside 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:21.080 out maybe from the heart. We've been changed from the heart and it's His gift we haven't 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:27.240 done anything to deserve it or done anything to earn it in any way ourselves. But we would 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:33.200 be willing to die for Him now because of who He is and because of what He's given to us. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:38.200 So I just leave you with these two questions and hope that the words that we've been singing 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:43.400 and the words that we've been reading from the Bible will have spoken to you and will 00:11:43.400 --> 00:11:50.280 challenge you and encourage you and excite you and comfort you this evening. Let's pray 00:11:50.280 --> 00:11:55.480 briefly together. Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth 00:11:55.480 --> 00:12:01.160 of the gospel and the reality that we have come to know in Jesus. We thank you. You've 00:12:01.160 --> 00:12:06.000 changed our lives that you forgive us freely when we come to you. We don't need to earn 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:10.919 anything or make ourselves right with you or look good on the outside. None of these 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:18.559 things are things that influence you, but you've come and seen what we need in our 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:24.200 death and in our sin and you have provided the answer freely and fully because you love 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:32.159 us. It's a long time ago, but it doesn't change the truth of the fact of Christ, God, 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:42.120 the Son coming to us as our Creator and Lord, open up the way back into fellowship and friendship 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:47.879 with you as we were created to enjoy and to forgive our rebellion. Lord, help us to rejoice 00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:52.279 in that and thank you that we can sing so much together this evening and thank you for 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:58.480 everyone who has made the effort and taken the time to spend this hour with us. We ask 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:04.120 it in Jesus' name. Amen.