Series: Celebrate Christmas (or Christmas Doubt) Week 2: I Doubt He Is Savior
Doubt is a very familiar experience to all of us.
YOUTUBE … How many of believe something because it’s on YouTube and you saw it? Example: slip-and-slide and went into the pool 150 feet away. MythBusters deals with doubt. So they wanted to know Is this just sensational or is this substantial?
What about Christmas? Is that all Christmas is? Just good entertainment? We get a holiday, we get time off from work, we get to give gifts. That’s awesome. Sensationalized with the little baby in a manger. Or is he? Is He is a baby in a manger or is He a King on the throne? Is this just sensational or is this substantial? Is He really Savior?
Because of sin we will suffer; because God loves us, Jesus suffers with us and becomes our Savior. God has revealed Himself to us. And God the Son left heaven, suspended His glory and took on human form. Merry Christmas.
We talked last week… 4 prophecies God foretold this so we know ahead of time the signs. This is no kid in a manger, this is the King on the throne.
But why did He come? What was the whole point? Well, Jesus told us it’s recorded in Luke 19:10. We were spiritually lost. We need a Savior. And He came at Christmas in order to deliver on Easter.
- Because of sin, we suffer. And you know what? Some people doubt that. Common question: Well, if God is so loving, how why do we suffer?
What we don’t want to admit is that because God gave us freedom, options, choices, decisions, that we have responsibility. You have a choice and you can follow God or walk away from God, when you walk away from God it is sin. And the consequences of sin is death.
Here’s the reality: God did not bring sin and suffering into this world. We did. We sin. We’d rather be mad at God than admit that we did this to ourselves.
How many of you have ever been pulled over for speeding?
But the real problem is: we should be mad at ourselves.
- Because God loves us, Jesus suffers with us, and we doubt that too. Matthew 8:17. Isaiah speaks of the coming Savior, who would be a suffering Savior for our sake because of sin.
Isaiah 52:6 … God is saying look I will have foretold it and when you finally see the Savior, you will know I am God because I foretold it. Who else can do that? God gives you reasons to remove doubt.
Isaiah 53:4. … 53:5 … 53:6b … 53:8 … 53:10 … 53:12 … reference to the grave in 53:9 … the resurrection 53:11
Doubt: Isaiah was written at the same time as the New Testament. That’s because we didn’t have copies of Isaiah that pre-existed the coming of Christ. But in 1947 at the Qumran caves… “the Great Isaiah Scrolls.” The carbon dating that puts it at somewhere between 135 – 335 BC. This changes everything.
Isaiah has been quoted 71 times, the 2nd most, 2nd only to Psalms (89 times). God has communicated to us a reason to remove doubt. God gave prophecy, some 322 prophecies of the coming Savior. And if just 8 of the major prophecies to be fulfilled in one person, the chances are 1 to 1017: One in one quintillion. Jesus fulfilled over 300 of them. God says I’ve given you reason to remove doubt. He mentioned these so that we would understand we have a Savior—Jesus became our Savior.
3. He becomes our Savior, that’s even if you don’t know you need one, and you don’t care about Jesus being your Savior. Isaiah 59:1-3a: … over 700 years before Jesus ever showed up. It talked about the coming of Christmas, Christ. It talked about Him giving His life, the offer of God. Peter tells the Israelites in Acts 3:19: …
You have a Savior. He came at Christmas so that He would fulfill Easter, which is huge. It makes a difference to have Jesus as my Savior here and now because He gives me the power to live a life of faith over fear. Because I have a lot of pressures, don’t you? You’re either living in fear or faith. Fear focuses on the pressures. Pressures and problems, make you want to pull away. Isn’t that true? Fear just seizes you, and shuts you down.
Faith is when you focus on God’s promises. And therefore, I get to push ahead instead of pulling away. And instead of pulling away, I get to commit to, to care about, and to help others. Jesus as Savior is more than sensational.
How are you living?
Are you mad at God or mad at sin? Remember, we did this to ourselves, not God.
Are you doubting prophecy or you’re just unaware? Or are you willing to live and die without a Savior?
Who are you inviting to Christmas? Who are you inviting into this series? The real gift of Christmas is that we have a Savior. Who’s going to be coming and discovering the ultimate gift this Christmas because you cared enough about them to invite them?