Sermon Central
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The Coming Of The Savior
Contributed by Norman Lawrence on Dec 19, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: The Coming of the Savior produced many actions and reactions then and now... but how has his coming affected you? 1. Fear Accompanied His Coming 2. Praise Accompanied His Coming 3. Witnessing Accompanied His Coming 4. Gifts Accompanied His Coming
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"THE COMING OF THE SAVIOR"
Text: Luke 2:1-20
Matt. 2:11
The Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth is without a doubt the single greatest event that has ever happened in History.
Historians have no doubt as to the fact that it did happen, but as we have learned through History His coming produced many different reactions, and is still doing that today...
You cannot encounter the Christ of Christmas, and walk away without making a decision. You either choose to accept Christ, allowing Him to change your life profoundly, or you walk away in rebellion choosing to walk your own path in life that ultimately ends in destruction.
I want to ask this question for you to think about today:
How has His coming to earth affected you?
Other than the fact of celebrating Christmas each year...
We’re going to look at just a few of the things that people did when Christ came 2,000 years ago...
There are many more than these four we’ll look at, but time would never permit us to expound on the profound effect that the Birth of this one child had on Humanity then or now...
First of all in vs. 9 and 10 that
I. FEAR ACCOMPANIED HIS COMING
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. [10] But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The Bible says that the Shepherds were watching their flocks by night and that the Glory of the Lord came and shone round about them, and they were afraid...
Now the Glory of the Lord that shone around them was the Shekinah Glory that symbolized God’s presence...
We see other examples in the Old Testament of when the Glory of the Lord came that it produced a tremendous fear from the awesomeness of it all..
Can you imagine the Shepherds amazement as they went from hearing the bleating of the sheep in the dead of night to the skies being filled with the Glory of the Lord that shone brightly upon the dark hillsides...
How could the Glory of the Lord produce fear?
Because they had never seen or witnessed anything like it...
There are times today that the coming of the Lord produces a fear among people as well...
The Shepherds were just caught up in their work and doing what they always did at that time of evening until the Glory of the Lord came...
We need to get back to the place where the conviction of the Holy Spirit produces a fear in people’s hearts of the seriousness of Sin in their lives...
You’ve heard the stories and I have too of people who sat and heard the preaching of the Word, and literally had to run to the altar realizing the awesomeness of their sins...
Too often today we promise people rewards and try to entice them or argue them to the Lord, but we need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict and produce a fear of God that will produce a change in their lives...
Here it was fear of the unknown, at Salvation it is fear of the known...
We realize that we are a sinner and one day sin and the sinner alike will be punished for all eternity...
We see though how soon their fear turned into joy as we read in vs. 10 that the angel instructed them to "Fear Not" why? Because these were Good Tidings of Great Joy!
63 Mentions to “fear not” in the Bible, with 48 of them coming in the Old Testament, and 15 in the New Testament.
Isn’t that what the Gospel is?
Good Tidings of Great Joy that a Savior has come to take the penalty of our sins and nail them to a cross...
How quickly our fear turns into joy when we realize the blessings that we have in serving Christ...
How quickly our fear turns to peace when on the raging sea of Life the Master says, Peace Be Still...
Once the shepherds realized that the News was good, they had no reason to fear anymore...
So we see not only that Fear accompanied His coming, but was soon replaced as...
II. PRAISE ACCOMPANIED HIS COMING
We read in vs. 13,14 that the Heaven’s were filled with Angels praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
[14] "Glory to God in the highest,
