BY PASTOR T. O. BANSO
During Christmas, people give and receive gifts. Many people celebrate Christmas but are more concerned about the gifts they give or receive, and the social and commercial activities of the season. Only a few people understand the essence of Christmas and its relevance to the world today. Have you received God’s Christmas Gift? Without this Gift, you cannot rightly celebrate Christmas.
Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (NKJV). Note the phrase “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” This refers to the same person: God’s Christmas Gift!
At the first Christmas, a Child was born, and a Son was given: Jesus Christ, whose different names are highlighted in the scripture above. Note the name “Mighty God.” Jesus is God. I will talk about this shortly.
Christ: God’s Christmas Gift
God’s Christmas Gift is His Son, Jesus Christ. Christmas is the celebration of Christ’s birth. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The greatest gift God has given and will ever give is the gift of His Son. You can either accept a gift or reject it.
Have you accepted God’s Gift to you? Don’t reject Him as some have done and others still do. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13 ESV). Have you given your heart to Jesus? Only those who have accepted God’s Gift can rightly celebrate Christmas.
Jesus is God’s most precious gift to the world. The Bible refers to Him as His only begotten Son (John 1:18; 3:16; 1 John 4:9). He was the Son of God and thus greater than all the servants or prophets who came before Him (Matthew 21:33-39). God gave His Son to the world, but He also gave Himself because Jesus was (is) God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one in essence and distinct in persons. They are each fully God. They are also co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal, and have one will and purpose. Jesus says in John 10:30, “I and My Father are one” (NKJV). John 17:22b says a similar thing. In fact, another name Jesus is called in Isaiah 9:6 is “Everlasting Father.”
Jesus is God
Jesus is God. Thomas refers to Him as “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28). Paul says He is the Messiah, who is God over all (Romans 9:5). He also says in Philippians 2:6 that Jesus was God. According to Paul, in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body (Colossians 2:9). Writing to Titus, Paul also refers to Jesus Christ as the great God and Saviour (Titus 2:13). Jesus is God.
The writer of Hebrews says Jesus is God (Hebrews 1:8-9). Earlier in verse 3, he says the Son radiates God’s own glory, expresses the very character of God, and sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. The apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 1:1, calls Jesus “Our God and Saviour”, while the apostle John says in 1 John 5:20 that He is the only true God and eternal life. Jesus is God.
God with us
One of Jesus’ names is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Referring to the prophet Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23 says, “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (NKJV). God became man and was born as a baby and laid in the manger because there were no rooms left in the inn (Luke 2:7).
God became man in the form of Jesus Christ to save the world. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (NIV). Verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (NKJV). As 1 John 4:9 says, God manifested His love to us by sending His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. God’s gift of Jesus to the world is superior to other gifts people can receive from God.
On the first Christmas Day, an angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds who were living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11 NIV).
Jesus’ birth brings great joy because our salvation has come. How can you be saved from your sins, which is the reason for Christmas? Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18 NKJV).
If you haven’t received Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Saviour, make this Christmas a memorable one by making the decision now. Receive God’s Christmas Gift to you. In other words, be born again (John 3:3, 7).
Why you must be born again this Christmas
1. Jesus was born to save you from your sins. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). That includes you. Matthew 1:21 says, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (NKJV). Jesus would save His people from their sins by dying on the cross, which He did and was later raised from the dead. You cannot be saved without accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
2. Jesus Christ is the only one who can save you. Jesus is the only Saviour. There is no other way you can be saved. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6 NIV). There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
3. God has done all He can do to save you by becoming man. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19a). By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus obtained for us forgiveness of our sins. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7 NKJV). Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22b). God has done all He should to save you. He became man to save humankind. It is your responsibility to accept His gift of salvation.
4. The wages of sin is death, but those who receive Christ will have eternal life. Ezekiel 18:20a says the person who sins shall die. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NKJV). Whoever dies in his sins without giving his heart to Jesus will end in hellfire but those who accept Him as their Lord and Saviour will receive eternal life. Jesus says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36 NIV). Jesus gives eternal life to those who listen to His voice and follow Him, and they will never perish (John 10:28). He says anyone who hears His word and believes the one who sent Him has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24-25). Talking to Martha in John 11:25-26, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (NIV).
In hellfire, the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44, 46, 48). But God does not take any pleasure in the death of the wicked but is pleased when they turn from their ways and live (Ezekiel 18:23).
5. Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus told Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a respected Jewish teacher, that unless he was born again, he wouldn’t see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Mere church membership or leadership position will not make anyone see the kingdom of God.
When anyone gets born again, his name is written in the Book of Life. On Judgment Day, anyone whose name is not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). Are you born again? Is your name written in the Book of Life? To have eternal life, you must receive Christ into your heart. The sinners’ final abode is hellfire.
6. Self-righteousness cannot save you. Self-righteousness will save nobody. Our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). In Romans 10:3-4, Paul talks about God’s righteousness and self-righteousness: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (NKJV). Self-righteousness will not save you.
Nobody can truly be righteous by keeping the law. James 2:10 says whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, is guilty of all. You cannot earn your way to heaven. “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 NKJV). Only God’s righteousness imputed to you when you accept Jesus into your heart will save you. Submit to God’s righteousness today.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says God made Him who never sinned to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. Your righteousness, which is from the law, will not save you. You need the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. You can only be saved by grace, not by works; salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:5, 8).
7. The time is short; now is the day of salvation. Sinners must repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour before it is too late. The time is short. Don’t postpone your salvation. You don’t know what will happen in the next few seconds. Invite Jesus into your heart now. Paul tells the believers in 1 Corinthians 7:29a, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short” (NKJV).
Sinners should not deceive themselves into believing that they still have much time left. The time is short for them, too. “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV). Jesus can return at any time, and death can occur suddenly. There is no repentance in the grave. Everyone must die once and thereafter be judged (Hebrews 9:27).
Conclusion: Receive God’s Christmas Gift today. Receive His gift of Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. Receive God, who became man and is with you. Receive Jesus into your heart. Believe in His name and become a child of God.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you must give your heart to Jesus now. Please take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself, and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your heart. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church. There, they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner, and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me, and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I invite Jesus into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You must join a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
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