Why do we need a savior? A Savior. If you have ever sinned against God you need a Savior. The angel said that Jesus came to "save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)
The Bible says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "It is appointed to man once to die and after that comes judgment." (Hebrews 9:27). We will give an account to God for our lives. Jesus Christ came and suffered and died and rose again from the dead to pay the price for our sins. The angel told Joseph “Jesus… will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and the shepherds “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”(Luke 2:10-11) .When we trust him as Lord and Savior of our lives we have peace with God, our sins are forgiven, and there is no more condemnation (Romans 5:1; 8:1; Ephesians 2:13-16).Jesus is God's inexpressible gift to meet this need
The Bible teaches us that God -- our perfectly holy and righteous God -- cannot tolerate sin. From his very nature, he cannot tolerate sin. Furthermore, God is just, meaning that he will right every wrong; he will apply just punishment to every wrongdoer. We like to hear this when we have been wronged, when we have been the victim – but the problem is that each of us has wronged others, we are victimizers as well, so each of us deserves punishment. So Jesus had to die because of my sin. Sin! We don't like this word. We don't mind talking about our foibles, or our weaknesses, or our failures -- but sin! No, we don't like to admit that we are sinners.
What is sin? One definition: Sin is both disobedience to the law of God and sin is missing the mark of God’s law. This definition shows that God is the one who defines sin. God, our Creator, has the absolute authority to dictate to us the terms and conditions of our being able to enter His presence. Sin is nothing more or less than cosmic treason and human ineptitude: the refusal to recognize and submit to God’s authority in any and every area of our lives and the complete inability to conform to God’s standards on our own.
In these days there is much confusion concerning this word, "sin." Many people try to dumb down this idea of sin, to take away its meaning by redefining it, rationalizing it, minimizing it, or justifying it. In short, sin today really is not so bad. But the fact is from God’s view; sin is deadly serious. So serious in fact that: “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…The wages of sin is death” (Romans 1:18; 6:23).
Remember how Jesus summarized the Law of God? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . . . Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). Do we live up to those? No. I don't, you don't. That is why the bible tells us that the consequence of sin is that we are debtors to God; enemies of God; and guilty criminals, lawbreakers, before a righteous and Holy God. Paul in Romans 3 makes it absolutely clear that without Christ's death, all of us are under the just condemnation of God. Listen to these words: “We have already charged just that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:9-12,23). In Romans 5, Pal describes us as godless, wicked, and enemies of God. It is for these that Jesus came. Paul tells us that every single person, every person is a sinner; every person deserves an eternity of separation from our holy and perfect God.
Into the dark dungeon of sin, where we followed our desperately sick, sinful desires, came Jesus.
Here is what is amazing and meant to elicit awe at Christmas:
.Our Creator knew everything about us — every sinful thought we’ve had, every sinful word we’ve said, and every sinful, despicable thing we’ve done — and came anyway to rescue us from our hearts by taking the full punishment for our sin and our unholy shame on himself, and offering us his cleanness and holiness instead.
And when he did, Jesus made a door — he became the door (John 10:9) — in the wall of our sin dungeon leading to eternal guilt-free, sin-free, joyful freedom. He became the light in our darkness, our salvation from damnation and sin’s slavery, our refuge from divine judgment, removing all real reason for fear (Psalm 27:1–2).
In Christ, God, who is the most fearsome adversary of the sinner, who has the power to throw us into hell, becomes our one safe place free from all condemnation and fear (Romans 8:1). Jesus the savior offers us safe escape out of the dungeon.
I think that the most loving thing I can do for you this Advent season is to help you remember and feel your need for a Savior, so that as he approaches, your heart will leap for joy.
This Christmas God makes us an offer:
But this offer — an offer made to both non-Christians and professing Christians — is made to those who will confess their sin, repent of it, and follow Jesus. This offer is made to all sinners who need a savior. The full price for sin has been paid; full justice has been done. Therefore, full forgiveness and full freedom is yours, if you’ll take it.
Do not wait any longer. Stop listening to the tyrannical threats of sin and Satan. Jesus offers this gift today. Today is the day to walk out the door. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). If you wait longer, your heart may be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,” and the door may close (Hebrews 3:13).
God can turn a day of reckoning into a day of amnesty. But he’s calling today. Come out of the dungeon, let this truly be a day where you can shout; Merry Christmas, a Savior has been born!
