Isaiah 43: 18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
How many of you participated in Black Friday? It was the official start of the Christmas season. Would you clean up and re-wrap a gift from last year and give it again? Why? Because you want to give a new thing. If you receive the same item from two different people, it's not near as exciting opening the second one as the first one. This is what giving at Christmas is about–the new gift.
Without Christ everyday is the same old same old. Same devil. Same sin. Same old condemnation. Enslaved to the same old habits. You want to stop the wrong. You try to stop, but in the end you cannot reform yourself. You are the same old person. Why? Because of sin. Same old Satan. The devil cannot offer you anything new, so you stay under the weight of sin; you're still hollow inside; you're still afraid of going to hell. It's the same day after day. That's all you will ever have without Jesus.
At Christmas we may get nostalgic over the memories of Christmases gone by, but there is nothing nostalgic about sin. The thrill of Christianity is getting something new. God bought a brand new gift and gave it to a world that needed it but did not want it. We have the gift before us today. The gift is in the form of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah says a new thing will happen when a woman has a child without a man. Mary was encompassed by God and a son was born, a new thing. It had never happened before and it will not happen again. It does not have to be the same old same old with sin. Jesus came for you. He is ever new. There is a tag on the gift that says To: Bob Surber From: God Almighty. The gift is for you too. Jesus keeps our life new; its a new and living way.
The work of salvation is done–through his suffering. The work was completed when Jesus said it is finished. Verse 25 says I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. No one but God can blot out your sin. Forget about your past because if God has blotted out your sin, its gone. Don't live in the past. It's not there; God has forgotten it. The Bible says old things are passed away and all things become new. We now can do what we've never done before. Life means something. Verse 19 says now it shall spring forth. We have a new life with new possibilities. All things are possible with God and without God nothing is possible. Verse 19 also says God will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Life without God is a desert. When you don't know what will happen, don't know how to make ends meet, don't know how you will face it, God makes a way.
David said a new song was in his mouth. The intoxication of sin leaves a hangover of the soul. There is no peace for the wicked. With Jesus we can have that new song even if we can't sing at all; the song is in our hearts. No matter what comes our way, we can sing a new song. We can have a new tomorrow, a new body, and a new home like we've never had before. Salvation never gets old. Everyday with Jesus is Christmas. He is new every morning. We can enjoy that newness forever.
Aren't you put off and tired of the same old sin? You don't have to wait; the scripture here says NOW it shall spring forth. You come; he'll do it. Shall you not come? Shall you not know? Want something new? Here is Jesus.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 