IT WAS NOT A SILENT NIGHT
  (Christmas Sermon)
 by Mark Hardgrove
  Pastor, Suwanee Church of God
 12/97
 
 Text John 1:1- 5; 14
 
 INTRODUCTION
 Christmas comes around every year, same time, same place, same hectic
 pace.  We go through the same termoil in gift buying.  We go through    
  the same emotional roller coaster; thrilled for the Christmas present,
 missing loved ones from Christmas past.  Then somewhere along the way
 someone reads the same two Christmas texts and somehow the whole   
  thing starts sounding like a nursery fable we've heard over and over.
 "Hickory dickery dock, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem."  Or, "Once
 upon a time, a virgin had a baby and He was God's son.  They named Him
 Hercules, the Son of Zeus and they lived happily ever after on Mt.
 Olympus."
 
 But it's not a fairy tale, and it's not a myth.  Jesus was born.  Even
 the most ardent skeptics must confess that around two thousand years ago
 a baby was born, His name was Jesus, He lived in Galilee, and died on a
 cross.   Every Christmas reminds us of the reality of what God, in
 Christ Jesus did for us.   Christmas reminds us that God has a Word for
 us and that Word on the first Christmas morning . . . that Word in the
 fullness of time. . . that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 
  Jesus is God's Word to us.
 
 We sing the song, "Silent night, Holy night," and while it was holy, it
 was anything but silent.  God was speaking to the world on that night.
 He was speaking loud and speaking clear to all of humanity.  What was He
 saying?  I want to focus on three things here today.
 
 I       I WANT TO BE WITH YOU
 The Prophet Isaiah said, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a
 sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call
 his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).  Matthew tells us that the
 interpretation of Immanuel is, "God with us" (Matt. 1:23).
 
 God created man with the intention of having and maintaining a
 relationship.  Not even sin could destroy this desire on the part of
 God.
 
 A.  When Adam sinned, God came looking and called out, "Adam where are
 you."
 
 B.  The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, was God saying, "I want to be
 in your midst, I want to be with you."
 
 C.  The Nativity of Jesus is God saying, "I want to be with you and I
 will be with you."
 
 D.  The rent veil leading into the Holy of Holies is God saying, "I want
 to be with you."
 
 II.     I WANT TO SHOW YOU THE WAY
 Our text tells us that Jesus was light shinning in the darkness.  Jesus
 is God's Word telling us that we can come out of the darkness and enter
 into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).  In Christ God is telling us, I
 want to show you the way out of moral darkness, out of social darkness,
 out of spiritual darkness.
 
 A.  The Psalmist declared, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light
 unto my path" (Psalm 119:105).  The Word is the light and the light
 leads us to higher ground--up from the pit of defeat to the mountain
 peaks of praise.
 
 B.  The Word is the light which leads us from sin to salvation.
 
 C.  The darkness cannot stop the light.  The KJV translates the word,
 "katalambano" as "comprehend."  Literally the word means "to take
 eagerly, to seize."  It can be understood to refer to a mental seizing,
 or comprehending; but it is just as legitimate to translate katalambano
 as "overcome."  The Revised Standard Version thus translates the verse
 to say, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
 overcome it."  When God said, "I want to show you the way," He followed
 that up by turning on the light, and the darkness is powerless to put it
 out.
 
 III.    I LOVE YOU
 More than anything else, however, I think the Word of God to us in
 Christ His Son is, "I love you."  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
 him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
 
 Every Christmas we need to hear God's Word say, "I love you enough to
 come to you.  I love you enough to live with you.  I love you enough to
 die for you.  I love you enough to come back for you.  I love you with
 an everlasting love!"
 
 CONCLUSION:
 The season of Christmas can become so familiar that we miss the majesty
 of God's Word speaking to us two-thousand years later.  Hear Him today
 as He speaks to you and says, "I want to be with you.  I want to show
 you the way.  I love you."
 
 Herod's plans could not silence this Word.  The killing of Christians
 could not silence this Word.  The distortions of the cults could not
 silence this Word.  The dark ages could not silence this Word.  It was
 not a silent night, it was a night when the angels sang, the shepherds
 rejoiced, and most importantly, God's Word echoed like thunder through
 the darkness, through the ages and through us to a lost and dying world.
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To read Pastor Hardgrove's bio. you will find his home church web page
at
www.churchnetwork.com/suwaneecog
Pastor Hardgrove is available for revival/seminars.