IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME

INTRODUCTION:

  1. Jesus, we hear His name daily.
  2. Jesus, we see what man would deem to be His likeness.
  3. Jesus, we are baptized into Him.
  4. Jesus, we are ever in His debt.
  5. What if Jesus had not come.

I. If He had not come and spoken.....Jn. 15:22 How ignorant we would be.

II. If He had not done and worked......Jn. 15:24 How aimless we would be.

III. If He had not left, He could not have sent the Spirit.....Jn. 16:7 How comfortless we

would be.

  1. If He had not left, He could not have prepared.....Jn. 14:1ff How hopeless we would be
  2. If He had not died, you would not have lived....Jn. 11:25, 26 How pitiful we would be. If He had not arisen from the dead, How hopeless we would be 1 Cor. 15:12-20

CONCLUSION:

  1. Many years ago, a very unusual Christmas card appeared which bore a story about a minister who had a dream one Christmas Eve. [He dreamed] that Jesus had never been born among men to lead them to God. The dream was based on Jesus words, If I had not come" John 15:22. In the [minister's] dream there was no Christ to comfort, gladden and save. [The preacher] walked out into the street, but there was no church to be seen anywhere. He returned to his study, but all the books about the Savior and the church had disappeared.
  2. Then a knock at the door interrupted him: it was a man asking him to visit his dying mother. He took his Bible with him, but on reaching the woman's house he discovered the book contained only the Old Testament. There were no verses he could share from the Gospels offering comfort and hope. He could only weep with the woman in bitter despair.
  3. Two days later he found himself conducting her funeral, but again, there were no promises of heaven, no words of consolation to the mourners, only, "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" and one long eternal farewell.
  4. This man of God realized then the fullness of, "If he had not come," and burst into tears in his sorrowful dream.
  5. But suddenly he awoke from the dream and realized it for what it was - just a dream - and a great shout of joy and praise burst from his lips as he heard someone singing in the nearby church: "O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem; Come and behold him, born the King of angels, O come let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.