what if jesus had not been born

WHAT IF JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?

Luke 2:4-14 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the

city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of

David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it

was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped

Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them

in the inn. 8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields,

keeping watch over their flock by night. >>>

9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of

great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of

David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a

Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the

angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 "Glory to God in

the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!“

WHAT IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?A.Frank Capra’s 1946 classic film It’s a Wonderful Life.

1. James Stewart in the role of George Bailey, a kind-hearted savings-and-loan manager who struggles against a greedy banker in the small town of Bedford Falls.

2. After suffering many hardships and dashed dreams George contemplates suicide.

3. An apprentice angel named Clarence intervenes, but the despondent man wishes that he had never been born at all.

4. Clarence grant George’s wish, and Bailey is given a nightmarish view of what Bedford Falls (renamed Pottersville after the town’s evil bank tycoon) would have been like without him.

5. Shown every year at Christmastime, this film drives home the message that each life touches others in profound ways.

WHAT IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?B.Abortion

1. http://www.numberofabortions.com/ -Reports 59,623,300 Abortions in America Since Roe v. Wade in 1973 – 1,438,048,205 worldwide.

2. Every year in America over 1 million babies are aborted.

3. What great things might some of those lives accomplished if they had been allowed to live?

WHAT IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?C. What if Jesus had never been born?

1. What if there had been no star? 2. No wise men? 3. What if there had been no angelic host

announcing peace and goodwill to frightened shepherds?

4. The results of a non-existent George Bailey on the fictional town of Bedford Falls were grave and distressful.

5. We might wonder what would have happened if we had never been born.

6. What would the results if Jesus Christ had never come into our world?

WHAT IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?D. One Solitary Life - James Allen Francis

“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college...He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. >>>

WHAT IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN? He was only thirty-three when the tide of

public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. >>>

WHAT IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN? Twenty centuries have come and gone, and

today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.”

I. IF JESUS HAD NOT BEEN BORN OUR SECULAR

SYSTEM WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY

AFFECTED.

I. OUR SECULAR SYSTEM WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED.

A. NO JESUS, MEANS NO CALENDAR AS WE KNOW IT TODAY – AD (anno Domini) Latin - means in the year of our Lord. BC means Before Christ. When a Jew, Muslim, Hindu etc write a date, it is based on Jesus Christ’s coming into the world.

B. NO JESUS, MEANS NO EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AS WE KNOW IT TODAY - Our educational system in this country was begun the help study read and study the words of the Master Teacher. - Mark 1:22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.


C. NO JESUS, MEANS NO HEALTHCARE AS WE KNOW IT TODAY – most of our hospitals were begun by those influenced by the Great Physician’s teachings. - Luke 10:25-37 "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. >>>


But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, "Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him.”


D. NO JESUS, MEANS NO DIVINELY-INFLUENCED GOVERNMENT – Many of our laws were influenced by the teachings of Christ. - Romans 13:1-4 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2

Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

II. IF JESUS HAD NOT BEEN BORN OUR SPIRITUAL

CONDITION WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY

AFFECTED

II. OUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED

A. NO BETHLEHEM, MEANS NO CALVARY – His birth did not save us but if He hadn’t been born He could not have gone to the cross for us. - Matthew 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

B. NO JESUS, MEANS NO RECONCILIATION - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, (19) that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.


C. NO JESUS, MEANS NO REDEMPTION - Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (14) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

D. NO JESUS, MEANS NO SANCTIFICATION - 1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:


E. NO JESUS, MEANS NO GRACE - Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.


F. NO JESUS, MEANS NO FORGIVENESS - Colossians 2:11-13 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, (12) buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (13) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,


G. NO JESUS, MEANS NO SALVATION - 2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

H. NO JESUS MEANS CONDEMNATION - Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

I. NO JESUS, MEANS NO CHILDREN OF GOD - Galatians 3:26-27 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (27) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.


J. NO JESUS, MEANS NO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS - Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (5) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.


K. NO JESUS, MEANS NO ETERNAL LIFE - Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

L. NO JESUS, MEANS NO INHERITANCE - Ephesians 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

M.NO JESUS, MEANS NO HOPE - 1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

III. IF JESUS HAD NOT BEEN BORN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY

AFFECTED.

III. OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED

A. NO JESUS, MEANS WE WOULD STILL BE UNDER THE OLD LAW - Colossians 2:13-14 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

B. NO JESUS, MEANS NO NEW CREATION - 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED

C. NO JESUS, MEANS NO BASIS FOR UNITY - Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

D. NO JESUS, MEANS NO ANSWERED PRAYER - 1 John 5:13-15 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.


E. NO JESUS, MEANS NO TRIUMPH - 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

F. NO JESUS, MEANS NO LIBERTY - Galatians 2:4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),


G.NO JESUS, MEANS NO UNDERSTANDING THE LOVE OF GOD - Romans 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (38) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


H. NO JESUS, MEANS NO POWER - Ephesians 1:19-20 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (20) which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

I. NO JESUS, MEANS NO BOLDNESS AND CONFIDENCE - Ephesians 3:11-12 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

WHAT IF JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?A. IF JESUS HAD NOT BEEN BORN - by Cindy Wyatt If Jesus the Christ had not been born

we would not have a saviorOur souls would be forever lost and with God we could find no favorIf Jesus had not come down to earth as a little babe born of a virgin he could have never died for our sins so that we could be saved and forgiven

Hallulejuh, Hallulejuh, praise God our wonderful savior was born and finished salvation's plan through much agony, mocking, and scornas the babe in the manger grew up and did suffer and die on Calvary's treeso those who would accept him as their Savior could from the bondage of sin be set free


B. BUT JESUS DID COME TO THIS EARTH!He IS the fulfillment of every OT prophecy.He WAS born of a virgin in Bethlehem.He WAS wrapped in swaddling clothes.He WAS announced by heavenly angels.He WAS visited by shepherds.He DID live a perfect life.He TOUCHED people and healed them.He RAISED people from the dead.He DID walk on water.He HAS fed the multitudes.He DID die on the cross.>>>


B.BUT JESUS DID COME TO THIS EARTH!He HAS risen from the dead.He HAS paid our sin debt.He IS seated at the right hand of the Father.He IS NOW making intercession for you and

me.He LISTENS to the cry of your heart.He LOVES you with an everlasting love.He WANTS to forgive your sin.He LONGS to be your Savior.HE WILL BE your Savior.


He DIED for you so you would live for Him. 2 Cor 5:15

That NEW LIFE begins when we re-enact His death, burial and resurrection in baptism.

Rom 6:3-5

WILL YOU LIVE FOR HIM SINCE HE DIED FOR YOU?

Spiritual

what if jesus had not been born