 Amen. All right keep your place there in Matthew chapter 2 of course the very famous story about the wise men coming to visit Jesus. I told you we're going to continue our American heresy series this morning and we're going to have a Christmas twist. So this morning I want to talk about Christmas traditions, Christmas traditions. So we see that the story of the three wise men here keep your place in chapter 2 of Matthew and turn to Romans 14. The first thing I want to do is we just studied Romans 14 so it's very convenient it's fresh in your mind if you're here on Thursday night. The first thing I want to point out about Christmas traditions this morning is that there is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas. You will find people who are very dogmatic about December 25th being not something we should celebrate and things like that. Of course there was no proof that Jesus was actually born on December 25th. We acknowledge that. But as far as those that say it's a pagan holiday you know the Romans they celebrated the winter solstice which is December 21st and December 22nd every year and there was kind of a long festival that always followed that. If you turn to Romans 14 let's just dispel this item right away. This isn't the point of the sermon but I want to get this off the table. Look at Romans 14 in verse number five. The Bible says one man esteemeth one day above another. Another's esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. Just underline those verses or those words in your Bible. And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks. Of course in Romans 14 we are talking about brothers and sisters in Christ. People that are saved and it's just talking about if somebody regards the day over another day just if they regard it to the Lord it's no big deal. So if the day is celebrated unto the Lord there's no problem with that. So if you regard December 25th as Christmas as most Americans do there is no issue with that at all according to the Bible. It's a time for you and your family to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world. You're regarding that unto the Lord. It's fine as long as you're regarding it unto unto the Lord. Now so that's as far as the Christmas you know everything you know you'll meet these people that everything's a pagan holiday and a Christmas tree is of the devil and things like that. That's not what the Bible says. Let every man be persuaded in his own mind. We talked about idols that's a different story but there's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas on December 25th. Okay it's regarded unto the Lord. It doesn't mean you're dogmatic and you believe Jesus was born December 25th. You're just celebrating the birth of Christ on that day. Okay all right let's look at Christmas presents. Look at Matthew chapter 2. In Matthew chapter 2 we see the story of you know what we would consider the story of the three wise men. A couple interesting facts about the actual Bible and what it says about the wise men is that there really is no wording saying that there were three first of all. It's just kind of assumed by people according to the gifts that they gave. People assume you know three and it just kind of became this thing in popular culture. Well you know since it was gold and frankincense and myrrh there must have been three because you know but we don't know that all right. Not that that's important but it's also assumed that you know they visited if you seen this nativity scenes and things like that that they were at the birth of Christ that is also not the case. Look down at Matthew 2 and verse number 11. Matthew 2 and verse number 11 and the Bible reads and when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him when they had opened their treasures they presented him unto unto him gifts gold frankincense and myrrh and then you see later in the chapter that Herod slew all the children from to and under so we basically know for sure that the wise men visited Jesus somewhere between the age of zero and two years old probably zero and you know he's probably about one I would think because they had some travel time in there but they were not at the birth of Christ okay. Now the part of the giving of Christmas gifts the tradition of giving Christmas gifts in the Bible is the fact that the wise men brought gifts to Christ okay. Gold was you know signifying the kingship of Christ the frankincense is an incense it was to you know it's signifying the deity of Christ and then of course the myrrh is an embalming oil signifying the death of Christ so those also have have some meaning. So this along with the fact that God gave his only begotten son is where we get this idea of giving gifts for Christmas okay. That's personally that way has always been my main understanding of what a Christmas gift is is about is that God is the gift giver he gave us his son he gave Jesus Christ for the sins of the world so that's what it is always meant to me. Now what I want to talk about today is what Christmas has become today in America okay. What does Christmas mean today in America how did it happen you know what's the historical context it's going to follow the same pattern that we've been going through with the American heresy series we're gonna just look at that what happened what's the historical context of it won't spend a lot of time on that but look I personally don't like where the giving of Christmas gifts has gone today in this country it's you know the commercialization of Christmas I don't like it all right but that's not where the sermon is going today all right this morning I want to focus on the gift giver and who is the gift giver so this morning I'm gonna talk about Santa Claus all right so kids you know first let's get this out of the way Santa's not real okay notice I didn't say spoiler alert because no kid in here should think that Santa is real all right it's a huge thing and my kids were always those kids that my kids were always the ones telling the other people's kids at four years old that Santa's not real and everyone was always mad at us and everything so yeah I'm that guy all right and my kids are those kids now Santa Claus where did he come from what's the historical context of it we're not going to spend a lot of time on this because as you can see there isn't a lot of historical context to actually where the Santa Claus that we know in America today came from but it all began with this guy called Saint Nicholas who lived from 270 AD to about 343 AD we don't know a lot about him we know that he was wealthy we know that he gave gifts to children and that he was kind of a he was a full answer philanthropist of his time we know that all we really know about him is that he probably attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD which was the first Council of the Roman Catholic Church okay so I'm not going to rip on Saint Nicholas this morning I don't know a lot about him I'm not going to throw the guy under the bus but he was probably involved in the Roman Catholic Church is what we know the Council of Nicaea is when the Roman Catholic Church was ordered to come together all everybody came together to come up with the doctrines of the church because that's how we should find doctrines of the church right we should all get together in a council under orders of a king and decide what the Christian faith should be right isn't that how we do it no we we follow what the Bible says and that's what we do right so back to Santa Claus basically the Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical conference if you want to think about it that way and it killed to those people to the Roman Catholic religion it killed the idea of the independent church so the idea of this independent church which is by the way what the Bible talks about everywhere you're not going to find a universal church in the Bible what you're going to find is independent churches that's what you find in the Bible why is it a big deal because the that's what the Bible says and it's we are not to be underneath the king we are to be underneath Christ and the Word of God is our boss when you when the Bible is your boss you're a Baptist that's it it's very simple okay now so you can see where you know the devil loves denominations by the way because if I have this corporate structure of a church all I've got to do is get the top guy that's it if I have independent churches I have to knock off every single one of those churches because look do we not know independent churches that have gone into damnable heresy have you not heard of that happening but does it affect what we do here no because we're an independent church because that's the model that God put forth and that way there will always be no matter how many councils of Nicaea no matter how many Roman Catholic churches or how many governments start their own different churches throughout history we know that as an independent church there will always be a surviving true church that follows the Bible okay it's a great model all right okay back to Santa Claus you know he has many nicknames Chris Kringle you know Christ kind December 6th around the world became known as St. Nicholas day up until the time of the Reformation and then you know basically St. Nicholas fell out of favor in Northern Europe so they invented all kinds of different things called you know rough Nicholas and ashy Nicholas and furry Nicholas these these figures were all kind of the same thing they expected good behavior or forced children to suffer consequences like I mean some of these guys like they told the kids like if you don't be good you're gonna get kidnapped or whipped or whatever you know it was pretty you know rough Nicholas was tougher than Santa is today right now coming to America America changed everything for Santa Claus all right in 1821 an anonymous illustrated poem entitled the children's friend went much further in shaping the modern Santa and associating him with Christmas it took the magical gift bringing of St. Nicholas and stripped him of any religious characteristics and then addressed him in the furs of the shaggy dramatic Santa Claus versions and then finally in 1822 a man named Clement Clark Moore wrote a poem called a visit from St. Nicholas better known today as the night before Christmas this is where you get the reindeer and the flying sleigh and all these types of things so what I'm trying to get you to understand is that Santa Claus as we know him today was basically invented by American pop culture okay it basically the night before Christmas went it went viral if you want to think about it that way and it invented what we what we know is as Santa Claus so it was a it's kind of the Santa Claus that we all know and we see and the myth of Santa Claus is an American invention largely okay so you say what's the big deal you know are you really preaching a sermon on Santa Claus what's the big deal well what I want to talk about is beliefs with Santa Claus and how they are actually very directed at children to mess them up in their life okay so that's what we're going to talk about this morning so beliefs about Santa in light of the Bible is what we're going to talk about alright the first thing I want to bring up is that Santa Claus has God-like powers turn to Exodus chapter 20 at Exodus chapter 20 Santa has God-like powers if you look at Exodus chapter 20 in verse number three you will see the first commandment the first commandment that God gave Moses on the tablets Exodus chapter 20 in verse number three says thou shalt have no other gods before me the first thing about Santa Claus is that he's immortal turn to Psalm chapter 90 center of your Bible if you open it up right in the middle you'll find song you'll find the book of Psalms and go to chapter number 90 Santa is also immortal in Psalm chapter 90 in verse number two the Bible says before the mountains were brought forth wherever thou had formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God there is only one being who is immortal according to the Bible and it is God we could read verse after verse after verse about how God is immortal but God is from everlasting to everlasting it's an infinity symbol with arrows pointing in both directions he was never created he's always been like I said a couple weeks ago somebody ever asked you the question oh well who created God huh the answer is nobody because he is from everlasting to everlasting God is the only one that's immortal number two Santa is all-knowing keep in mind that this is what we're teaching children okay you're sitting here and you're like I know that Santa because you figured this out when you were you know seven or ten or twenty Santa's not real brother we had to have this talk just kidding but this is attacking children's base beliefs that they need to understand about someone else who is actually real in their life okay Santa is all-knowing in Santa Claus is coming to town the song it says he sees you when you're sleeping and he knows when you're awake he knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake it's teaching children in and I'm sure you all can just hear the tune of that song already right because it's an earworm that's been hooked in you since you were a little kid and you will never forget it because music is that powerful there's no way that I could ever force you to forget that song you will always remember it but they're teaching kids that God that that Santa knows everything that belongs to God turned out Psalm 147 it's another characteristic that belongs to God and all these items we could go into verse after verse after verse after verse in the Bible about but I just want to give you a couple examples in Psalms 147 and verse number five the Bible reads great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite God is omniscient he knows everything he's omnipotent as well it says of great power he has all power he has all the power to do anything and he's omniscient which means he knows everything the hairs of your head he knows how many there are the Bible says okay once again they're giving God's greatness the characteristics of God's greatness to some mythical creature all right or person number three he's magical he is the magical gift giver and it robs that from God he has magical powers he can fly he's outside of time all these different things in John 3 16 the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life God is the one that did the giving so they're stealing that from God okay they're stealing that credit from God it gets worse Santa Claus and the belief of Santa Claus is based on works and that's what we're teaching children at a young age that it's based on works and it gets even worse than that because what they are doing with the with the myth of Santa Claus is they're actually redefining what a simple word means and they're redefining the word gift with Santa Claus look we use this analogy when we go out and we talk to people it's the easiest analogy because the Bible uses this analogy of a gift we tell somebody if I give you a gift and then I say hey I'm gonna give you this gift and you have to go wash my car is it really a gift and what does everyone say no because you're working for it everyone understands that but the gift from Santa Claus is earned you see if you're good you get a gift if not you get coal or whatever look it's of works it's teaching works based salvation at a young age to these children and here's another thing that's really dangerous about it it sets the bar low enough where everyone is able to get over it because have you ever really heard of anyone getting coal like for real in this day and age in America it never happens so you don't really have to be that good you know whatever that your bar is as a child you're always able to step over it because you're gonna get a Christmas gift anyway so it's teaching works but look it just drives everybody thinks that they're a good person Hitler thought he was a good person everyone thinks they're a good person I mean it fosters this works-based attitude that leads to this idea that everyone will get to heaven that everyone's just you know if you believe in works then that the next question is do I have enough works to get to heaven and with these types of things from a young age you're teaching the children that yeah you have enough you're good I got the Christmas gift anyway I must have been good enough okay even worse turn to Matthew chapter 7 it redefines the meaning of belief of believe these are simple words the gospel is simple but it's attacking the base simplicity of the gospel look you must believe right you have to not only do good works and be a good kid but you have to believe that Santa exists otherwise isn't that what's taught believe when you see believe on the big posters or whatever and then you see the Santa movie or whatever is coming out it's about believing that Santa exists I mean how many kids movies are out there that you know it's about the they have to believe in Santa you have to be good and believe but is that really what the Bible teaches that the word believe means look at Matthew chapter 7 and look down at verse number 21 look is believing that Jesus exists all that is required to go to heaven but you see look at Matthew 7 in verse number 21 this is Jesus talking if you have a red-letter Bible these words will be read not everyone the seath unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven these people call Jesus Lord they obviously believe that he exists but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name in thy name cast out devils in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity don't these people believe that Jesus exists then why are they going to hell because it is not about believing that Jesus exists it is about that's why you see those two words together dozens and dozens of times in the Bible about believing on Jesus it is about believing on Jesus Jesus said here these people knew he existed they called him Lord they're going to hell because they were trusting in their works that's why these people were going to hell so believing that Jesus exists and thinking you have good works that's the Santa Claus model right there that's what we're teaching these kids that is not salvation salvation is believing on Jesus for my salvation and I have nothing to do with it myself it's not it's not 90% Jesus 10% me it's all or nothing folks and it takes a humble person to be able to put everything and believe on Jesus Christ for your salvation that is the danger of Santa Claus for kids those people in Matthew 21 those in Matthew 721 those people are going to hell and notice that Jesus said I never knew them because once you have believed on Jesus he didn't say I used to know you or I knew you a few years ago and then I forgot who you were because once Jesus knows you that's it he knows you here's the third thing the scariest thing about Santa Claus when I think about this whole thing is that the truth is discovered because you the kids do discover the truth at some point either their parents decide that hey the hoax is up or whatever or the kids hear from their other friends or whatever you know the truth is discovered at a critical time in the child's life because when you're seven eight years old guess what you can start to understand you can start to understand the gospel when you're in a if you're in a Bible preaching church and you have little kids right now and you go out soul-winning and you sit under Bible preaching here's what's going to happen when your kids get to be five six seven years old they're going to start asking you questions they're going to start saying hey I do bad things it am I going to go to heaven they're going to start getting convicted of their own sins and they're going to start wanting to know what the truth is of the gospel and they're going to know if they've heard you give the gospel to people over and over again and that's when those children that's why you hear so many people that grew up in Baptist homes they got saved when they were six seven eight nine years old right around the time that children are finding out that their parents have been lying to them for six seven eight years turn your Bible is a second Timothy chapter four I mean should you lie to your kids first of all just like that base question should you lie to your kids look at second Timothy second Timothy chapter four and look at verse number one and the Bible reads I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reproof rebuke absorb with all-long suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own loss shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned on to what fables in first Timothy chapter one I'll just read it for you you turn to second Peter chapter one in first Timothy chapter one in verse number four the Bible says neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith you're going to confuse them you're going to confuse your children you know it's almost like God knew this would happen when he writes things like this in the Bible turn to second Peter chapter one are you there look at verse 16 the Bible reads for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we may known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty look it's a cunningly the Santa Claus thing is a cunningly devised fable and it's it's derailing kids and here's another thing it steals credit from God and if you understand look Herod Herod in the Bible is not the same Herod that God killed a little bit later in the book of Acts it's his son because Herod died and then Jesus came back from Egypt but look Herod in the Bible in Acts chapter 12 Herod had just killed James he just murdered one of the Apostles with the sword the Bible says and then he goes and he gives this great glorifying speech and everybody after the speech says this let me just turn there and read it for you everybody after the speech starts saying it was such a great speech everyone's like he's he's like God they said I mean imagine if I was such a good speaker I mean he must have been a great speech people were like he's like God and then the Bible says that he gave he gave not the glory to God think about it he had just killed James a little while earlier in the book of Acts he had just killed one of the greatest Apostles and God didn't kill him for that and then he goes and he gives a speech where people are calling him God and he gives God not the glory and God kills him right there he strikes him dead if you notice one thing in the Bible from the Old Testament to the New Testament when people steal credit from God he comes down hard on them think about Jesus with the Pharisees you know the whole blasphemy of the Holy Ghost what did the Pharisees do Jesus had just cast a demon out of a man using the power of the Holy Ghost to do so the third person in the Trinity and the Pharisees gave that credit to Satan basically and Jesus immediately damns them to hell for it right there God takes stealing his credit extremely seriously so you think that this Santa things joke no it's very serious according to the Bible look it teaches your kids not to trust you especially in things of a spiritual nature I mean one person found out one person found out that we didn't do Santa Claus with our kids many years ago and they're like what and they came up to my kids and they're like Jesus and Santa Claus are friends when the world is wrong with you because I wasn't even saved at the time and I'm like what is the matter with you I mean look it's serious it teaches them that their well-being is based on works it's teaching them works based salvation at a young age and then you're going to come to them and you're going to tell them something completely different right after you've lied to them in the same area come on Proverbs chapter 12 go ahead and turn there book of Psalms right after book of Psalms is the book of Proverbs yeah let's go there look at Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 22 I think we would do well if we paid attention to verses in the Bible where God uses the word abomination I think we would do well but sometimes we hear verses so much that I think that this word is lost on us look at Proverbs 12 verse number 22 the Bible says lying lips are abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are as delight look there are a lot of things that American culture teaches are no big deal that God calls an abomination I mean the whole Homo sodomy thing abomination dress standards men dressing like women and women dressing like men it's funny to Americans but God calls it an abomination that means you know what that means that mean God that means God literally hates it I mean we have to pay attention to what the Bible says lying lips are one of the things that God hates so should you lie to your kids about anything no so look people will hear a sermon like this and they'll say you know what you're no fun you take the joy out of Christmas for your kids and you know what's wrong with you they'll say turn to Romans chapter 15 let's find out what's wrong with me where does joy come from where does joy come from let's see if the Bible has the answers to that question look at Romans 15 in verse number 13 the Bible says this now the hope of God now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost let me read for you Romans 14 verse number 17 for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost so when you got saved the Bible says that you were sealed with this Holy Spirit of promise you notice how these two verses I just read you it said peace in believing in believing on what believing on the Lord Jesus Christ believing the gospel and that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost joy and peace comes through that Holy Ghost that you were sealed by that's where your joy comes from when you got saved look the Holy Spirit will give you joy that's true joy turn to Psalm 51 I want to read for you first Peter chapter 1 in verse number 8 look it's a gift and that that gift that Holy Spirit that gives you that joy is a gift that no one can take from you first Peter chapter 1 in verse number 8 says this whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory the Bible says that if you're saved in your sealed with the Holy Ghost you have joy unspeakable I mean is that better than some stupid fake story and in a remote control car I mean what in the world look at Psalm 51 joy is tied to salvation in that ceiling of the Holy Spirit look the Holy Spirit is what sealed you is what sealed you news what is that source of joy in you by the way once once again that's eternal security in the Bible you rejoice with joy unspeakable if I thought that you know I could go and lose this gift I've been given I would just be nervous and freaking out all the time about it but I'm sealed and that's how I can have this joy that's why when you're out soul-winning you can really tell if somebody gets it if they're just like very joyful because they just been given the best gift that anyone could ever give them and they're sealed by the Holy Ghost Psalm 51 Psalm 51 is right after David had committed adultery he murdered your eye the Hittite I mean he he committed adultery with the man's wife then he killed the man along with several other people he killed by the way I mean your eye of the Hittite was one of the mighty men he's not the easiest guy in the world to kill so he went into this battle and a lot of men died with Uriah that day David had committed a horrible sin God came down on him hard God you know took his son from him but look what David says in Psalm 51 in verse number 12 look what he says he says restore unto me the joy of thy salvation did he say restore my salvation to me he said restore unto me the joy and uphold me with thy free spirit he says give me give me that give me that joy back Lord and God did and then he says then I will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee he's like I'll go tell people I'll go preach your word to people I will get people saved to what he says look these people that are into this Santa Claus stuff they're they're causing their child their children to stumble remember Romans 14 a few days ago it says hey don't get down on people for things that don't matter don't be beating down on people for what days they celebrate or what they eat because you know we're free in Christ now but don't cause people to stumble that have those convictions in their life imagine causing someone who's unsaved to stumble what's that going to do for their odds of ever getting saved imagine if that unsaved person that you were causing to stumble was a child I mean you are messing these kids up by teaching them these things but Santa Claus messes with core beliefs that are directly tied to salvation do you think that that's an accident do you think that that's an accident I mean these beliefs this idea that it's not of works that you must believe on Jesus Christ completely for your salvation that is it's being attacked by this stuff okay now just conclusion tonight or this morning and a little bit of application what should we be teaching our kids is the question what should you be teaching your kids at a young age and the Santa Claus thing is a perfect example of you can use this as a lesson for your kids when they're very young because all the other kids are going to be believing something like Santa Claus you can use this the thing that you should be teaching your kids at a young age is that you should teach them to always seek the truth turn to John 14 it's our verse of the week just look at the front of your bulletin John 14 6 the Bible says Jesus sayeth unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me look if here's what I know about you this morning especially if you're saved here's what I know I know at some point in your life you wanted to know what was true and especially you know those of us who got saved later in life you know when we were adults at some point in your life you had to set aside your pride and what you grew up with and what you thought was true and just just say you know what I just want to know what's true that's the common thing you in this church you go up and visit Verity Sacramento that's the one comp we all believe different things about things that don't matter right we might have little different political things here and there we might have different views on conspiracy theories whatever but at some point we all wanted to just know what was true that's the common thread look everything that this world is teaching is false think about it think about the public school system where you came from the origins of life in the universe it's all wrong everything's the tea nothing on TV is real I mean reality TV it's not real I'm sorry I mean nothing that you see in that the news I mean the news it's all from a godless bias perspective on one wing of the political bird same bird it's all it's all biased percent none of it's real nothing you read about what's happening overseas for what reason is real you don't know nothing politicians say is true they just want to get elected it's a game for them that's it we were it we were at Best Buy I was at Best Buy with the boys a couple days ago we had to get some AV equipment and we had to walk we had to walk into you know where all the TVs and projectors and all that stuff are I mean look I mean the what then they had the huge screens with 4k everything and all these sci-fi images I mean look I mean it's fantastic fantastic in the in the sense of far from reality is what it is and then you got the video games over here that are just like look we live in a society where everything is fake everything's fake you know people people are gonna wake up there's gonna be people that wake up 30 years from now this is what I told the boys we're walking out I'm like there's I mean because I mean it's it's drawing to people they live in this stuff and I told the boys I said there's gonna be people that wake up in 30 years realizing they wasted their whole life in a screen in a in a reality that's not real I mean how sad is that you know what that the actual truth is is that most of the people out there they won't wake up that that's just how they'll live their life they'll live this meaningless nothing life and most of them will not wake up that's but I mean it's it's it's a draw you can see why it's a draw don't participate in the fakeness teach your kids to seek the truth I walked out of work the other day and I work in that huge building downtown and there was a line there was a big ballroom in the bottom of the building and it was rented out by some Santa organization there's a Santa organization you want to talk about dead works I mean there's people there's people that spend their time volunteering and this is their this is their mark they're gonna leave on this world answering Santa letters for the post office I mean I mean this is what they're doing hey these this kid just wrote to me that his mom died and he needs this and this and this and I'm gonna write back to him and continue the lie talk about dead works and and just wickedness in general that there's a line to see Santa Claus there's a line out the building and two blocks down they should police shut the street down I mean it's crazy kids are screaming they don't want to sit on some weird fat old guys lap that they don't know I mean what's wrong with these parents walking in the mall couple weeks ago with Jacob we walked by the Santa thing we won't go sit on that that fat old guy's lap no my car right raising them right it's weird folks when you have the basis and you're grounded in the Bible these things are strange and they should be strange turn to John 18 we'll finish up here John 18 John chapter 18 we see this story of Jesus standing in front of Pontius Pilate there's a couple of things I just want to point out here it's an interesting story John 18 look at verse number 33 we'll start there then Pilate this is the Jews had brought Jesus to the governor of the Romans at the time it was Pontius Pilate and he tried to let him go but the Jews just insisted insisted insisted and Pontius Pilate was ultimately a politician he didn't want to get in trouble with the people so he he caved but look at John 18 of verse number 33 then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him art thou the king of the Jews Jesus answering him said answered him said answered him say as thou this thing of thyself or did others tell it the of me Jesus said who told you this and Pilate answered am I a Jew he just had a disdain for the Jews you could tell by no nation and the chief priests have delivered the unto me what has thou done Jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence Pilate therefore said unto him art thou a king then Jesus answered thou say us that I am a king to this end was I born to be a king he's saying I am the king and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth everyone that is of the truth here with my voice and Pilate said unto him what is truth and when he had said this he went out again unto the Jews and said unto them I will I find no faults I find in him no fault at all look Pilate was a thinker is what this tells me he knew that the truth of his time was according to every man he knew that just truth was according to what you thought it was and that wasn't the same truth that I think is look without God and without the Bible and without being grounded in the Word of God that's what it is it's it's whatever you think it is your truth is not my truth this is why the atheist is so dangerous and it just falls apart immediately because everyone would just want what is best for them but look there is an absolute truth and it is Christ and the irony of the whole situation is when Pilate said what is truth look at the front of your bulletin the truth was standing right in front of him because Jesus said I am the truth in John 14 6 so it's ironic that Pilate was asking a question like that when he was staring truth right in the face so on December 25th celebrate truth coming into the world is what we should do celebrate Jesus Christ you know the real gift of eternal life is through him let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father we thank you for today we thank you for all these people Lord we thank you for the ultimate gift of salvation Lord we thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ that we may have that gift through him Lord help us to celebrate December 25th unto you Lord unto your day and help us not get wrapped up and all the other just garbage everybody else around us is getting wrapped up in Lord but us remember that this day is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior we love you thank you for today Jesus name amen