This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

Let me say welcome to you again here at All Saints. My name is Ben Lucas, I'm associate vicar here. It's lovely to have you and welcome you to this service. I just want to say a great big thank you to the musicians. It's been amazing, hasn't it?

What are the joy. Yeah, we can have a clap, can't we?

Been a joy to have the music. We're going to take a few minutes now to think about what Christmas means. Now, I don't know if your heart sinks when I say that. Somebody did say to me in the week. I came along to a carol service last year and I really enjoyed it, except for the talk.

So maybe that's you today and your heart is thinking, right, strap in, we're nearly there. Maybe that's you today. Hopefully we can find some good news. There is some good news about Christmas. So if that's you, I would ask you just listen, just for a few minutes and I want to tell you in really one Bible verse, why Christmas is great news.

Well, we all know that names are special, aren't they? Our names are important to us. You know, when somebody uses our name, we feel known, don't we? We feel cared for and loved. When somebody we've known for some time and we feel like we should know our name and they get it wrong, we feel like we've been overlooked, don't we?

It feels like they don't really know us in the end, it's upsetting. Our names are precious to us, but it's not just people using our names, right, that's important to us. Is it? We have family names. You may have a family name that is especially precious to you.

I have a family name that is very special to. To me, it's a middle name. It's not my first name and I'm not sure how many people here would know this. My middle name is Roland and it's really important to me. It's from my Welsh side of the family.

It matters to me that you spell that with a W as well, because it's not French, it's Welsh. It's a really precious name to me because it's a connection with a side of my family that I'm not near anymore. It's been passed down the Welsh side of my family and it's come to me and it is my Welsh bit. You know, you can tell from my accent I've never lived in Wales, but it is a close connection to me and it's a really important connection to me now. I live here in the south and I'm raising children who think that Anything above the M25 is the frozen waste of the north.

So my names have connections. We all know names have connections and they're important. And I really want to say today, just a few minutes, about one name that should be very precious to each one of us. This is a name that has connections of comfort, that has connections of peace and joy, connections of love. It's a very, very precious name.

It won't surprise you that that name is Jesus. And just one verse I want to talk to you about today. In Matthew, chapter one, verse 21, the very first chapter of the New Testament, the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph. And he said, she that is Mary, she will give birth to a son and you will call his name Jesus for because he will save his people from their sins. This is a very special name.

I mean, we're immediately struck because actually at the time, people's names should have come from their families, like Roland came from my family for me. But no one was called Jesus on that side of the family. So why is he called Jesus? You may remember Jesus, cousin John the Baptist had the name John. And when they tried to name him John, the people said, but no one in your family is called John.

Surely you should be called something in your family. Well, we see from that that receiving a name that was different meant something. And so our interest is piqued. Why is Jesus so special of a name? Well, Gabriel tells us, because he will save his people from their sins.

Because he will save his people from their sins. Four quick things we learned from that. Because he will save his people from their sins. The first is just who will do it. He will save his people.

He, Jesus. Christmas is Jesus Job, not yours. You may not feel like that at Christmas. Christmas can be hard work, can't it? There are presents to buy, food, food to buy, presents to wrap.

There's all sorts of stuff going on, isn't there? Trees to decorate, nativities to attend. Can feel like a really busy time of year, can't it? Christmas, bit overwhelming. You may think back to when you were a child and actually Christmas is wonderful as a child, isn't it?

You don't worry about, about buying all the presents. You don't wake up on Christmas Eve thinking, is the turkey actually going to fit in the oven? You know, you don't think, spend your Christmas morning thinking, oh, will the roast potatoes be done before the carrots? Is it all going to go wrong? You just sit back and enjoy it.

Well, Jesus says he will save his people from their sins. This is what we're told. It is Jesus Job, not yours. So we can relax and enjoy Christmas. Hopefully that's good news to you, maybe if you feel overwhelmed this Christmas.

Well, the second thing is that he will save. He will save. This is a promise. Jesus is going to do something and what he's going to do is save. It probably hasn't passed Your notice that 40 years ago the single Do They Know It's Christmas came out, didn't it?

40 years ago. What a great song, a classic Christmas song. Raising awareness for charity and need around the world. It's a great song and it's done great things, hasn't it? But as we think back, it's a bit sad that there is still so much need, isn't there?

You know, after all of these years of trying, even a massive hit like this, there is still great need this Christmas. And actually that could be a bit sad, it could make us despair a little bit. But actually we have a promise here in the name of Jesus that he will save. He will save. So those are the first two things.

Jesus is Christmas Job. Christmas is Jesus Job. And he will save his people. The third thing, who is he going to save? He.

Jesus will save his people. He is going to save his people. Now this is really important for us because this means that the story we've heard tonight, the story of the Bible that we've begun in Genesis and gone all the way through the history of the world right from the beginning of the cosmos right up to the manger. This is a story that hasn't ended at the manger because Jesus came not just for them, he came for you. Because if you're his people, he came to save you.

We know that Jesus came for the nativity characters, don't we? But it's not just about the shepherds. Jesus isn't just stop at the wise men. Jesus doesn't just stop at saving his disciples when he was walking around. The story doesn't end in any of those places.

It's not just a piece of history. Jesus story doesn't even stop there. It doesn't even stop when he died on the cross. Doesn't even stop when he was resurrected to life. The story of the gospel doesn't even stop when the good news of Jesus spread all around the world.

Doesn't even stop when the gospel arrived in England. Because today in 2024, right here in Linfield, this is part of that story. We are part of the Nativity. It's not over yet. And you're a character in it.

Because if you're one of God's people, He came to save you.

You can have an interest in this story. It's our story. Well, finally we've heard that Jesus will do Christmas. We've heard that he's going to save. We've heard that he's going to save his people.

But what is he saving his people from? And finally we hear that, don't they? He will save his people from their sins.

Now, this is the hardest bit probably to hear, isn't it? You know, why are we talking about sin at Christmas? Shouldn't we just be talking about nice things, happy things? But here's the thing, and this is why this is good news. We have to talk about sin because it is our deepest need.

The thing that Jesus came to save us from is sin. Because in amongst all those issues in the world, all that poverty, all of that greed, all that fighting, underneath it all lies this one issue that affects everybody. Sin. This is behind it all. It's the problem of problems.

And so it's such great news that Jesus came to save from sin. The problem for us is that we don't want to admit that that's us, do we? We don't want to admit that we are sinners. We want to be nice people. We want to be seen as good people.

People who are sinners are surely people who are worse than me. That's how we tend to think, isn't it? But the reality is sin is a need we all need addressed. And actually tonight, whether we want to pretend sin isn't a problem for us or not, the truth is that that doesn't change the reality. We still need it addressing, whether we choose to admit it or not.

But the good news is that if we do admit it, if we say we need Jesus, if we take him for our own, we become his people and he saves us.

And so today I just want to encourage, let this name be precious to you because this is something that Jesus is doing for you, that he will save. He will save his people from their sins. And maybe today you need to take Jesus for your own. Maybe you've left Jesus in the past and you enjoy the story, the history of it, of it all, but really, Jesus is just like Nelson or Alexander the Great or something. Someone in the past, today hear his voice, that he says, I am for you.

He wants to save you.

Well, are you his people? That's really the only question. Do you belong to Jesus? You can today have him for your own. Well, maybe you want to think more about that and let me encourage you that we have a little book.

I would love to give you a copy of this book on the porch on the way out. This may be one way of finding out more about Jesus salvation for you. On the back of your sheet you will also see a link to a course called the three two one Course which will tell you more about Jesus because it will be sad tonight if you enjoy the carols, you enjoy the readings, you enjoy the festivities, but you haven't taken Jesus for your own.

Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much that Christmas is Jesus Job.

Thank you for the promise that he will save and thank you that he can be ours. Lord God. And we confess today that we do need his help. We need saving from sin. We thank you for Jesus.

Amen.