Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle. . . . .
Hey! Whatta gettin' for Christmas?
I don't know.  Whatta you?
Gee, I don't know.  I've got just about everything I need, I guess.
Did you receive God's gift for Christmas?
God's gift?  What's that?
A Lamb.
A Lamb?  A Lamb?  You're putting me on?  Now why would God give me a Lamb for Christmas?
This is God's gift to mankind.  This is what all men need for Christmas.
Now what would I do with a Lamb?
Well you need . . .
Now wait a minute. . . . What's a Lamb got to do with Christmas?  A Lamb?  My goodness,  What about Santa Claus?  St. Nickolous?   Christmas trees?  Mistletoes?  But a Lamb?  Now what would a Lamb have to do with Christmas?

Well, it all began a long time ago in a town called Bethlehem.  Well, actually, even thousands of years before that, even.
Now, I know.  You're going to tell me about reindeer, right?  Now they fit right into Christmas.  Here Dancer, Prancer, V . . .  Right?  You mean a reindeer, not a Lamb, right?
No, I want to tell you about the year God gave a Lamb for Christmas.
Christmas?  Naw.  Not for Christmas.   We get TV's, radio's, dogs, cats, stereos, cameras, money.  Things like that.   But who ever heard of  a Lamb for Christmas. Especially from God.  What's a Lamb got to do with Christmas?
Well, let me explain.

All right, go ahead.  I want to hear about this.  What's a Lamb got to do with Christmas?
Are you going to let me explain?
All right, go ahead.  This ought to be good.  I want to hear this.  What's a Lamb got to do with Christmas?

Well, I guess we'll start with the time God made man.   You see, God is a God of love.  And God wanted a family.  Someone to love.  And someone to love back in return.  He had angels.   But He wanted someone to return His love. Not an angel or a robot or a slave. 

So He said, "Let us make man in our image".   So God made man in His image.  But He didn't want man to be alone either.  He said that it's not good for a man to be alone.  So He caused man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was asleep, God took a rib from this man and made a woman to be with him.  This man and woman was named Adam and Eve.


You see, God loves.  So He makes man in His image, to love.  God wants man to be loved and to have someone to love in return.  So He makes a woman to be with Him to love and help him and have fellowship with him.  This is just like God.  He wants and needs man to fellowship with Him.  Love needs someone to love.

God has a kingdom called Heaven.  So He gives man a kingdom to rule, earth.  Man is to rule and have dominion over earth and everything on earth.   Man is to rule earth under God.

Did you ever notice a father wants his son to be like himself?
What God wants for Himself, He wants for man.  He wants man to love, be righteous, and to have fellowship.   So now man rules earth.  All things are good.  God comes down to earth and has fellowship with man.  There is no fear or hate or misunderstanding between God and man.  There is peace on earth, goodwill to man.  Everything is peaceful and happy.

Then enters Satan.  He is God's enemy.  He hates God.   God has a kingdom.  Satan has a kingdom.  Now man has a kingdom.  All kingdoms have enemies.  Since man is under God, He becomes Satan's enemy.  Satan was once one of the top angels in Heaven.  He guarded God's throne.  But he wanted to rule Heaven himself and have angels worship him instead of God.  So he led a third of the angels in a revolt to take over Heaven.   He was defeated and cast out of Heaven with his angels.  They make up the devil's kingdom.  Now he comes to Adam to try to deceive him and get him to rebel against God.  Satan deceives and tries to get anyone he can to serve him instead of God.   Has he deceived you with his lies?

Satan's plan is to get man to sin and rebel against God and serve him instead of God.  If he can get Adam to sin, he will get him out of the will of God and hurt God by hurting man.  He can get man to lose out with God through rebellion.  God will not put up with rebellion.

Now a kingdom has laws that must be obeyed.  And if you have a law, there must be a penalty for breaking these laws.  The penalty for breaking God's law is death.  Satan is a liar and the father of lies.  He wants man to be like himself.  Satan is good at deceiving man.  God is Truth.   He doesn't lie.

Satan comes to Eve.  He convinces her that if she eats of the forbidden fruit she won't die.  She will be like God, knowing good and evil.  She falls for it.  Man wants to know more than he knows, so he is easy to deceive.  God wants man to love and trust Him.  He is love.  This is all man has known.  Eve gives the forbidden fruit to Adam.  He is not deceived.   But he loves his wife.  He doesn't want to give his wife up.  He partakes of the forbidden fruit.  Sin enters man.  Death has come upon mankind like a cold winter.  He now knows evil.

God comes to earth to visit man.  Man now runs and hides from God.  Sin separates man from God.  They are not on equal terms.  They can no longer fellowship.  Man dies spiritually.  Man cannot hide from God, no matter how hard he tries.  God always finds him.  This scene will be repeated down through the ages.  Man plays hide and go seek with God.  But God always wins.

Man now sees he's naked before God.  He tries to cover himself, but he is still naked.  He tries to cover his nakedness with lies.  Excuses.  Education.  Religion.  Good works.  Charity.  Philosophy.  Denial.  Self deception.   Still naked.  Sin is in his heart.  Take a criminal and educate him.  You still have an educated criminal.  Sin wears us down.   It is a great weight.  Man has broken God's laws and is condemned to death.  The Bible says the wages of sin is death.  Did God tell the truth.  As soon as man sinned, he started to die.  When man is born today, he starts to die.  It may be fast or slow, but he always dies.  This is a law of God.  It cannot be broken.  It has nothing to do with whether he is good or bad.  All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  The laws of God are written in a book called the Bible.  This is the book God will judge man by.

Death comes upon man and everything under him.  This includes the earth, the animals, the trees, flowers, everything.  Thorns began to grow where plants and flowers once grew.  Everything is condemned to die.  Satan becomes ruler over man.  Man becomes his subjects.  Sin always makes man a slave.

God loves man.  He reveals a promise to man.  He will send a redeemer to buy back man.  God loves His creation.  He always did.   He always will.  He never left man.  Man left Him.  But God does what He says He will do.  Always.  Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:35

God reveals a mystery in the Bible.  The life of the flesh is in the blood.  Leviticus 17:14  The penalty for sin is death.  The blood means that a life has been given.  If a life has been given, the blood shows that the penalty has been paid.  God's judgement has been satisfied.  The penalty has been paid.  God's judgment is appeased.

Adam and Eve had two sons.  Cain and Abel.  Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to God.  Something he had grown with his hands.  Works.  God refused to accept it.  You see, anything man has or does is under a curse.  All of man's righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God.  It's all under the curse, no matter how good it seems to be.
Abel brought a sheep to God.  An innocent animal.  God accepted this.  Something innocent had died to pay for man's sins.  This would show how God would deal with man throughout history.  Israel knew this.


Cain got mad and killed his brother.  And the Lord came looking for  Abel.  He asked Cain, "Where is your brother"?  Cain said, "I don't know.  Am I my brother's keeper?"  Genisis 4  The lie.  The murder.  This is a question we must decide.  Are we our brother's keeper.  Or are we our brother's murderer?  God said to Cain, What have you done.  Your brother's blood cries unto me from the ground.  You see, God cannot ignore blood.  There's life in the blood.  This is the difference between Christianity and religion.  Christianity is based upon love and is a family.  Religion is based upon rules and the people may want to kill you if you break the rules.

God starts to work toward getting man back to himself.   He speaks to man in a way they can understand if they want to.  He finds a man willing to serve Him.  He names this man Abraham.  He tells Abraham to leave his country and family and follow Him.  Abraham follows God.  He believes and trusts in God.  This is called faith.  It is a belief and trust and dependence on God.  Abraham starts following God, not knowing what lies ahead.  This will be what will be required of peple who follow God. Abraham is called the Father of Faith.

Abraham and His wife Sarah are getting old.  God promises him a son in his old age.  Abraham and Sarah were too old to have a son.  This will be a son of promise.  God is showing man about this coming redeemer, His Son.  God will have to intervene in the natural order of things in order for Abraham to have a son.  Abraham believes God.  When Sarah is nearly a hundred years old, she gives birth to a son called Isaac.  It is a supernatural birth.  It shows that another birth will come to pass and be supernatural, the birth of Jesus.

When Isaac grows up, God asks Abraham to take his only son and sacrifice him.  Abraham starts to obey him, but God stops him and tells him He will provide the sacrifice. Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:  Years later God provided the sacrifice, Jesus Christ.


Man can only approach God through blood.
God chooses a nation called Israel to worship Him and be His people.  He gives them a set of rules to live by.  They are called the Ten Commandments.  This was to show man what God expected of man.  Man broke the Ten Commandments because of his sinful nature.  The wages of sinning is death.  Something had to die.  God set up a priesthood to offer sacrifices so He would not have to kill these people.  God allowed them to sacrifice a lamb when they sinned.  It's blood was to atone for their sins.  An atonement was a covering.  It did not get rid of man's sins, but it covered them up.  Something had died so God's judgement was appeased temporarily.   It had to be repeated over and over because man sinned over and over.  But this was not satisfactory with God.  Man still had a sinful nature.  He still could not have a relationship with God.  God made a promise that He would make a new covenant or agreement with man. Jeremiah 31:33    He would send them a better sacrifice with better promises.  God said He would put a new heart and a new spirit in man. Ezekiel 11:19  One that is holy.  Man could not receive the new spirit because his heart was evil.   Jesus said in Mark 2:22, And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

That's the reason Jesus said, You must be born again. You have to have a new heart so that God can put His life and nature and spirit into you,   so you can become like Him.  People try to go out and look for God in a church, but God does not dwell in temples made with hands now. Acts 7:48   He lives in His people's heart.  People are called Christians because they have the Spirit of Jesus Christ living in them.  If you have the Spirit of Jesus living in you, you will act like Jesus.  If you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you are none of His.  Romans 8:9

God promises the way.  In Isiah 9:6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  God promised a son to us.

God is a righteous God.  He loves man.  But He can not forgive us because He loves us.  That would not be justice.  Our sins have to be accounted for.  Man can not save himself.  He has to die to pay for his own sins.  God can not put His life into something condemned to death.  There must be a payment.  Justice must be satisfied.  No one on earth can pay for man's sins.  Natural man thinks if he is good, God will take him to heaven.  Nothing in man or underneath man can redeem him.  Only death abides on earth and all it's subjects.  There must be a reconciliation between God and man.  Man can not save himself.  His blood has sin in it.  God is a spirit and does not have blood.  He can not redeem man.  What to do?


Remember how much Adam loved his wife, Eve?  He gave his life to be with her.  God did the same thing.  He came down to earth in the form of man so that He could be one with us and would have blood so that He could give His very life's blood to pay for man's sin.  So He could redeem man and man could become one with God.

God wants man to be with Him.  He created earth for man.  Jesus went back to heaven to prepare a place for us. John 14:2  So we could be with Him.  He will return for us.  God wants a family.   He loves us.  Man cannot be with God because of sin.  Blood must be shed to pay for our sins. To pay the penalty.  Jesus had to be born without the help of natural man.  The blood of the father is in the baby.  Jesus had to born of a virgin so that no earthy man's blood would be in His veins.  Women fell, but God would use women to help redeem the human race.  The Bible said that in childbearing a woman would be saved. I Timothy 2:15  She brought forth the Savior of the world.  No wonder the devil hates women and gives them such a hard time.  So now God came down and took upon Himself the form of man.

Jesus was born of God.  He was called the son of God because He came from God.  He was called the Son of Man because He was human.  He was now God and man in the same body.  And His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. Matthew 1:23

He lived a little over 33 years and died upon a cross and took His Holy blood and paid for the sins of the entire world.  He was the only man who ever lived that was perfect.  He didn't sin, so He didn't have to pay for His own sins.   He paid for yours.  Mine.  The worst person on earth can be saved because salvation does not depend upon what man has  done.  It all depends upon Jesus and what he's done.  People on death row will be saved and go to heaven because they call upon the name of Jesus.  People in church will be lost because they think their goodness and church membership will get them to heaven and they don't need Jesus.  They think their church can save them.  Man has no excuse for going to hell.  Hell was not made for man.  It was made for the devil and his angels.  Man goes there as an intruder walking over the blood and life of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah 5:14  Therefore hell hath  enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure:

Isaiah 7:14 prophesied of a virgin birth.  Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 Behold. A virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Matthew 1:21 (talking about Mary) And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.

In Luke 1:35 the Bible shows how Mary conceived.  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

When Jesus started His ministry, John the Baptist, a prophet of God introduced Him as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29

Jesus was born in a stable like a lamb.
Shepherds came to worship Him.
Angels brought the message in Luke 2:9-14:  And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.   And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manager.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.  God has declared peace with man.  It's Christmas.

Israel's sacrifices have stopped.  There are no more sacrificial lamb's being sacrificed.  The Lamb of God has come.  The innocent has died for the guilty.  Salvation has been paid in full.  Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So that's the story of The Year God gave A Lamb for Christmas.
Have you received your Lamb this year?

Do you have any questions?

Yes, what has Santa Claus got to do with Christmas?


Mary's Little Lamb
by Roger Montgomery

Mary did have a little Lamb
But what the world doesn't know
He was born in Bethlehem
In a manger long ago.

He was the Son of God
In His veins God's blood did flow
And He gave it all for you
A ransom for your soul.

He was innocent
No sin did He know
But He became sin
And died in death so cold.

His blood was pure
And cleanses white as snow
This Lamb that was sacrificed
On a cross long ago.

He was led as a Lamb to the slaughter
On that day long ago
He never opened His mouth
His pain He never told.

Lay your hands on the Lamb
Jews and Romans so bold
The religious and the heathern
He died to save your soul.

For God has given a Lamb
To satisfy our hungry soul
Slain from the foundation of the world
Look at Him and behold.

We are all partakers of the crucifixion
Our sins took the final toll
On the humble Lamb of God
The only hope for our soul.

My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me
But in our hearts we all know
He was paying for our sins
His death can make us whole.

Will you walk away and turn your back
Or gamble for His clothes
Or turn Rags to Robes of Righteousness
The transformation so bold.

Dip into the blood
Reach into the bowl
Let God renew your spirit
And the blood sanctify your soul.

For soap can clean your hands
And fire can purify gold
But only blood can cleanse from sin
Only blood can save your soul.

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